Mal and I sat by the lake, staring out over the water. "How are things with Zoya?"
He shrugged. "It's really just sex, nothing more. Good sex though." I could feel heat rising in my cheeks. Mal laughed. "Why are you blushing? Surely you're passed all that."
"Apparently not," I grumbled.
"You mean to tell me that after all these months you and the Darkling haven't…"
"No!" I interrupted, cheeks burning.
"All Saints, what are you waiting for, Alina?"
I concentrated on the smooth water of the lake. "I don't know." But I did know, I could not give away that part of myself to a man I couldn't trust. As much as it hurt me to admit it, I still didn't fully trust Aleksander. I still didn't know if he was sincere when he told me he loved me.
"Alina," Mal reached over and squeezed my hand. "If something is wrong, you can tell me."
After all this time, I couldn't possibly tell Mal the entire story. It was still just as likely he'd get himself killed if I did. "Nothing's wrong, not exactly. Aleksander is…he's…he's a lot. I'm just not ready."
Mal smiled. "I can see how he might be a lot. The most powerful Grisha in the world. The second most powerful man in Ravka. You will be ready at some point.. I've seen the two of you together enough to know…you will be, and it will be wonderful."
Saints, I hope so. All I could do was give him a watery smile.
Mal reached down to the cold water of the lake and splashed me in the face. I gasped with shock and he sprang to his feet and took off running. "Malyen Oretsev!" I yelled as I got to my own feet and chased after him. "I'm going to kill you!"
I chased him all over the grounds, just as we used to do as children in Keramzin. We ran until we both collapsed, laughing and gasping for breath.
"I'm sorry," Mal wheezed, "but you looked entirely too serious."
Aleksander carried his kefta under his arm. His undershirt was soaked with sweat from our private training session with Botkin and clinging to him in a most delightful way. Botkin had indeed knocked him on his ass, and when I'd laughed he'd knocked me on mine. If little girl laughs, little girl gets knocked down, too.
"Lunch first or bath first?" Aleksander had just turned to smile at me when the first arrow struck him in the shoulder. I was staring at it in shock when another hit him in the thigh. "Get behind me, Alina!"
Four men stepped out from behind the bushes. Two had bows drawn and the other two had daggers in each hand. They all had blond hair, shaggy beards, and blue eyes, Fjerdans. Aleksander held up his hands, but before he could attack one of the men threw a dagger. It buried itself in Aleksander's left forearm to the hilt. He snarled and slashed the other hand through the air in two quick movements. Two of the men fell dead, beheaded by the Cut.
One of the remaining men threw another dagger and it sliced through Aleksander's side, just as the other loosed an arrow, hitting him low in the abdomen. He fell to his knees. The sight sent me into a frenzy. I placed myself between him and the last two attackers. "Alina, no!" He gasped.
"Stay away from him!" I bellowed. "If you hurt him again, I will string you up by your entrails from the palace walls!"
They started towards me, and I threw up both my hands, slashing them through the air. The two men lurched. For a moment it seemed nothing had happened, then the top halves of their bodies slid cleanly off and they fell to the ground. I had severed them both in two at the waist. I stood for a moment, my blood roaring, arms still raised, my body straining to fight an enemy that was no longer there.
"Alina!" Aleksander rasped.
I turned to him. With what seemed a monumental effort, he pushed himself to his feet. "You're hurt," I sobbed.
"I'll be fine. It's nothing a Healer can't easily fix."
He kept his left hand pressed to the dagger wound in his side, holding it at an odd angle due to the dagger in his forearm. He looped the other arm around me and pulled me to him, careful of the arrows still protruding from his body. His mouth crashed down onto mine. The kiss was like none we had ever shared before. It was filled with a heady combination of lingering terror and giddy relief.
The connection between us burst open as though the doors had been blown off their hinges, and I felt it. How long had it been there without my knowledge as I held those doors closed? The force of it was overwhelming. Not everything is a lie, not everything is manipulation! His love for me cascaded around and through me, powerful and deep, like a river that had burst its banks. My Aleksander, he loves me! I began to weep.
A/N: Woo Hoo! I have WiFi and I'm able to post!