TᕼE ᑕᕼEEᖇIᑎG Oᖴ party guests vibrates the marble floor beneath my feet. Even with the glass french doors closed off to the balcony, the noise and applause is deafening.
Da zdravstvuyet Ravka!
Long live Ravka!
The noise fluctuates in volume when the balcony doors connecting to the ballroom open and close. I glance back to find Aleksander, in his elaborately designed kefta, observing me closely. He leans on the balcony's edge to my left and looks up at the stars. The crickets and quiet rustling of nighttime can hardly be heard underneath the inside commotion.
I know he is waiting for me to explain why I fled here the first chance I got, but I don't really have an answer to give him. There is just this dreadful feeling sitting like lead in the bottom of my stomach.
Finally, I mutter, "This war is because of me. Because I can manipulate light with my hands and just happen to be half-Shu." I laugh sorrowfully and cover my face with my hands. "Once, I thought that maybe I could be the bridge between Ravka and Shu Han after years of conflict. I guess I was wrong."
Aleksander shifts closer to me and hums in thought. "Not necessarily." My gaze falls on him. He says, "The people of Shu Han are starting to align with you. That is what the Shu Queen is scared of. She is losing her 'loyal' subjects to you and the love you offer to mere strangers. The newer generations are becoming more lax to the idea of Grisha. Not all, but some."
"You think there is still a chance of salvaging this?" I ask.
"I think Queen Leyti knows her time is wearing thin."
"That's why she is being so belligerent towards me? She's intimidated?"
"Desperation and war are never a good mixture. She is making decisions that lack strategy in favor of her country but rather her own selfish motives." He rubs his angular chin in contemplation. "It is why I have a hard time predicting her next move. Last year, when she asked for assistance, it was to save her family. She has no political connections but those that help her with her current dilemma and she cuts them off as soon as they are unneeded. That is her weakness. Countries that are as fickle with their allies as Shu Han lack trust among other nations."
I've been staring at him as he thinks aloud in pure fascination. A smile creeps up on my lips. He finally meets my unfaltering gaze.
"How do you do that?" I inquire.
"Do what?"
"Read people like words on a page."
He thinks about it for a moment. Then, he says, "My mother was always a difficult woman. But I suppose she was a good teacher. Ever since I was little, she taught me to analyze everything around me—people's actions, gestures, expressions, words—until it became second nature. Though there is one woman in particular that I have yet to fully understand as I can everyone else." His eyes trail up and down my body.
I smirk. "Tell me more about this mysterious woman."
"Well," he sighs. "She is powerful, beautiful, and infinitely stubborn."
"Hmm, intriguing."
"Very much so," he says, leaning his side against the balcony's edge with twinkling eyes. "She always does the opposite of what I think she will do. Perhaps because she is my opposite. My balance."
"She sounds perfect."I laugh nervously.
"She is."
Aleksander bends down and kisses me gently and slow.
"My Aleksander," I mumble against his lips.
"My Alina," he returns. "My Universe."
We stay in each other's arms for another minute, neither of us wanting to move. "Do we have to return to the ball?" I pout.
"I think we've made our point. I have a few more guests I need to speak to, but you should get some rest. It's been a long night." I nod and he kisses my forehead. "Be sure to take a Heartrender with you when you leave. With our enemies here, it's—"
"Dangerous, I know." It is dangerous wherever I go, not just tonight. Power and peril tend to go hand in hand like a perfect, deadly waltz. "I promise to take someone with me."
He is content with my answer and plants a kiss on my head. Aleksander holds the balcony door for me as we enter back into the ballroom full of chatter and evening dancing. My eyes follow the Darkling's form until he disappears into the sea of people, though I catch him looking back at me once or twice before I leave the ballroom. I make sure he sees me grab a Heartrender to trail me as I resign to my bed chamber. I know he would send one after me anyways if I didn't comply.
The walk is silent and slightly awkward with someone behind me the whole way, but I've grown accustomed to the lack of privacy in this palace. The farther I walk, the quieter it gets. Tonight, no one is authorized in the part of the palace where our chambers are located in, so the only sound is my muted footsteps on the long scarlet rug. It seems eerily quiet.
I linger by Amelia's room. Ivan stands rigidly outside the door, guarding it.
"I'm just going to check on Amelia. I'll go straight to my room after," I tell the Grisha guard. "You can go."
He stands rigidly for a moment, deciding whether he should listen to me or not. His green-eyed gaze falls on Ivan, one of the most skilled Heartrenders in the Army, so his nerves finally settle, and he feels comfortable leaving me. The guard bows and takes off in the other direction.
Ivan stares straight ahead as I pass him as if I don't exist. I just roll my eyes and slip through the door to Amelia's bedroom. I try to close the door quietly, however, Amelia is a heavy sleeper, so it wouldn't wake her anyway.
The room is dark other than a dimly flickering candle on her bedside which only illuminates a short distance around it. When my eyes finally adjust to the room, my entire being turns to ice. My mouth opens in preparation to call out to Ivan.
"I wouldn't scream if I were you. It would be unwise."
The Shu Han Queen bats her long, dark lashes at me in the shadows. The sliver of moonlight filtering through the curtains illuminates enough of her silhouette and the features of her face to know it's her: the pale makeup, thin nose, shiny black hair with a stripe of grey on each side, and flowing pastel dress. She is sitting on the edge of Amelia's bed, stroking her fingers lightly through my daughter's golden curls.
Power roars up to the surface, but I don't answer the call. I need to think this through instead of acting out of fear. I try to act confident, although the stutter in my words gives away my nervousness. "H-how did you get in?"
Her thin, painted lips curve upward deviously. She whispers, "There are many passageways in this palace, some that could bypass say a Heartrender who is guarding the entrance. You should really keep your blueprints of the Grand Palace in a more secure spot. All I had to do was have one of my men request it from the Ravkan archives."
"You're delusional," I rasp under my breath. Those records were kept under lock and key. They were stolen, not granted to her and I'm sure we will soon be hearing about casualties of guards at the Royal archives at her hand.
If this were the Little Palace, Aleksander would have known every crook and cranny, every hall and passageway, because he built it. However, this was made for all of the past Kings who lived here. Who knows what secrets lay behind the maze of wallpapered walls.
My eyes catch a small movement within the darkness. It was Amelia's hand fidgeting slightly. She's awake. Her eyes are still closed, so she's pretending to be asleep.
Smart girl.
"I simply wanted to talk."
With a non-discreet sneer, I say, "Then you could've come to the party and talked to me."
"I wanted to talk to you alone. Mother to mother."
"Get out." My voice wavers.
"I understand the desire to protect your child. We mothers would do a lot for them, would we not? My question for you, Queen Alina, is how much are you willing to give up for her? Sources have told me this little one is powerful. She could be of use to Shu Han I suppose, but not as much as you. You could help our country in great ways."
"Help," I scoff. "You wish to either kill me because your people find hope in what I offer or enslave me to use my power as an energy source for weapons. I won't surrender that kind of leverage willingly."
Her silken gown flows off the bed like a waterfall as she approaches me intimidatingly. "Perhaps one day, you will change your mind when your only daughter is missing or worse. You should know by now, that I do not waste time making empty threats." My blood runs cold at the sight of her wicked smile. "The child will bleed for your insolence."
"IVAN!" I scream toward the door.
He comes bursting through the door with his hands ready, eyes wildly scanning the room. When I spin around, Queen Leyti is nowhere to be found.
"She was just. . ."
I hear Ivan sprint down the hallway to call for a unit of Grisha to flank him. He also tells one of his subordinates to get the King. Meanwhile, Amelia rushes over to me and throws her shaking arms around me. I comfort her by cradling her head against me. The fact that she heard everything devastates me. She must be terrified.
When the guards come back, I cup Amelia's face to find her glistening eyes and ask, "Did you see where she went?"
She points to the dark-stained wardrobe in the far left corner.
"Search the wardrobe," I order.
A blonde Inferni with a long, feminine face speaks up over the commotion. "We're taking the word of a child?"
My anger flares. Every second taken to squabble is one more Queen Leyti has to escape. "She did not leave this room through the door or else me and Ivan would have seen it. Now go!" I exclaim. Sunlight burns at my fingertips.
The snarky woman gulps and nods, quickly joining the rest of the team as they tear apart the wooden closet. After a few minutes, they come across a loose plank at the bottom of the wardrobe. When they lift it up, it reveals a dark tunnel below. It must have been there for a long time given the amount of spiderwebs and dust collecting under there.
I curse under my breath.
Half of the unit plunge into the dark passageway without hesitation while the rest stay to guard us. I hold back the urge to go after that vengeful Queen myself and cut her in two clean pieces. However, I hold back for the same reason I didn't immediately cause Leyti harm when I saw her next to Amelia. Killing Shu Han's Queen would get me no closer to uniting Ravka and Shu Han. Whether Aleksander knows it or not, he has changed me too. He has taught me to be a good ruler.
You live in a single moment. I live in a thousand.
It's time to start living for the future instead of the present. That is the only way this will end.
I'm torn away from my thoughts by the sound of boots clomping down the hallway in unison. Aleksander walks in stoically, though I feel panic pouring through the tether. He immediately goes to me and cups my face, scanning for any sort of injury. He does the same with Amelia.
"What happened?"
"Queen Leyti was here. She wanted us to know that nowhere is safe. She threatened us per usual."
No, she threatened her," he gestures to our daughter. "She was in Amelia's room." His face is dark with fury. It is a face that he usually has before he does something rash.
"Aleksander."
He doesn't seem to hear me whatsoever. His feet carry him out the door with a sea of shadows trailing him and revenge at the top of his agenda.
"Aleksander!"
I try to call out to him again, but he is long gone.
I sigh and whisper under my breath, "Oh, Aleksander. What are you going to do?"
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No one threatens our Amelia. Except they just did. Oops. Thanks for reading!💛☀️