Chapter 11
"Wake up Anya. We have a lot of things to do today." Genya says, placing her kit down on my vanity.
Groaning, I sit up and step out of bed. I walk over to the bathroom and get in the warm water.
Once I'm cleaned I put on my bathrobe and sit down on my vanity chair.
Genya comes over to me and starts trying different colors on my eyelids.
"I want to wear a dress." I suddenly state, making Genya lean back a bit, brows furrowed.
"You're not going to wear your Kefta?" She asks.
"No, I want to wear one of my fancy dresses. Specifically the burgundy one."
"I don't mind, but I'll have to ask the General if you can wear something else than your Kefta."
Aleksander will say yes. I'm sure of it.
"Okay." I respond, before she continues.
She switches over to jewelry and slips a plain silver ring on my finger.
"Ooh, that's pretty. Is it silver?" I ask, looking down at the ring.
"No it's Iridium. I gave Alina the same one."
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"Ivan! My Kefta!" Aleksander screams, having heard the door open.
I wanted to see him before the fete started. It's been months and I still haven't told Alina. As a matter of fact, I haven't told Alina anything for the past couple of weeks.
But since Alina doesn't know, nobody knows. Which means we'll have to be formal. And I'll have to call him General, which I haven't done in a while.
Seeing his Kefta laying on the table, I pick it up and walk over to his bedroom, which is attached to his office.
"You're not Ivan." He says, after having turned around and spotted me in the doorway.
"Really? I hadn't noticed." I say with all the seriousness I can muster.
He laughs, which makes me smile.
"May I?" I ask, once his laughter quiets down.
He turns around and I slip the Kefta on his arms. He pushes it up, before turning to me.
"Thank you." He says, looking intently into my eyes.
His eyes are my favorite thing about him. I could get lost in them all day and never get bored.
"Are you nervous?" He asks softly, taking my hands and guiding me to his office. I sit down on his desk, while he comes and stands in front of me, not letting go of my hands.
"A bit." I answer, when I'm nicely seated.
"That's the understatement of the year." He says, cracking a smile.
Smiling, I look down. How does he know me so well.
"Okay, I may want to run to my room and never come out." I state, looking up at him.
"Why run to your room? I have a perfectly nice one right here." He asks, with fake confusion.
I laugh, while shaking my head at his antics. He will never stop flirting with me.
"But seriously, if you don't want to do the presentation, you don't have to. I can ask some Infernis to do it."
"Thank you, but I want to do it. I'm just nervous, but when am I not. I'll be fine, promise."
There's a moment of silence where we just gaze at each other, before I break it.
"Has Genya already asked you about the dress?" I ask.
"No, why? Is there something wrong?" He asks, after having thought about it for a moment.
"No, there's nothing wrong. It's just that I want to wear a dress for the fete and not my Kefta. I told Genya that and she said she had to ask you to see if you were okay with it." I explain.
"Of course I'm okay with it. Wear whatever you feel most conformable in." He says, before giving me a quick kiss.
He takes me by my waist and lifts me off of his desk and places me on the floor next to him.
"I have some paperwork to get to and I'm sure Genya's waiting for you." He says, his hands sliding from my waist.
"I'll see u at the fete?" I ask, already missing his touch.
"Of course, Pchelka."
He gives me one last kiss before I leave his office.
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Once I'm dressed in my beautiful purple dress, I walk out of my room to go to the fete.
When I enter the hallway, I see Genya and Alina both waiting on me.
"We can go now." I say awkwardly. I haven't spoken to Alina in a long time.
Genya starts walking towards the ballroom and Alina and I follow.
"Nice Kefta." I say, spotting her white Kefta instead of her usual Blue one.
"I decided to change things up for the occasion." She explains.
I nod in understatement, before we continue in silence.
We arrive in front of a set of golden doors. Genya carefully opens them before leading us inside. The hallway was packed with important people from all over the world. The hallway lead towards the bigger ballroom.
Alina immediately starts looking around and walking over to the bigger room.
Genya starts ushering Alina back while I just silently walk into the ballroom. Alina had to come in later, because she's the star of the show. I could just go in whenever.
The room was beautifully decorated. On the right wall was a small stage with next to it the thrones. The king and queen were seated in them, talking to Aleksander.
He doesn't seem to be enjoying himself.
I starts walking closer to him. Because I'm not wearing a Kefta, most people just pass me as a guest.
Once I'm close enough to him, I clear my throat to catch his attention. He turns to me.
"Um, General Kirigan," It feels so weird to call him that, "they need you in the other room." I say quietly.
"Excuse me." He says to the King and queen, before bowing and following me to the hallway.
We walk through all the guest until I stop walking next to a small buffet table. I lean my back against the wall, while he came and stands in front of me.
"Is something wrong?" He asks, scanning my body for injuries.
"I'm fine, Aleksander. You just seemed like you needed rescuing." I explain.
"Oh, well, thank you for rescuing me." He answers with a smirk. "The presentation is almost going to start." He reminds me, while placing his hands on my arms.
I sigh. "I should go to the podium, shouldn't I?" I ask, not really wanting an answer.
He nods with a frown. "Come on." He takes my hand and leads me to the main ballroom.
On the way I see a couple of guests staring at us and I slip my hand out of his.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" He asks, once we're close enough to the small podium
in between the sea of people.
"I'm sure." I nod.
He walks closer to the King, while I stand up on the podium.
All eyes in the room turn to me. I take a deep breath and just concentrate on my performance.
I take the glove out of one of my dress pockets and put it on. I snap my fingers and a small flame forms in my hand.
I make the flame bigger and bigger and make a small ball of water float over it. The water slowly takes the shape of a girl, big enough for the whole audience to see, while the flames dance around it. People start clapping, which makes a smile grow on my face.
The water girl starts moving and changing the direction of the flames.
With my other hand I make a gust of wind and the water girl and the flames float away with the wind.
The audience claps again and I step down from the podium, while Alina steps up on the bigger podium.
The clapping dies down, while Aleksander goes and stands on the steps in front of Alina.
"Her name is Alina Starkov." He starts. "And she will bring liberation to us all." I start hearing the faint rumbling of Aleksander's shadows, while the room fills with darkness.
Alina starts doing her thing, summoning light.
"Sankta Alina." People start mumbling while they drop on one knee.
Because everyone's doing it, I decide to do the same, so I'm not the one weirdo standing.
Once the light in the room is back to normal, everyone claps. People start dispersing again. I can't see Aleksander anywhere, so I decide to go to the buffet tables again.
While eating some small patisserie, I spot Mila and Dimitri and wave them over.
"Saints, I love your dress." Mila states, giving me a hug.
I thank her, before giving a hug to Dimitri. He has become a lot more comfortable around me.
We talk for a little while, until I see Aleksander across the room.
"I'll see u two later, okay?"
They both nod and I walk over to Aleksander.
"Want to go on an adventure?" I ask.
He simply responds with a smirk.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed