Craving
Aleksander viciously paced the outline of our tent countless times. He was angry. His anger rolled off him in waves of fury that made me feel uneasy. The healer attending to my wounds and broken ribs finished and left quickly. The pain that had once been excruciating was now nothing more than a dull throb. I waited for Aleksander to yell, to scold me for being so foolish. His overprotectiveness was starting to become annoying.
"Why do you insist on acting like such a fool, Alina?" Aleksander roared. " You should know better by now."
His words stung. Did he still see me as the same weakling student that I was at the Little Palace? I would have to prove him otherwise.
"I handled myself perfectly fine," I yelled back at him. " I do not need your protection, Aleksander. Which is something you never seem to understand."
He was silent and took to studying me with his piercing grey eyes. "What's your plan with Zoya?" He moved closer to where I was resting on the bed. "Why not just kill her and be done with it already?"
I stared back at him. " Death would have been too kind."
I told Aleksander of my plan on how I plan to use Zoya to break Nikolai.
"I'm impressed." His lips formed into a coy smile. " I would have never expected such brutality from you."
"I'm an apt pupil, remember?" I said, returning his smile.
He laughed. Isn't it strange how you can love a noise a person makes? That a single noise from them can make you feel nothing but happiness. "That you are," he replied, still smiling.
My naked body suddenly felt hot and trapped beneath the layers of fur. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood. I stretched my side and turned to face Aleksander. The want in his eyes was impossible to miss. He was hungry for me, for my flesh. He was hungry for my soul.
I stepped closer to him.
"When do you plan to start with Zoya?" His voice came out rough but his eyes never faltered from mine.
"Very soon," I said bluntly.
I did not want to talk about Zoya. She can wait. I just want to feel him.
I stepped closer again, the space between us diminishing into mere inches.
"You should rest," Aleksander whispered. His eyes wandered down my body. "I should leave."
He didn't leave, he stayed exactly in place. I reached out and cupped his cheek with my hand, my body flush against his. " Is that really what you want?" I whispered into his ear. I trailed kiss after kiss along the nape of his neck until my mouth hovered over his. When I finally kissed him I did not hold back. I felt the connection between us burst open with such a strong craving for lust, for desire. I wanted him to throw me down on our bed and explore every inch of my body with his hungry mouth. He deepened the kiss, biting my bottom lip. I could taste the blood on my tongue. He lifted me off the ground with my legs wrapped around his waist and shoved me hard down onto the bed. I was laid out bare before him and I loved it. I loved the way his eyes looked at me with greed, with selfishness. My hands clawed at his clothes, ripping them from his body. I could not take it any longer. I needed him inside me.
Aleksander's voice was cold against my skin, "I promise, I will not be gentle with you."
He lived up to his promise. He was all teeth and claws and I had never loved him more than in that moment.
"You're staring," I said to Aleksander.
"I like to stare at what's mine," He said.
We laid entwined together in the dark, neither one of us making an effort to move. We should though. We have a war to win, an enemy to defeat. But at this moment, what laid behind the walls of our tent simply ceased to exist.
I stayed quiet. My fingers tracing patterns on his skin.
"Look at me, Alina," Aleksander said, lifting my chin with his hand. My eyes locked onto his. I could see the happiness in his eyes.
"What it is?" I asked with slight curiosity.
He planted a kiss to my forehead. "I have lived alone for many centuries," he said, his voice tingling against my skin. " I have outlived countless kings and queens and even Grisha. I have molded myself into The Darkling, The Black Heretic." His voice dropped to a whisper. " I have been feared and hated by so many, but I have been so very, very rarely loved." tears pricked the corners of my eyes. This was his confession of love. This was his soul made flesh. "I no longer want to live eternity's alone."
I held my breath.
"Marry me?"