Baddie Alina and slightly better Darkling?
What if Alina and stayed the night of the winter fete instead of running away? What if she had chosen the Darkling over Mal? What if the Malina ship sank fast and the Darklina ship sailed?
All these charact...
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Alina wore a formfitting shirt that allowed her to move freely and black leggings that made it hard for me to take my eyes off her. I was trying, I swear. I just wasn't even coming close to succeeding. It was the standard outfit to wear for training, but with her hair tied back in a sleek ponytail and wearing pointy-toed boots, she looked fierce.
We walked next to each other, but not too close since we had not gone public with our relationship. At least, not yet. Mal walked on my other side with his head held high with pride. Not for much longer, I thought gleefully.
I had the training field emptied, so when we arrived, the grounds were empty except for Botkin, who had wanted to see what was about to happen. In all honesty, he had just wanted to see a slender girl beat a cocky First Army soldier to a pulp.
"Little girl not beat up soldier too bad, huh?" He smiled warmly.
"Hello to you too, Botkin," she replied cheerfully. "I suppose I'll try."
He agreed. "Well, get going. Not able to keep students away forever. Boy, get that smile off your pretty face and pray it will be over soon, da?" Without waiting for any answer from anyone, he began marching across the grass. Stopping in the middle, he announced, "This where you fight."
Mal shrugged and took off his jacket and shirt. Tossing them to the ground, he rolled his shoulders back. I rolled my eyes but said nothing. Everyone knew that in the First Army, it was customary to remove your shirt in a fistfight. For guys, at least. Fighting shirtless was practically a religion. Botkin also noticed this and barked, "NO! No, we fight proper here. Put your clothes back on, boy." Mal put the shirt back on, but not the jacket.
Alina looked at Mal contemptuously before stating, "Whenever you're ready, Mr. Oretsev. And please, do not hold back."
"If you're sure..." He charged at her, swinging his fist half-heartedly at her shoulder. She stood her ground, and at the last second, she ducked and grabbed his waist, flipping him to the ground and knocking the air out of him.
Turning her back to him, she looked at Botkin, who was staring disapprovingly at Mal, who was still on the ground, shocked. "Thought General said this one good?"
Quickly, using Alina's apparent moment of distraction, Mal grabbed Alina's wrist and kicked the back of her knee, causing her legs to buckle. She used it to her advantage, though. Not missing a beat, she dropped her full weight onto Mal's chest, twisting around to place her forearm across his throat, cutting off his air supply.
"Clearly not," she told Botkin, raising an eyebrow at a purple Mal. When Mal tried to choke out a response, she covered his mouth with her hand but stopped strangling him. Sitting there casually, she said nothing as Mal bucked and thrashed, trying to get her off. There was no point, though. He couldn't get Alina off, not when she was mad. Even when she wasn't angry, she was stubborn.
Finally, he gave up. Seeing this, she stood up and let him get up so he could try again. This time, when he swung his fist, it was toward her face, and it was with all his might. Honestly, I had thought that he wouldn't end up trying, since he would be unwilling to even risk hurting her. I knew that there was no chance, but he didn't. No, he was going to try.
She took a swift step back, and his fist went through empty air. Before he could make a comeback she stepped forward and jabbed his stomach with her elbow. While doubled over, she delivered three good punches to his face, one after another. Giving him a second, she stepped back to let him recover.
He looked at her with blood dripping down his chin. I was pretty sure she had already broken his nose.
This time, she made the first move. She cut into him with a series of punches, slaps, kicks, and jabs. Her hair whipped around her face, and Mal hadn't even gotten a single hit, no matter how hard he tried. It was an amazing thing to watch. Finally, she stepped in close, hooked her leg around his, and once again knocked him flat on the ground. Straddling his chest, she leaned forward and deftly elbowed him on his temple, and knocked him out cold.
I whistled. "You know, Botkin, I only said that he thought he was good, not that he actually was good. And this was just a fistfight. No light or weapons."
Botkin grunted in approval. "Little girl my student, da? She needs someone good to practice with, like General. I can't teach her anything else."
We looked at each other. Alina shrugged. "It's worth a try."
I didn't hesitate. "Okay, but not now. We need to pack our things for tomorrow. We need to get packed and ready for tomorrow, so maybe once we get back?"
Alina and I both knew for a fact that our things had already been packed for us and that I just wanted to get her back inside the palace. More importantly, back inside my room to finish what Mal had so rudely interrupted.
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