chapter nine,      the inevitable

𝓐leksander

AT THIS POINT, Aleksander realised that he didn't know many words to describe someone's beauty. Seeing Liya in her new kefta, specifically made for this celebration, stirred something inside of him. This kefta wasn't crimson as the ones that belonged to Heartrenders, but it was black. Only there were crimson lines surrounding the collar, moving down to the buttons, showing her powers. But now, she was carrying a part of him.

"I need you to tell me why Fedyor couldn't let me wear my kefta and made me put on a new one," Liya demanded, standing beside the door as she just walked into his office.

"I asked them to make you a new one," he explained.

Confusion rose in her face: "Was there something wrong with it?"

"No. But this one suits you better," he admitted. "Now, we share the same colour."

Realisation hit her and she immediately placed her hand on the button, starting to unbutton it, shaking her head: "Black is your colour. As far as I know, no one can wear it if they are not Shadow Summoners."

"You're talking as if the Shadow Summoner is not with us in the room," walking closer to her, said Aleksander. "You're a part of me, Liya. And, my colour fits you well."

Liya winced, stretching out her arms, not having to do so for long as he was already in front of her. She gently hit his chest with her palms, shaking her head: "I don't want people to talk."

"All they do is talk, my dearest Liya. And I'm courting you."

The woman seemed to remember how official everything actually was than it had to be: "Darkling," she disapprovingly called him out.

"Grisha," he replied in a teasing manner, earning a gasp from her.

"You want me to suffer, don't you?" She breathed out, leaning forward, placing her head against his chest and closing her eyes.

Aleksander wrapped his hands around her, with all the love his heart had. "All I have ever done is made you suffer... I want to make you feel safe," he softly said against the crown of her head. "I'm sure you know how courting ends, my darling."

That seemed to ignite something inside her and she pulled away, flustered. "Making me wear your colour! Just—insufferable, you are insufferable!"

The man smiled, seeing her so worked up. It lifted his spirits to her so flustered, so flustered by the thought of having a future with him. And himself, he wasn't a man who dared to dream, but this time he allowed himself to. He had all the eternity in front of him and he wished for nothing more than to have her beside him. He knew that they weren't the same and that she didn't have an eternity in front of her. But he'll figure that out. He has time.

"I'm insufferable," he agreed, gently grabbing her hand and placing it on his face. This small action made him shiver with pure ecstasy. It was as if a constant need for him to know that she was acknowledging him, that she was feeling him.

Her cold fingertips touched his cheeks, ran down to the tip of his nose, his lips... He felt himself closing his eyes, losing himself in a mere moment of gentle touch.

"Maya milaya," he whispered and the room grew dark.

The darkness submerged them both, hiding the details of the room, that light that he desperately clung to. Feeling at ease, feeling himself and her gentle touch, he leaned into it, cherishing it. Pressing a kiss on her fingers, he ached to see her smile—and how beautiful her smile was...

"You got lost again," she whispered, not failing to impress him with her ability to feel his shadows. He gently placed his hands on her waist, feeling the way he was amplifying her without his consent, just getting lost from touching her.

Even if he was amplifying her, it seemed that she was amplifying him as the shadows only got thicker and the room seemed like an abyss. Her hands fell on his shoulders and he leaned down, pushing her closer, pressing his lips against hers.

His heartbeat thudding in his ears was making him ease into her quicker, feeling the way she grew calmer around him, the way she pressed into his touch. Letting out a soft mewl, she breathed against his lips: "Do we have time?"

"No," he whispered, his lips finding hers, filling himself with serenity as he clung onto her desperately as if she were the air he breathed.

Pushing him slightly away, Liya whispered: "You'll dishevel me."

"I will."

Hearing her smile, he gently pushed her to the door, hearing a surprised gasp leave her mouth. His hands didn't let go of her, not that he could ever let her go. The celebration vanished from his head instantly as what else could matter when she was in front of him? It was so easy to get lost in the feeling when he had been focused on revenge for so long. If he was capable of love, maybe everything wasn't lost in the end. Maybe all of this still had a purpose.

"We have to go," she gently reminded him. "I might not see anything, but I can feel when people are staring at me with pure despise."

"No one will dare to look at you like that. Especially when I'm beside you," he reassured her.

His woman scoffed playfully, "Right... Says the man from the history books..." She placed her hands on his shoulders and straightened her back. "The sooner we go in there, the sooner we will get to leave."

On that, she was completely right. He placed a soft kiss on the top of her head and headed out of his office with her. The whole place was buzzing with people, with ongoing conversations and laughter. Soon enough, both of them reached the Grand Hall, where the celebration already took a twirl.

It was overcrowded with people dressed in fancy gowns, showing their heritage and the newest fashion tendencies from their lands. Some of the gowns were modest, the others were revealing. Some of them preferred bland colours, the others shone in bright, unmatching colours. It was too much for him. There was one thing they all wanted: luxury. But he was interested in power. Luxury was just an asset that made people crazy.

"Oh, may the Saints hear my words, people have not been over-exaggerating saying that the General's woman is an incredible beauty," General Pavel appeared in front of the two and the Darkling could feel Liya froze in her spot. Yes, his voice was similar to General Zlatan's, but he looked nothing like his deceased family member.

General Pavel was a tall man, almost head-to-head with the Darkling, but he didn't hold the same madness in his eyes. He was a well-structured man in all of the right places and he wore his uniform with pride. Even more, considering that his rank just got higher and this celebration was for him. He walked with his head high, always smirking, always pleased.

Liya gently bowed her head as a sign of respect. "I congratulate you on your new rank. Condolences for the loss of your family." She was cautious, but her tone wasn't completely cold. Aleksander was impressed with her ability to stand tall in front of a man, who shared the same belief as a man who had already got murdered.

"So many people have congratulated me that your words about General Zlatan moved me. I am grateful for your kind words," he said, placing his hand on his heart. "I might say, meeting such a phenomenon as you are is unbelievable. A blind Grisha! So many possibilities unravel. So much we don't know yet."

"I assure you, there's nothing special about me," she politely answered his compliments.

"You are being too modest, too modest!" He was chirping. "I will ask you to have a dance with me this evening, but I must finish greeting all of the delegation members. Can I count on you to have a dance?"

"I believe dancing with a sightless person might put a bad name on your reputation," she gently reminded and her words made Aleksander gently smile as he tried to conceal his laughter.

General Pavel didn't back down: "I'm a wonderful dancer. And there is no way that a beautiful woman like you could ruin my reputation. I'll see you later." He gently bowed his head and turned to the Darkling: "General." He acknowledged him before leaving the couple alone.

Liya sighed, "Do not make me dance with him," she gritted her teeth.

"We'll be out of here before he will dare to lay his eyes on you again, my dearest Liya," Aleksander reassured her.

The woman gently shook her head as if trying to forget the short conversation that just occurred. He knew what torture it might have been to her even to talk with General Pavel, knowing deep well what kind of person he was. But she did a great job staying calm and conserved. She was handling all of this far better than most of them would.

"Will you dance with me?" Aleksander suggested.

"Absolutely not." She immediately disagreed, her tone rough.

That answer put a smile on his face. He didn't enjoy dancing himself as it was just a waste of time, but to annoy her – oh, what won't he do?

"Could you take me to Genya?" Liya asked, wrapping her hand around his arm.

"Of course," he murmured through the buzzing and the laughter of the people.

Suddenly, a delegation member from Shu Han stopped them both and offered his greeting to the General, urging him to have a little conversation about the pressing matters with the King. The Darkling didn't want to be involved in this conversation, but he didn't want to cause a scene in the middle of the celebration. He knew better.

Aleksander leaned closer to Liya: "Genya is just right ahead – she'll see you coming. I won't turn my eyes off you."

Liya nodded, smiling at the Shu Han delegation member as the Darkling gently kissed the top of her head. She moved away from them, her hands stretched, but his vision was overtaken by the Shu Han man.

"You two are a wonderful couple, General," the man expressed his feelings. "But I must talk with you urgently. The King is—busy."

The Darkling looked at the left side, where there was the throne of the King, but he was far too busy eating the decorated cupcakes on the right side of the throne as two of his mistresses were beside him, whispering to him sweet compliments.

"Very busy," the Darkling murmured. He looked forward, seeing Liya going further into the crowd before looking at the man beside him. "I believe there are issues with the new trading rules your royal family has set."

"They are giving an ultimatum. They do want a better price."

"But you are shipping less."

"It's getting hard."

"We're on the same side. The Fold is not an issue."

"Yet, the shipping has to reach the east part of Ravka. We have lost a few people going through the Fold and the way around it is not ideal as well. Or do I need to speak about this—with General Pavel?"

The Darkling's eyebrows gently raised. Even if Ravka was united in the King's eyes, everyone knew that it was separated. If Shu Han would start to do business with East Ravka instead through Ravka itself, the other lands would follow this example. This man knew where to hit to get what he wanted and he could applaud that.

"The King and our assets will cover the shipping costs to the eastern part of Ravka. We expect you to keep the same price and the same quantity as before."

The man clearly wasn't content with the answer as the main goal was to increase the cost to get a better profit, but with this sort of reasoning, he couldn't say no. He nodded, "I will inform them of this. Wait for our letter."

The Darkling barely nodded, watching the way the man left and he looked straight ahead. Seeing Genya, he looked around to see Liya, but she wasn't seen around her as Genya was speaking with Fedyor. Immediately, an anxious wound shot through his heart and he walked to Genya and Fedyor.

"Where's Liya?" He hurriedly asked, his voice low, not wanting to create a scene.

"Wasn't she with you?" Genya asked, only then realising the gravity of the situation.

"She was going to you," the Darkling said. He told Liya that he would not take his eyes off her and he did—for just a mere second. That Shu Han—oh, the timing was just too well. "They took her."

Genya's eyes widened, panic rushing through her face as she instantly moved forward: "What do we do?"

"We can't alert all of these people," the Darkling reminded.

"This place is well-secure," Fedyor tried to calm them down. "I'm sure she just ended up somewhere. I will ask the guards if they saw her," he excused himself and rushed to the right end of the room, walking out to talk with the guards.

"Why did you leave her alone?" Genya asked in a rushed manner. "Why did you leave her alone?" Her voice raised as the panic was overtaking her. "Why did you—"

Suddenly, her anger was discarded as a distant scream was overheard from the back of the room. The buzzing and the laughter immediately stopped as a dead silence surrounded them all, making them all look in the direction, from which a well-dressed madam looked pale as death.

"Death! Only death in the corridors!" She wailed in a high-pitched voice, mumbling in between words before she raised her gloved hand to fan herself and fainted.

Hell unleashed as the others started to scream and Fedyor appeared behind them. "Most of the guards have been knocked down. I can't find Liya."

"Outside!" A distant voice of a man alerted them all as the mass of people started to rush outside as if trying to get away from a murderer trying to grasp their lives. The chaos rose quicker than most of them understood. How could everything go down in just mere seconds? Everything was fine—everything was fine—everything was fine...

But the wailing and the screams of the leaving people only intensified as they reached the gardens and the Darkling's heart dropped on the floor.

Liya.

Everything else didn't matter, the time as if frozen. The rushing people were a glimpse of blur into the abyss as he couldn't understand what was going on. He couldn't understand how he could fail her twice. Twice. The breath was stuck in his throat as his body moved towards the gardens—he didn't pray to Saints, but now a simple mantra was leaving his lips, pleading and desperate – please don't take her away from me.

The glimmering colours of the gowns and the sparkling of the jewellery were fogging his vision as the moist evening air reached his lungs. He pushed the royals aside, roughly, moving forward as he didn't care about anything else – he needed to find her.

"No, no," he moved through the people, towards the garden, which she so adored. The wonderful lavenders that surrounded the garden seemed to turn the other way as in the middle, where the little bench was placed, there was a body. Pebbles drained in blood. The roots of grass swallowing the pain of a dying body, placing a seed of grief in the garden.

The black kefta with the red embroidery.

He called for a Healer as he rushed to her, to her body. As the blood was oozing from the middle of her chest, her body twitching as she was choking on her own blood, her eyes finally didn't look empty – they were twisted in pure pain and betrayal. Not noticing that just a few inches away from them laid a dead body, a symbol of her fight, but it didn't matter.

"Liya" he cried out, tears blurring his vision. He immediately placed his hands on her chest, pressing them down to keep the blood inside. "Liya, you have to stay with me," he demanded, begging for her to not leave him. "Healer! Please! Someone get here a Healer!" He was screaming, but the time seemed as if stopped.

Her twitching hand moved up, gently placing it on his face as she tried to say something, but the choking didn't ease – she couldn't say her last words. As the trembling hand touched his face, it turned slightly cold and it dropped beside her as she took the last breath in, but her chest didn't fall back down.

The scream of her sister echoed through the gardens as Aleksander looked at his beloved's body. "No, this isn't real... This is just... No, she will get well," he gently whispered to himself, still pressing on the wound. "No, Liya, please—I am sorry. Please, just come back to me, I will never look away. I will never look away..." he was choking on his words, gently moving her with his hands as he looked into her eyes that held so much pain.

Tears froze on her still face, a reminder of how much she has been through. And yet, she deserved a happy ending, but the world never intended to give it to her. In many eyes, she wasn't fit to survive, but she did. She crawled her way through this world for as long as could—how much more could she take? How much more could she take?

But in the end, promises were broken as this world wasn't meant for her. And as the devil found her and promised her the world, she foolishly believed the promises of a fallen angel. The devil couldn't save her. He only took what was best for her and ruined it. He ruined the promised salvation. The salvation that was needed for everyone. Because on that night, died their only hope for a better tomorrow. That night, a simple woman unleashed darkness into the man who was barely held together by love.

Now there was no love. And the Fold thundered louder.

and this is the end! please read the epilogue (already published) to get to the end of the book! thank you all so much for giving this book a chance and supporting it! your words and your opinions matter to me a lot!

now, to explain why the ending is like this - I know it might seem out of nowhere, or quick, but it has been foreshadowed in Genya's book. The plan has been all along to bring down the tone from very happy to a disaster. It is a recreation of how quickly and unexpectedly you can lose someone you love - one second they are there, and the other are gone. Let's appreciate what we have and who is with us because every second matters!

yours truly, sunny