'Oh, Genya,' Alina said, walking forward and giving her a hug. When the two women pulled away from each other, Alina spoke again. 'I need to get word to the King about Kirigan.'
'The King's been taken ill. His affliction is quite serious. The Apparat's been ruling in his stead.'
'And the Queen?'
'Confined to her quarters. No one wants her exposed to the King's contagion.'
'Right. You were made Corporalnik?' Alina asked, gesturing to Genya's new red kefta.
'Hmm. I never did like this colour red,' Genya replied, taking off the fur, adjusting the collar of her kefta. 'It clashes with my hair.'
'You said Kirigan gifted you to the Queen when you were 11. Does that mean...' There was a moment of silence as Alina took it in. 'You were a spy for him.'
'I tried to warn you,' she replied, adjusting her collar again. ' "Be careful of powerful men"?'
'You should have included devious women,' Alina snapped, the tears growing in her eyes as the betrayal fully sunk in. 'The King's illness. We can assume you had both the inclination and the proximity to make that happen? My letters to Mal, you never sent them.' Genya turned.
'I had no choice.'
'Except that you did. And you chose to betray our friendship.'
'I was a whipping girl for the Queen and a Grisha without a colour. I... Choosing friendship over survival was not a luxury I could afford.'
'I know what it means to be an outsider struggling to survive,' Alina snapped at Genya. 'And it's no excuse.' Genya stood silent, tears growing in her eyes.
'I used to struggle,' she finally said after a moment. 'I used to try... to fight him off. That never worked in my favor. I waited for years for my chance at revenge. To finally bring him a fight that he cannot... that he cannot fend off. I never expected it to come to this. Here. Wouldn't you have done the same if you were me?'
'The King deserves every bit of your vengeance,' Alina replied, a sympathetic look taking over her previously angry emotions towards Genya's betrayal. 'But Kirigan does not deserve your loyalty. He is just as responsible for your position.
'I am his soldier. We all are.'
'We are his pawns. Nothing more.' Genya turned on her heel abruptly, grabbed her cloak from the chair, and strode out of the tent, leaving Alina alone in silence.
Moments later...
'Let go of me!' Adela screamed at the Grisha as they threw her into the darkly-lit tent. 'Saints, you guys are rude.'
'Be careful with the way you handle her,' the voice of General Kirigan sounded from another part of the tent, as he emerged, still wearing his fur coat and black kefta underneath. 'Leave us,' he said, motioning to Ivan and the other Grisha soldiers in the room. They left, leaving Adela and her brother, Aleksander, alone in the room. 'Have they hurt you?' he asked.
'You have no idea what you've started,' she snarled. He turned, still wearing that calm, calculated look.
'Now, now, let's not be rash about this.'
'I'm not being rash about anything. You lied to me. Gaslighted me. For years. Hundreds of years. You told me I had an exceptionally long life because I was a Shadow Summoner and that I often had moments where I was asleep for days or weeks at a time. You were resurrecting me with merzost because I died. I died, Aleksander. And you kept reversing nature to suit you. You told me the Fold was because of the Black Heretic. And I was an idiot to believe you. I was young, and naive. But no longer. Now I'm older - and angry.'
'I couldn't live without you,' he said quietly.
'What did you say?'
'I couldn't live without you,' he repeated, a little louder. 'That's why I resurrected you constantly. I hated losing you.'
'But why? Why did you keep me alive all this time? What was I to you? Just another one of your - pawns? Your tools that you could use whenever you saw fit? Why would you lie? Why did you keep me? Why did you not let me have my freedom?! You let the King and Queen take me and use me as their poster child for a good Grisha. A princess. Making me become something I was not. I deserved to be like you! I deserved to lead an army of my own. To be something more. And you let them take my freedom away from me. You sick, selfish bastard.'
'I loved you, Adela!' he screamed.
'If you did, you would have let me have my freedom.'
'Your freedom isn't with that Barrel gutter rat. It isn't with them. Alina and I will liberate the Fold, and you'll have your -'
'You lied about that too! For years I dreamed that the Sun Summoner would save us all. Everything seemed to be going fine until the night of the fete. My life fell apart then. I don't even know who to trust anymore. My mother? She spouted off truths about my brother that I've never heard and on one hand, I want to believe you. But her words seem too true to be false. Genya? I hear she's a spy for you these days. So much so that I forget she was even my friend. The King and Queen? They used me. For years. And you! You cruel, selfish boy! You're not a man. You're not even a general or a leader. You're just a boy. A boy who let his sister be tossed around between powerful people without so much as a regard for what she wants. For what she needs. Kaz Brekker may not really even like me, but at least he and his companions care for what I want. They promised me a new start. Once we get to Novokribirsk. They said that I could have a new life, a better one.'
'I promise you,' Aleksander said, crossing the room to grab his sister's hands in his, 'you will have your freedom. I will give it to you. You can go anywhere you want. Once we liberate Ravka of the Fold, I will give you your freedom. I'll let you do anything you want.' She yanked her hands away from his.
'It means nothing coming from you. Either let me go, or kill me. Because I would rather die then be lied to one more time by my brother. My own flesh and blood. The man in place of my non-existent father, that was supposed to protect me. To have my own best interests at heart. To love me. All I've ever wanted was to be loved.' She stepped back. 'Let me go, feed me to the volcra, cut me in half with your Cut, it doesn't matter. I want to be free, and it doesn't matter what it takes. Whatever it is, I never want to see you again. I don't care what it takes. If I see you again, I will kill you.'
'Ivan!' Aleksander exclaimed. The Heartrender entered.
'Yes, General?'
'Take my sister to Alina Starkov's tent.'