The most important part of war was not the battle itself, but the strategy behind it. There would be no victory without a plan and no reward without a strategist. The best strategist even knew when and how to lose, therefore to never have lost at all. Aleksander had learned that as soon as it was clear to him immortality was worth more when he was fighting for himself and what he believed in, because he was going to be the only one left. Years worth of fallen armies and betrayals didn't matter if he was going to be the only one left to see what he considered his greatest work of art. While the rest of the world dined on fairytales and wishful endings, the Darkling was climbing the ranks of the army and establishing his place in history.
The Darkling knew he was immortal, untouchable because no one could ever be his equal. That was until Alina Starkov. Then his ideals were destroyed, ruined by the mere existence of a little girl.
He had always planned for a sun summoner, years dedicated to careful plans and schemes all for the benefit of Ravka, for himself, for the Grisha. Aleksander prided himself on his meticulous plans that had brought him everything, from his position as the General to the army itself. Which was why Aleksander couldn't fathom how Alina Starkov managed to change centuries worth of careful objectives.
He was centuries old, and in his lonely existence, his mother was the only one who was truly unafraid of him. She was the only one who understood him, who knew what had made him into the man he was. It never occurred to him that Alina wouldn't fall into place like the rest of his soldiers.
When she had stood in front of him for the very first time, both fear and stubbornness radiating off her small stature, he knew she was going to be much more than a pawn, more than a forgetful face that was eventually going to leave him. She may not have been his equal as a child, but he would change that. At least he hoped too. (Later on he would learn that she didn't need him to make her his equal at all.)
He portrayed himself to her differently, the facade of a man who wasn't scarred by war and remorse, it was just another part of his plan for Ravka. Yet the more time he spent listening to her curiosity and the unforgettable why she handled herself, his act became less of a facade. He saw the changes in himself when she would give her child-like confessions. He saw them when she was mesmerized by his shadows. He saw them when she would gravitate towards him, knowing he would protect her above all else.
He knew why she was different, why he would gravitate towards her as much as she did him. Most of Ravka, if not all, had certain labels for him. Heretic, General, Savior, Abomination. No matter, they all saw him in whatever way fit their own narratives, whether he was the hero coming to lead their country, or the dark force coming to destroy it.
Alina saw him as what he was. She knew he wasn't a good man, she knew that no person could live within the walls of the Little Palace and grow up to be anything but a good liar or even worse, a sycophant. So it had shocked him when he realized she didn't see him as the man who saved her from a forgetful life as an orphan, or even as a monster who ruthlessly inadvertently slaughtered hundreds for his own agenda.
Maybe it filled the loneliness he didn't know had a tight grip around his heart. Over the centuries he had grown weary and more guarded with his trust, with what pieces of himself he was willing to give away. Except Alina changed that for him. She was a small little girl, who continuously lost to a war she wasn't a part of, yet still so ready to accept a fate she didn't ask for. He admired that, he couldn't even say he saw that quality in himself, it was something he had learned along the way.
So instead of giving away pieces of himself to Alina that he would've carefully constructed, she took what she needed from him herself. If she needed someone to protect her, she coaxed promises out of him he wouldn't dare break. When she needed someone to be proud of her accomplishments, he praised her with gifts and pretty words. When she needed someone to remember her in the same way he wanted someone to know the long forgotten version of himself, he had given her his name.
He didn't like the idea of leaving Alina behind. But no matter what he was to Alina, it didn't change that he was the General of the Second Army, and his soldiers needed him as well. So when he had gotten word that they needed him on the border between Ravka and Shu Han, he planned for a week-long trip. Too long he felt to be away from Alina, with only her guards and Genya, but it was the least amount of time he could allow for the Army. Three weeks would've been better, four and he probably could win the battle himself, but the borders were no longer his priority.
He knew that Alina had grown too attached to him, not that he minded. She had slowly become his little shadow, immersing herself almost too well with the ones he summoned to surround her. So before he was set out to leave, he intended to ensure she knew he was coming back.
He waited by the entrance of the Grand Palace where Alina and Genya were due to come out soon, and it wasn't long before they emerged, both with a sour expression they usually had after lessons with the children from court.
The rest of the Grand Palace children flinched away from him and stood at the top of the stairs, blatantly watching the interaction with enough distance they deemed as safe. He paid no mind to them.
"Alina, Genya." He greeted them, nodding his head at them.
" Moi Soverennyi. " Genya bowed slightly, then stepped away to stand with the oprichniki. He smiled softly at her, silently thanking that if he wasn't around, then at least Alina would have her closest friend. He'd once seen Genya as another weapon to infiltrate the Grand Palace, but Alina had changed that too. He saw qualities in Genya that were similar to Alina, and he wasn't sure when he had stopped thinking of her as a weapon.
"Are we going somewhere?" Alina asked immediately. He kneeled before her and his face turned stoic.
"No, Solnyshko." He sighed lightly and brushed her hair behind her ear. "I'm needed on the border near Shu, the army needs help."
"But I can't go, can't I?" Alina pouted, looking up at him with big eyes. He usually would have caved had she been begging for sweets or to ride the horses, but not for this.
"No, Alina, it's dangerous." He warned her, and maybe he would've picked her up if there weren't people watching their interaction. "I have to leave immediately, but I wanted to come and say goodbye first."
"Well, I don't want a goodbye." She said petulantly.
He laughed at her pursed lips and ran his finger across her cheek so she would drop the expression. Satisfied when he spotted that ever present stubbornness. "It won't be longer than a week."
"And then you'll be back?" She demanded.
"And then I'll be back." He promised, producing a shadow to capture her attention. Her eyes automatically focused on it and she weaved her fingers through the tendrils. He knew she was enamoured by his shadows, that it would only take just the lightweight feeling of the soothing texture to sway her opinions.
"Okay." Alina huffed out a breath. Then, for just a moment, she looked up at him with wide eyes and held onto the edge of his kefta tightly. "Be careful."
"Don't worry, Solnyhko." He said, and then got on his horse and rode off the grounds. He could feel her dark eyes looking into his back and for a moment he contemplated turning around. But the army needed him, and there had to be an army left for when Alina was ready.
While the Darkling was grateful and took pride in the army he built, there was a certain point at which their loyalty was met with annoyance. Ever since he had arrived at the border, everyone had turned to him immediately. While that was his job as the General, he did want to assume that people in places of power he had appointed would be able to handle a situation without him. But he was sorely disappointed by their incompetence.
He was leaning over the makeshift table in the tent he had set up, pouring over maps and strategies to come up with an attack to push the Shu Han back. Most of his plans were violent and aggressive, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but he was trying to find a way to sacrifice the least amount of soldiers. The Shu Han were a priority, but it wasn't his biggest concern.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes for a moment, thinking back over the years he'd held the same position, how it seemed as if the people had become more and more incompent. Taking a deep breath he turned around and sat heavily in his chair, allowing for the burden of the country's well-being to rest heavily on his shoulders. It wasn't something he tended to dwell on often, but sometimes the feeling had a habit of clutching onto him and keeping him shackled to a fate he decided for himself.
A map happened to catch his eye when he opened them again. It was a frayed piece of paper, one that he was very familiar with because it was the same paper he kept in the war room for Alina to sketch on. It was a recreation of the border between Ravka and Shu Han; she'd probably drawn it on one of her lazy days sitting in the middle of the war table. Admittedly there was less detail and precision as the maps that were drawn by the cartographers, she was only nine years old so he didn't expect much, but it was better than the average child. Then again, being raised as a soldier in the army, maps were what she prefered than picture books.
"General!" One of his personal oprichniki shouted, running in the tent unannounced. Aleksander immediately placed the map down and fixed him with a sharp stare.
"What is it?" He demanded. It wasn't an unkind tone, but certainly one he adopted over the years when speaking to the army. One that conveyed his importance.
The oprichniki was panting and looked terrified. "It's the Sun Summoner, moi soverennyi, she's-she's missing."
Not even a moment later, Aleksander was on his horse. Nothing but the rage blinding his vision, the newfound anxiety crushing his chest, and her little map clutched in his hands.
A dark, unsettling cold had cast over the Little Palace as the Darkling rode through the front gates, his horse nearly about to collapse from exhaustion. The control he had acquired over the years was failing him as the shadows reacted on instinct and started lurking through the palace, looking for any trace of the missing girl.
" Moi soverennyi." All four of Alina's personal oprichniki were kneeling before him the moment he stepped into the palace, looking guilty and fearful.
"What happened?" He demanded in a stern voice, harsh enough for all four of the guards to flinch back.
The tallest of the four, the one he noticed Alina tended to cling to the most, stepped forward and refused to meet the General's eyes. "From what we could gather, Katerina, her personal maid, poisoned us. Once we fell unconscious, she took Alina from her room. We're sorry, moi soverennyi. "
"Where's Natalia?" Aleksander snapped, disregarding their apologies.
"Dead." The guard answered promptly. "Katerina killed her."
"Genya?" He asked next. He had placed multiple precautions around Alina, Genya being one of them. Despite the little girl's age and stature, she was well on her way to becoming one of the brightest and best spies in the army. Aleksander had known that the moment he met her, which was why she was receiving extra training. Taking combat lessons well before the other children and private lessons to learn the art of deception.
"The infirmary." The guard responded promptly. "She told us-"
"I'll speak to her myself." The Darkling said harshly, cutting off the guard. "I want every available body searching the Little and Grand Palace. Question the staff, question anyone who came in and out of the Palaces', and I want her maid found."
Without waiting for a confirmation, he made his way to the healers. The moment he walked in, all the healers stopped in their movements, the usually busy place settled in a hesitant silence.
"Genya." He commanded, spotting the red headed girl at the back of the room. She had a bandage pressed to the side of her head and looked pale, but he assumed that had more to do with the fact that she was worried rather than injured.
"General." She greeted, her voice wavering in both guilt and fear, just like the guards. It was odd coming from her little form, a small girl carrying the same burden and guilt as men hardened by war.
He calmly sat at the edge of her bed and fixed her with a dark stare. Not one of anger or particularly directed at her. "What happened?"
"I heard Natalia first," Genya started, staring intently at her hands, like the lines would help her remember the events of her best friend's kidnapping, "I heard her run into Alina's room. A second later I heard my door lock from the outside, but I picked it."
"Then?" He prompted, less concerned with her well being than Alina's. While it was cruel, the General never pretended to be a kind or fair man.
"I saw the oprichniki unconscious on the floor in front of Alina's room and Natalia hobbling in , she caught me sneaking out and pushed me back inside my room. She told me to wait till I knew it was safe and then to get a message to you."
"What else did you see?" He asked sharply. Genya flinched back and for only a second, the General felt remorse for the little girl. She was only Alina's age, but he had tasked her with far more responsibility.
"I waited till Natalia had gone inside Alina's room before following. I barely made it out the door before Katerina slammed my head into the wall. I don't remember anything after that." Genya responded. Her tone wavered even more, and it took Aleksander a moment to realize she was crying. "Forgive me, General, I-"
"Genya." He said sternly, just enough to make her look up. She stared back with guilt and tears shining in her ethereally pretty eyes. "I'm not upset with you. Rest, I'll find her and bring her home."
Two hours, that's how long it'd taken for Aleksander to turn the Little Palace into a hostile fortress. He had immediately sent all the guards to search the grounds. The Palace staff was tasked with searching the building and every other building on the grounds. He had looked through Alina's room himself, hoping to find some clue about what had happened.
After finding nothing that he didn't already know from talking to the guards and Genya, he had Natalia's body removed to be properly buried. The blood was cleaned from Alina's bed and the carpets. He didn't want her to come home to her room, something he knew she cherished as it was one of the first things to ever belong to her after the orphanage, as a reminder of her trauma.
Aleksander leaned over the edge of his war table, with all his emotions running raw. Anger, disappointment, rage, remorse, regret. He should've known better, he should've seen the classic signs of vengeance in Katerina, afterall he was no stranger to them.
No matter, when he got ahold of Katerina, she would pay her debt. There would be no mercy for her soul, for she condemned it the moment she went against the Darkling.
" Moi soverennyi?" One of his oprichniki called from the doorway. "We've searched the whole Palace, the Sun Summoner isn't here. No sign of Katerina either."
Aleksander gripped the edge of his war table till he could feel the splinters embedding in his skin. "Has the staff seen anything?"
"Only the kitchen staff has informed us that Katerina had gone down late the night of the disappearance and prepared pastries, presumably for Alina's oprichniki. We think she poisoned them and that's why they were unconscious." He responded.
"Extend the search, look beyond the grounds, mostly the forest. She would've gone that way to avoid witnesses." The Darkling commanded, unable to keep out the harsh edge in his tone. "Try to keep this away from the Royals and the Apparat."
The guard nodded dutifully and backed away, ready to send out his new orders.
He needed to find Alina soon, especially before the King or the Apparat found out. He didn't want to give them any reason to make power play for her, especially since it was clear the King already wanted Alina flaunted as a weapon in front of the royals. While the Apparat wanted to lock her away as a figurehead for their dying country. But Alina was not destined for either of those things. She was going to save them all, with her power, with her light, she was going to burn it all to the ground and rebuild it from the ashes.
Alina, despite being unconscious and covered in evidence of her kidnapping, Aleksander thought she was beautiful. Even just for a moment, a true saint.
The moment his mother had brought her into the Little Palace, limp and covered in blood, Aleksander had nearly brought the Palace down in his relief. His shadows receded from every inch of the grounds and surrounded her little frame, as if they could protect like he failed too.
"How did you find her?" He demanded of his mother as soon as she alerted the Palace that she'd found Alina.
"She found me." Baghra responded, looking down worriedly at the little girl Aleksander had immediately taken from her arms. "Her maid is confined outside my hut."
Except Aleksander had long since stopped listening to his mother in favor of taking Alina to see a healer. After bursting into the infirmary, demanding someone attend to her wounds, even though it wasn't as if he needed to command them at all. Everyone was fond of Alina for many reasons, her own charm and sweet nature, and the fact that the Darkling was always a little more merciful if she was by his side.
It had taken three healers, one to fix her shattered wrist, another to heal the cut on her head, and one more to check her over for more injuries. Aleksander waited for them all to leave before sitting down beside her and using a wet cloth to help remove some of the blood staining her hands and face. She was still unconscious, and the healers had warned him she'd probably stay that way to help herself heal mentally.
"I'm sorry, Solnyshko." He whispered against her forehead and placed a light kiss on her temple.
He wouldn't allow for this to happen again, not to her. She was supposed to be his equal, his saving grace, she was his as much as Ravka belonged to her.
"Now, Katerina, I am not an irrational man," Aleksander began, standing in front of her with steely eyes and a dark expression, "I could show you mercy, but that depends on what lies you're going to spin."
She jerked her head away from him and laughed lightly. "Lies, lies, lies."
As soon as Aleksander was reassured that Alina was safe, eight guards surrounding her, with Genya by her bedside, and two heartrenders to stand guard as well, he had set out immediately to interrogate her maid.
He had them tie her to a post in the basement of the Palace, and he'd taken a heartrender down as well to detect whether she was lying or not. In addition to the heartrender, he had two oprichniki with them and a squaller.
"Why did you kidnap Alina?" He asked calmly, but it was a silent rage, he just refused to let Katerina gain the upper hand in knowing she had found a weakness in him.
"I saved her." Katerina quipped back, sending him a condescending smile. "You're the one who kidnapped her, no matter how many jewels or pretty words you give her."
A quick glance in the direction of the heartrender told Aleksander that Katerina was telling the truth, which meant she truly did believe her own ramblings.
"How did you get her out of the Palace?" He demanded, stepping closer to her.
"It's an old building, lots of places to hide away." She laughed, rolling her head against the pillar.
Aleksander sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose knowing he wasn't going to get much out of her. She'd lost her mind.
"Who else were you working with?" He asked, his last futile attempt before Katerina met her fate she signed as soon as she took Alina.
"He wants her too." Katerina whispered, looking him dead in the eyes. "He'll come for her again and the people will follow. Like Natalia. She may be a weapon in your eyes, in the King's, but weapons don't last forever. Do you know what they call her? What she will always be in the eyes of the people? A sankta."
And just like that, Katerina signed her death sentence. Her ramblings long forgotten, her betrayal now a reminder, and her head rolling at his feet.
Aleksander had learned a lot about war, about being a strategist over the centuries. But the most important thing he learned was that when things go awry and leaders begin to question their own decisions, the battles begin to reflect their choices and leaders become vengeful. Suddenly fighting the war is not fighting the enemy, but staving off destruction.