All Things Must End

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓 • 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕚𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕕 ℙ𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕠𝕟

He lets go, allowing Nikolai to leave. Nikolai licks his lips and adjusts the wrinkles of his shirt before storming out. The door shuts, leaving the three of us alone together. If the Darkling had been less caught up in his anger and jealousy, he would have noticed his daughter cowering in fear behind my legs, interlacing her fingers with mine tightly. His eyes grow gentler when he finally takes in the scene.

"Amelia—" he begins but is unable to finish because she flees to the other end of the room and jumps on the bed. She buries herself under the silk sheets. Then, a faint whimper can be heard from under the blankets.

I point a finger at Aleksander harshly and scowl at him, the viciousness of motherhood coming out in its entirety. "Fix this."

He nods and brings my hand to his lips, but I pull away before he can kiss me and motion to the trembling child in our bed.

He ponders for a moment, gauging what to do before making his move. Eventually, he approaches Amelia and sits near the lump in the bed. Then he puffs out a breath before burying himself under the blankets the same way Amelia did. His muffled voice can be heard under the covers as he coaxes Amelia to speak with him.

"I know the boy is your friend." He mutters, "Which makes sense. He made friends his own age." I palm my face. This isn't going well so far. "But," he continues, "I shouldn't have fought him in front of you. He and I don't see eye to eye."

        Amelia sniffs. "That doesn't mean you have to kill him."

        "That was a threat. . . Mostly."

        "I want my padraya back," she whines suddenly. I hear a pause on Aleksander's side.

        "I am here, Ameliushka."

        "Not really. You're not the same. You are mean and scary. You are keeping us in here, but you won't tell me why, and now you want to hurt Nikki."

        He is silent for a moment. Then, he untangles himself and Amelia from the sheets, pulling her up to sit on his lap. He soothes her by combing through her messy curls. She finally relaxes, primarily out of exhaustion, and leans her head on his shoulder. "I am not doing this to be cruel." He glances at me, indicating that he is speaking to both of us. "All I want is for you both to be safe. I will do whatever it takes to make that happen. I might seem like a monster in doing so, but I am willing to play the villain if it means you are protected."

        Amelia looks discontented with his conclusion, still not making eye contact. "When can we leave?" she mumbles.

        "When it is safe."

        I have tried not to intervene, but I can't stand to say nothing. I sit beside Aleksander on the bed and say, "She raises a good question. It is never going to be safe. Not completely. So when are you going to let us leave this room? This palace? You can't make us your prisoners our whole life simply because it isn't safe. The world is a dangerous place. Hiding us away won't change that. You have to let us out."

        He looks deeply into my eyes, and I can see that the Darkling doesn't want to do this to us, but I can tell when he is being obstinate, and he thinks this is the only option, so when he says, "I'll think about it," it means no. I growl in frustration and cover my tired eyes with my palms.

He kisses the top of Amelia's head and my cheek, whispering, "I truly am sorry. It's for the best." Then, he gets up and leaves without another word. The lock clicks on the outside of the door. We are once again trapped.

***

The door opens a total of two times the rest of the day. The first is Ivan bringing our lunch. He looks less than thrilled to be playing maid, but he doesn't complain aloud after catching one glimpse at my stormy look. Even better, he says nothing at all. He just leaves the tray of food and exits in less than a second. I hardly eat what was brought.