Disclaimer: I don't own the Grisha Trilogy and its characters – it belongs to Leigh Bardugo. I do not own the Shadow & Bone TV series, which was developed by Eric Heisserer for Netflix and based on Leigh Bardugo's books.
Warning for non-explicit domestic abuse (not Darklina)
Inspired by the Roald Dahl short story Lamb to the Slaughter. Slightly expanded from a previous Twitter prompt fill.
Alina often wonders when it all went wrong with Mal.
Best friends. Childhood sweethearts. Married as soon as Alina turned eighteen.
They were happy, at least to begin with. Alina looked after their home and supplemented their income with painting commissions, while Mal worked as a police officer.
It seemed to happen gradually. More arguments, Mal's late nights and increased drinking, then the lipstick stains on his collar in shades that Alina has never owned.
The final straw is when he hits her. Not just a light slap, but something more that nearly knocks her off her feet.
She has to cake her face in makeup for almost two weeks while the marks fade. It would have been easier to stay inside as much as possible, but there are still errands to be completed – Mal might have made a weak attempt at an apology for his temper, but he never even thinks to go and do the food shopping himself, or to offer to drop off the various paintings that Alina has been working on.
She knows better than to even think of mentioning this to the police, or any of the police wives she is vaguely friendly with. The force protects their own, the law is rarely on a wife's side in such matters and very few people will believe that Mal – with his charming smile and good looks and jovial demeanour – would hurt her.
She stays, because there is nowhere else for her to go. Her paintings might help her scrape a living if she increased the number of commissions, but if she even thinks of leaving Mal then she is sure he'll set out to ensure she can never support herself. He's always had a bit of a vindictive streak, although it hasn't been aimed at her until recently, and he absolutely despises being humiliated – if she leaves him then he will never forgive her, will only seek to make her regret it for the rest of her life.
She stays, but she knows she'll never love him again.
It doesn't matter how many cheap bouquets or trinkets he gives her, Alina won't forget what he has done.
She may be his wife in name and law, but she'll keep her heart safe from him now.
The affair with Mal's uncle Sasha is never planned. He simply stops by one evening to find her crying and coaxes the whole story out of her. Her husband's neglect, his cheating, the first smack, and how angry (and sometimes violent) he gets when he is drunk.
What begins as comfort soon turns into something more, Alina finding the stability and care with Sasha that she has now realised she will never have with Mal.
Sasha isn't a good man, she knows. He has a successful and legitimate business, but there are enough rumblings to suggest he also has other, less legal, dealings. Still, he never even thinks to raise a hand to her, treats her gently and reverently. He admires her paintings, takes her on trips to the stables he owns so they can go horse riding, and has long conversations with her about their shared interest in history.
It's a tragedy they didn't become properly acquainted before, that she had been blinded by Mal's superficial charm and found herself trapped in a now-loveless marriage.
Sasha doesn't beat around the bush. He offers to have Mal taken care of.
Alina worries, though. Mal is a police officer, one beloved by all his colleagues, and she knows they will investigate thoroughly if he is found in an alleyway, beaten to death or shot. Sasha insists he can make it look like an accident, but Alina still begs him to hold off for the moment.
After all, she can't ask him to risk prison cleaning up her mess. He insists he won't ever be caught or convicted, but Alina knows nothing is guaranteed and she couldn't bear it if he were locked away protecting her.
In the end, though, she is forced to make a decision.
Alina misses her period. To begin, she wonders if it's just stress, only to panic when it happens again for a second month.
She knows in her heart that this baby Sasha's, not her husband's. She and Mal have been sleeping together less and less, and most of the time he falls asleep in a drunken stupor before he can even finish inside her.
She cannot stay with Mal, cannot bring a child into a house with a violent man, cannot deprive Sasha of the opportunity to raise his child.
Alina is sure that Mal will never accept a divorce, that he will refuse to agree that there is anything wrong.
And if he discovers the pregnancy and figures out it isn't his …
She shudders to think what he might do.
No, there is only one way forward. Mal has to die.
She takes out a large leg of lamb from the cellar for their dinner, hoping that with a full stomach, Mal will be in a better mood and less likely to hit her.
What she really needs is a night to think through the best way to kill her husband. Perhaps asking Sasha to talk to some of his people really is the best way, but the thought of someone other than her or Sasha being involved makes her nervous.
There is no time to consider it further, however, as Mal storms in, clearly having had a bad day at work. He seems unreasonably furious at her for having dared to bring out the lamb.
"It's far too much for two people, Alina, and I'm going out anyway."
She argues back, sick of him expecting her to just take it. They go back and forth in hisses, determined even in their anger not to let on to the neighbours that they're fighting.
(she doesn't want anything that can be used against her, if anyone's suspicions fall onto her).
It's almost like a fog descends. At least, that's how Alina thinks of it when she tries to remember the moment. He steps forward menacingly, hand raised as if he is about to strike her, and she grabs the one weapon she has to hand.
And so, Malyen Oretsev dies through a blow to the head with a frozen leg of lamb. Undignified and really rather deserved, in Alina's opinion.
When the shock of what she's done has worn off, Alina starts to think practically.
She can't go to prison, not when she's got a child on the way, not when she'll finally be able to be with Sasha properly (at least once a socially acceptable mourning period is over).
She looks at the lamb, looks at the body, looks at the oven and then she smiles.
Alina goes to the grocer, talks about what she's planning to make for Mal's dinner, smiles and laughs like it's just an ordinary day.
When she returns, the smell of slowly cooking meat filling the air, and finds Mal's body right where she left it, she lets out an almighty scream, forces some tears out and then calls the police.
Alina is familiar with the two policemen – Dubrov and Mikhael – who arrive, since they're Mal's best friends. She's never liked either of them – they're crass and rude and irritating – but she's careful not to show it, not wanting to arouse any suspicion or ill-will.
They pat her awkwardly on the back, offer their condolences and search the house, never once even considering that Alina (poor, grieving, frail, newly-widowed Alina) has anything to do with the murder.
In the end, they conclude Mal was killed by an intruder with a large blunt object and assure her that as soon as they find the murder weapon, they'll have their killer.
The oven pings and Alina turns to them, eyes damp, "you've both been working so hard and the two of you must be absolutely starving. This … it was meant to be our dinner and I just couldn't eat a bite of it, I'm so broken up about Mal … But I don't want the meat to go to waste – it's such a lovely leg of lamb, you know."
They accept the offer of a meal gratefully, working their way through it as Alina sits next to them and periodically lets out a small sob that has them looking at her with sympathy.
"You know," Dubrov says with a mouth full of meat, "I bet the weapon's right under our noses, we just haven't spotted it yet."
Mikhael nods his agreement, "absolutely right. Stashed in the house or somewhere nearby, I'm sure of it."
Alina cries noisily again and blows her nose to distract from the fact that her mouth is curving into a smile.
There is another round of platitudes and condolences, confident assurances that they'll search the house and neighbourhood top to bottom.
"We'll get him, Mrs Oretsev," Dubrov says, "don't you worry."
"That's right," Mikhael adds, "Mal will have justice."
"I … I'm just so grateful," Alina murmurs, dabbing at her cheeks with a handkerchief, "would you … would you excuse me. I'm a mess and there are so many calls I'm going to have to make. Mal's uncle Aleksander will be devastated."
They nod frantically, clearly terrified of the idea of a weepy woman.
Alina walks out and upstairs to the bathroom, carefully shuts the door and then begins to giggle, covering her mouth to muffle the sound.
If only everyone knew how easy it was to get away with murder.
Alina and Sasha marry six months later.
It's quite soon, of course, but everyone nods when they talk gravely of wanting Alina's child to have a father figure.
So good of Morozov, people murmur, to look after his nephew's poor widow that way. And he's very good with the new baby, not a word of complaint about the child not being his, looking after the little girl as if she truly is his very own daughter.
Such a tragedy, they say, that Malyen Oretsev's killer was never found. It must be such a hard thing for his widow to never have that closure in her life.
The police force commission a memorial to their fallen comrade. Alina attends, about ready to give birth, and cries so pathetically that no one presses her to say a few words.
Later, when baby Anya is six months old, the Morozov family moves away, citing the need for a fresh start.
They make it a point to never think of Mal again.
Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.
You can find me on Twitter under the username Keira_63. At the moment I pretty much just post mini prompt fics.
