Shadows
The characters are not mine, they belong to the Grisha trilogy and its characters belong to Leigh Bardugo. the television series Shadow & Bone, which was developed by Eric Heisserer for Netflix and based on the books by Leigh Bardugo.
Note: the story will be based on the series from chapter 5 and parts of the book.
CHAPTER 1
We entered the war room, my stomach still feels a sense of emotion for the flowers that the general just gave me, I feel like in a cloud of feelings.
"I don't remember this being on the show," I mention trying to hide my excitement at being alone with him.
"It is not". He answers me as he turns on a small headlamp, which dimly illuminates the room, causing an expectant scene. I can't help but smell the bouquet myself as I watch it.
I don't know how he knew they were my favorites, no one had ever given me flowers before, I still remember when I told Mal that they were my favorites, thinking that maybe one day he would give them to me, however, that never happened and now our paths are have separated. I slowly walk to the side of the table while laying my Irises on it.
"Perhaps you prefer to attend the vein." Aleksander mentions, as he approaches me.
"Mary, he'll manage." I reply confident that Mary will enjoy that dinner more than me, full of superficial people who only think about their wealth and how much power they have, however I think my dear friend will be happy for the hearty food and the algos of most people around.
"She alone?", He answers me with all mockery.
"She's got Genya", I say just smiling at him helplessly.
"Ahh, well then I guess, maybe she'll be fine. Don't you think?", he says as he approaches me slowly, only inches away from me.
I am so mesmerized by his closeness that I can only weakly nod my head at his question.
I see how he gets closer to me and looks at my lips, without being able to avoid them, we both end that separation and join our lips in a kiss, at first it is soft and tentative, but little by little it becomes more passionate, my hands move towards his neck, looking more like me.
My skin starts to feel like energy running through it, similar to when I summon. He places one of his hands on my cheek holding it and the other on my back pulling me closer to him. Suddenly he grabs my legs and carries me to get up and sit on the table so I can be more at his height, all this happens without our kiss breaking. I feel how he begins to caress my leg going up to his hand to my waist, when suddenly he stops.
"Are you sure?" he asks in a broken voice, looking into my eyes. Looking at him I see that a dark aura surrounds him and that my skin glows softly.
Without thinking much I feel again, but in a more firm and urgent way. He still seems to think though he grabs the lapels of his kefta and pulls him closer to me, rejoining our lips. His touch grows stronger, as does my need for more of him. But suddenly there is a knock on the door, pulling us out of our bubble. My skin begins to lose the brightness that he had acquired and the general dark aura of him.
As we part I can't help but laugh in embarrassment at the way we were practically on top of each other. Another more insistent knock is heard at the door, Aleksander gives me one last kiss, before heading to the door to see who he is. While he watches what happens, I get up from the table and try to calm down, straightening my clothes and hood, trying to look as normal as possible, in case someone comes in. But no one enters, I just watch as he closes the door and walks quickly towards me.
"Something happens?" I ask in a weak voice.
"It's nothing" I replied confidently and calmly, "I'll leave my guards outside"
"I'll wait for you," I reply. As he cups my cheek in his hand, he quickly turns around and heads for the exit, however in a second he turns and comes back to me for another kiss.
I can't help but smile at him as he lets go of me and walks away.
As soon as the door closes and he has left, another door that was hidden in the war room opens. Out of fright, I form a ball of light thinking that something is going to rob me, but the one who comes out of the door is Baghra.
"Come with me", he tells me in an authoritative tone as always.
"What are you…." I try to ask her when she walks over to me and grabs her hand pulling me towards the hidden door.
"Silly girl, there's no time to waste," she says as she pulls me.
"No, no" I try to tell him
"You must leave this place," she simply tells me as he pushes me into the passageway behind the hidden door.
"Why?" I ask, but she keeps pushing me away.
Close the door and take a torch that is on the wall.
"I'm trying to save you, before you live your whole life as a slave", she tells me as she walks towards some old stairs, however, I don't follow her, I stand still without processing what she has told me.
"Come silly girl, what are you waiting for", she tells me while she turns to see me, without knowing where I take strength from and I answer her firmly.
"No, I won't go anywhere with you until you explain to me what's going on, if there's a problem, we'll talk to Alek, I mean General Kirigan, he'll know what to do"
"That you don't understand, that I am trying to save you from him, he is not who you think, he has lived for many years, using various names and serving different kings, I have no doubt that he is trying to save the Grisha, that is why he thinks use the shadow as a weapon" he tells me as he firmly holds my hand again.
"No, he wants to destroy the shadow, repair the damage of his ancestor." I withdraw my hand from his grasp.
"Girl understand, I think the shadow, he is the black heretic, I warned him not to do things he did not understand, but in a moment of anger and pain he made the wrong decisions, now he plans to use you to be able to cross the shadow and to be able to spread it towards whoever he thinks is his enemy and annihilate him. He has sent for Morozova's deer, a powerful amplifier that if you use it in a certain way you can control the powers of another Grisha "he explained to me in a calm and cold way.
"And how do you know that?" I ask him without being able to believe his words. In that he stares at me, raises his hand and turns it causing shadows to start climbing the walls. "You're his mother," I reply affirming rather than asking.
"Yes, that's why I know what I'm telling you, we must leave as soon as possible, I have people loyal to me who will help us", he tells me as he turns back towards the stairs.
"No, I won't go, I'll stay and face him", I tell him firmly staying in my place.
"You really are a silly girl, you don't understand that if you stay you are going to condemn yourself and the others", she answers me irritably.
"You said yourself, it's a bad idea to make decisions out of pain and hate, I know I can face him and if what he says is really true, I'll fight him to the end, even if I have to sacrifice myself" I reply trying to calm the knot in my throat that is forming.
"What could you do against him? Come on, try to fight a general who has been planning his final strategy for hundreds of years", she answers me in a mocking tone.
"If I die of nothing, right, right?, don't do anything Baghra, against Aleksander if you see me fail, do everything you have to do", I answer him with a cold voice, without waiting for an answer I turn and go back to open the secret door to return to the war room. I close the door behind me, not realizing if Baghra is still there or gone.
I sit on a chair in a corner and finally allow myself to cry, while I cry, Aleksander really asks me, does he love me, for who I am or for my power? What Baghra says is true, the only way to stop him is for him to die or for me to do so.
I have never been devout, but I pray to the saints that Baghra has lied to me and everything is false, Aleksander, without Genya and the little palace I will be alone, Mal has turned her back on me for being a Grisha, which bothered him so much.
In that I listen to the start as it will be and Aleksander enters… ..
The moment he walks in, he searches for me with his eyes and locates me right away. I know you can tell I've been crying. He immediately walks over to me and crouches down, facing me to be on my level.
"What's wrong, Alina?" He asks me, holding my hands.
I remove my hands from hers and immediately stand up away from her closeness that only confuses my senses. I take several breaths trying to control myself and calm down for what I am going to say. I try to think of how to tell her that I know everything. But since I don't know how to start, I decide to tell him everything at once.
"I know that you are the black Heretic and that you created the shadow, I also know that you want to control me with Morozova's deer, in order to use the shadow as a weapon, so tell me that all this is true", I say with a firm voice looking at him to the eyes.
He has already straightened up and looks back at me with a hint of surprise, which he quickly hides behind a blank stare.
"Who told you that?", is the only thing that answers me.
"It doesn't matter, who told me, what matters is that I want you to tell me the whole truth, please" I say the last word with a bit of desperation.
"It's true I created the shadow, I didn't plan it, I did it because the king I served then betrayed me, after having helped him win the war, he felt afraid and tried to catch me and in the process I killed people I cared about, I tried to use Morozova's old science to make his men become my personal army, but something went wrong and instead they became beasts just like all the people left inside the shadow", he tells me all this with voice tired, as he turns his back to me and looks at a map of Ravka, which is hanging on the wall.
"Volcra them", I whisper to myself, I can't believe he turned all those people into monsters, but he didn't do it on purpose, I know. And for some strange reason I have memories of when I was a child and I chose to lie to the Grisha examiners so they wouldn't take me away from Mal, I had my reasons, selfish I know. Now that I think about it, maybe it wasn't the best decision, but I don't regret what I did, and I'm sure the general doesn't regret having created the shadow.
We stay in silence until I regain strength and ask him:
"Do you want to use Morozova's deer to control my powers and make a weapon of the shadow?" I ask. Finally he turns around and looks at me directly.
…
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