"United We Fall (And Rise Again)"
Alina stood in the small chapel, beaming ecstatically. Genya and David were getting married. Nikolai had offered to make it a big wedding, but the two preferred to keep it small, with just their friends in attendance. It was one of the only bright spots in their lives lately, and Alina was determined to pretend that none of the rest existed right now, just this happy day for their friends. Even Mal, Nadia, Tamar, and Tolya had come for the ceremony. Alina was thrilled to see Mal, even if their interaction was a tad awkward after the long separation while he'd been off playing Sturmhond on the high seas.
David fidgeted anxiously with his kefta. Nikolai went over to him and straightened the embroidered coat, then clapped him on the shoulders.
"You're a lucky man," the king said with a grin.
David blushed. "I know. I don't deserve her."
"Nonsense," Alina piped in. "You both deserve each other. And we're so happy to share this joyous occasion with you."
The Apparat cleared his throat. "It's time."
Alina and Nikolai shared a look; neither of them liked the man. He reminded Alina of a weasel. She would have rather had any other priest officiate the ceremony, but Nikolai had said the Apparat insisted that marriage fell under his purview, and the two of them needed to stay in his good graces. She wanted to know since when did the king need to stay in some stuffy priest's good graces? But today wasn't about them, or the Apparat.
Their small gathering parted to line both sides of the aisle. Alina stood between Nikolai and Mal. Zoya was at the end, and the twins, Nadia, and Adrik were across from them. Genya appeared at the entryway and started making her way toward them. She was also dressed in a kefta. It was a Grisha wedding, so they all were. Even Tolya and Tamar had donned them for this special occasion. Only Nikolai, Mal, and the Apparat wore non-Grisha garb.
Alina couldn't stop beaming at her friend. Genya was wearing a matching eyepatch, and despite the scars that couldn't be hidden, she looked absolutely radiant. Grinning ear to ear with happiness, she took her place beside David.
The Apparat began the ceremony by spouting off about the sanctity of marriage and what a serious commitment it was. Alina tuned him out and merely basked in the momentous joy she could see on her friends' faces.
The explosion that suddenly ripped through the chapel hit Alina with a concussive force that sent her flying. She didn't even feel the collision with the floor, her entire body numb from shock. Everything was weirdly silent as she blinked dazedly through a haze of smoke. Flames flickered over chunks of debris. She couldn't see anyone.
Sound returned with a pop, and then Alina could hear the crackle of fire and creaking of damaged beams threatening to buckle. She pushed herself upright, every inch of her vibrating with pain. Something poked against her stomach, and she reached down to move it. She hissed as she cut her finger on a razor blade embedded in her kefta. She plucked it out and stared at it dumbly for a long moment before the stupor began to clear from her mind.
"Mal!" she called, twisting around. "Genya! Nikolai!"
A groan sounded somewhere to her right, and Alina crawled toward it. She found Mal lying on his side and clutching his arm, which had several metal pieces sticking out of it. Alina stared in confusion for an extra beat, wondering where all these razors had come from.
Mal grunted as he struggled to sit up. Alina grabbed his other shoulder to help brace him.
"Are you okay?" he gasped.
She nodded, though in truth she was still a bit numb from the adrenaline rush to really feel anything. She took a moment to look herself over and found a few more metal pieces caught in some of the embroidery of her kefta. She tried to pluck them out but quickly gave up when she merely cut her fingers again.
"Genya! Genya!" David's frantic yelling reached her ears.
Alina twisted around, trying to see through the smoke and dust.
"I'm fine," Mal said roughly. "Go, I'm fine."
Alina hesitated but ended up tearing herself away and staggering over to where she could see David crouched over someone. It was Genya. She looked stunned and was bleeding from several cuts on her face, but there was no trace of red around the dozens of pieces of metal protruding from her white kefta. The corecloth had stopped the shrapnel. Same with David. Alina tried to think if everyone's keftas had been the corecloth variety.
The Apparat, however, wasn't so lucky. Alina got a glimpse of metal sticking out of his eye before Tolya dropped down to check the man, blocking her view. He turned to her and shook his head before lumbering over to them. Alina spotted Tamar and Adrik helping Nadia up. Everyone had been cut up in the blast, but it seemed they really all had been spared any fatal injuries by their keftas.
And then she remembered the last person who wasn't wearing one. Just as she started frantically looking around for Nikolai, Mal yelled her name. She staggered toward the sound of his voice and found him and Zoya kneeling next to the king. The horrible sounds Nikolai was making made Alina's blood run cold, and she pulled up short at the sight of his white coat quickly turning red from a dozen different spots.
"Genya!" she yelled, dropping down next to Mal.
Nikolai's eyes were blown wide, but he flicked his gaze to her and choked out, "Wh-who's- dead?"
"Just the Apparat," she told him.
He let out a shuddering moan that somehow made his whole body jerk. "I never- liked- that man. Now I feel- guilty."
Alina took his hand and held on tightly. "Don't. Save your energy for more important things." Like staying alive.
Genya and David limped over, and Zoya shifted to Nikolai's head so Genya could kneel down beside him. She moved her hands over his abdomen, brows furrowing at whatever she felt.
"We need to get him out of here," she said firmly.
Alina lifted her head to look around the wreckage; shouldn't help be arriving by now?
"The- others?" Nikolai coughed out.
"They went to get help," David replied.
"They're okay," Alina added. "Our keftas protected us from the worst of the blast."
"Small favors," Nikolai said breathlessly, then turned his head toward Mal. "Are you—"
"I'll live," Mal quickly answered, though he was still clutching his bleeding arm. "We'll get you out first."
Nikolai's throat bobbed, and there was a quiver in his voice as he said, "I can't feel my legs."
They all exchanged alarmed looks at that, and Genya turned her attention back to his injuries. The others made their way over to them.
"The foyer's collapsed," Adrik said. "It'll take time to dig us out."
"We can't wait," Genya responded. "David, I need your help. There's metal inside him."
Alina had to pull herself back, along with Mal, so David could get on the floor across from Genya.
"Pull it out as straight through the wound tract as you can," Genya told him.
David looked nervous as he held his palm over one of the wounds and began to draw the shrapnel out. They went one piece at a time, David removing the metal and Genya attempting to repair the bleeding as he went. Nikolai grew paler by the second, his muscles twitching as he went into shock. Zoya clasped the sides of his head to hold it steady, and perhaps as some means of comfort.
David extracted another piece, but a spurt of blood from an artery followed, and Genya jolted in horror. She quickly worked to slow the bleeding, but she was beginning to shake. The king's life was literally in her hands.
Tamar and Tolya wedged their way in.
"Let us help," Tamar said. "We'll keep his vitals stable."
Genya took a breath to collect herself and refocus on the task at hand.
Nikolai's eyes slipped closed, and Alina didn't know if they were losing him or the twins had put him under.
David paused at another wound. "Genya," he said tremulously. "I can't tell for sure, but I think this piece is touching his spine."
Genya brought her hands in to probe the wound, her expression pinching with fear. "Go very carefully," she said.
Alina watched with bated breath, unable to see what they were sensing as they tried to repair Nikolai's ravaged insides. Muffled shouts sounded from outside, rescuers getting closer yet still too far away.
Mal's breathing was hitched beside her, and Alina looked at him in worry. The blood streaked down his arm turned her stomach, but none of the rest of them had Healer power to tend to him.
He caught her eye and shifted his wounded arm just enough for his fingers to brush hers, indicating he was okay.
The rest of them continued to watch anxiously as Genya, David, and the twins fought for the king's life. Alina's heart dropped into her stomach as the gravity of this finally hit her. Someone had tried to assassinate the king of Ravka. Again. And not just him, but Alina and the Triumvirate in charge of the Second Army as well. Two-thirds of Ravka's leadership could have been wiped out in a single, catastrophic blow.
Alina's heart burned with ire. This was supposed to be Genya's and David's special day. And it made her want to raze all of Fjerda to the ground if they were behind this heinous attack.
David extracted another piece of shrapnel, then rocked back on his haunches. "That's the last one."
Alina looked to Genya fearfully.
"I tried to fix the most dangerous injuries," she said. "But he's in shock and his body isn't responding to healing anymore."
"His heart and breathing are still stable," Tolya reported. "And Tamar and I will continue to keep them that way as long as needed."
"What about his legs?" Zoya spoke up.
Genya faltered. "I tried to repair his spinal cord, but I won't know if I was successful until he wakes up and has feeling back or not."
Alina mentally reeled at that.
She heard their rescuers finally break through the rubble, and the harried shouts became clearer.
"Over here!" Nadia yelled.
As men and women rushed into the ruined chapel, Alina vaguely realized she should take charge. As Nikolai's betrothed, she technically had his authority. But she was too numb to even process what she should say.
Zoya stepped up, though, and barked out orders for a stretcher and to summon the palace Healers to be ready for their arrival. Then they all began to pick their way out of the shattered remains of the building, the wedding, and maybe their lives.
There was no large chamber that served as an infirmary within the Grand Palace, so Nikolai's stretcher was carried straight to his rooms. The Grisha would normally go to the Little Palace for their own treatment, but the twins refused to relinquish their precarious hold on Nikolai's vital organs, and as Genya was the head of the Corporalki Grisha, she didn't leave either. Alina followed them into Nikolai's bedchamber, as did Mal, who remained glued to her side. So it was rather crowded as people scurried about, Healers and generals and senior court officials, all clamoring for answers. Zoya finally took charge and marched everyone who was not essential outside.
The Healers performed only a little Grisha healing on Nikolai before manually cleaning and bandaging his torso.
"You can't heal him further?" Alina worriedly asked.
"Not at the moment," Genya answered. "His body's resources are depleted. He's out of the woods, though, and as he regains his strength, they'll be able to speed the healing along again."
Right. Alina kept forgetting about some of the limitations of Healer power.
Genya then turned to Mal and ushered him to sit in a chair. "Where's David?" she asked, looking around for him.
"He went with Nadia and Adrik to the Little Palace," Mal replied.
Genya sighed and turned to one of the Healers. "I need a Durast."
While they waited for one, Genya healed the superficial cuts and scrapes on Mal's face and hands. She also managed to heal Alina's before the Durast arrived to help remove the shrapnel from Mal's arm.
"Slow and straight out," Genya instructed.
Alina stood on Mal's other side and held his hand throughout the process. He gritted his teeth as each piece of metal was worked free, tearing muscle and flesh further on its way out, but Genya was able to smooth away the small wounds and relieve the pain afterward.
"Are there any elsewhere?" Genya asked the Durast.
"No."
"Good. Thank you."
Only then did Genya submit to a Healer mending her own minor injuries.
The Durast cleared her throat. "Um, your keftas are riddled with shrapnel. You should remove them so you don't accidentally cut yourselves again."
So Alina, Genya, Tolya, and Tamar carefully slipped off their keftas and handed them over to the Durast to clean.
"David Kostyk, Zoya Nazyalensky, and Nadia and Adrik Zhabin's keftas need to be checked as well," Genya said.
The Durast nodded and left.
Alina pulled Genya aside and clasped her hands. "I'm so sorry about the wedding."
Genya just gave her a rueful look. "This is why Ravka can't have nice things."
Alina's heart constricted at that, but it was a familiar sentiment, and one she couldn't argue with, given life experience.
Nikolai was stable enough for Tolya and Tamar to go get themselves treated, and Tamar wanted to find where Nadia had gotten to. Alina stayed with Nikolai, and Mal stayed with her. The two of them didn't talk much, just sat in companionable silence. Alina was glad they could still have that.
When Nikolai regained consciousness, they were both quick to their feet and over to the bed. He moaned and immediately tried to prop himself up on his elbows, and Alina had to gently push him back down.
"Don't," she warned. "You have more healing to do."
"Can you feel your legs?" Mal asked with taut trepidation.
Nikolai looked down at his lower extremities, covered by blankets, and it was a tense moment before Alina saw him move each foot.
"Thank the Saints," she breathed.
Nikolai closed his eyes and dropped his head back against the pillow in sheer relief as well. Then he snapped his eyes open again with an anxious frown. "How is everyone else?"
"They're fine," Alina assured him. "We all got out and seen to."
Nikolai's frown deepened as he eyed Mal. "You're covered in blood."
"Just the stains of a bad memory," Mal said. "Genya already patched me up, and mine went quicker because I hadn't been gutted like a fish."
Nikolai let out a huffed moan. "My insides do still feel like that."
"Genya said the rest would have to come in stages as you regain your strength," Alina relayed.
Nikolai nodded, his expression pinching with regret. "I feel terrible about their wedding."
"Me too," Alina said. They didn't know who exactly was the target. The king, the accursed Sun Summoner, or them both, but it certainly wasn't Genya or David who had brought this on them.
"The Apparat didn't even finish the ceremony," Mal added. "So they're not even technically married yet, are they?"
Alina groaned at that. How many times was the world going to beat those two down?
"We can fix that," Nikolai said. "I do have the power to marry them. As soon as I can stand, we'll do it."
Alina perked up. "Why wait? You could just as easily officiate from your sickbed."
Nikolai arched a brow at her, then broke into a smile. "All right, but a compromise: Mal helps me to a chair. I have to save at least a little of my dignity. And we should all probably change out of these bloodstained clothes."
Alina grinned back. "Deal."
She went to find Nadia, Zoya, Adrik, and the twins to enlist their help first. Nadia and Adrik would keep an eye on Genya and David while the rest of them hastily prepared the king's rooms for the impromptu ceremony. Alina then went to her rooms and changed into a simple dress. She had many gowns in her wardrobe as queen-to-be, and she picked out a lovely pink and gold for Genya to borrow. She stopped by Nikolai's rooms again and found her friends had made quick work. The outer sitting room was decorated with vases of flowers that Alina knew were stolen from some of the parlors. Zoya was lighting candles around the room. It wasn't much, but it set a nice ambience.
Nikolai was wearing a fresh shirt and was seated in a high-back chair, with Tolya hovering behind him and looking as though he were keeping an eye on those wounds. Mal had also cleaned up and was helping Tamar move some of the furniture off to the side.
"Ready for me to retrieve the bride and groom?" Alina asked.
She received the affirmative, and so she hurried to the Little Palace where Nadia and Adrik were supposed to be keeping the betrothed couple occupied. David had retreated to his workshop, no doubt to mourn the day's events. Adrik was keeping watch outside.
"Get him to Nikolai's room," Alina instructed. "Tell him Genya needs his help again."
Adrik nodded and slipped inside, while Alina made her way to Genya's room. Nadia was inside with her, just sitting on the bed and offering comfort as Genya cried silent tears over her shattered dreams.
"It's not over yet," Alina interrupted and passed over the gown. "Put this on."
Genya's brows furrowed in confusion. "Why?"
"You'll see. Just trust me."
Genya cautiously took the dress and went to change into it. Then Alina and Nadia walked her back to the Grand Palace and up to Nikolai's chambers.
"What's going on?" Genya asked.
"We are not letting this day be ruined for you and David," Alina replied, pushing the door open.
Genya's good eye widened as they stepped inside. Adrik had successfully gotten David there, and the Fabrikator was standing next to Nikolai. His face lit up at seeing his bride-to-be. Alina walked Genya down the "aisle" formed by their friends, then stepped to the side as Genya took her place next to her future husband.
Nikolai smiled from his seat. "I'm sorry your first ceremony was so badly interrupted," he began. "Though I confess to being a little selfishly happy that I now get to be the one to wed you. I won't repeat the earlier admonitions, and though I have no personal experience to draw on, I will say a true marriage is a partnership. In life, in love…perhaps some child rearing," he added with a boyish grin that made David blush. "We're all gathered to witness the joining of—"
"Ah," David interrupted hesitantly. "May I speak my own vows?"
Nikolai blinked, then waved for him to go ahead.
David looked Genya in the eyes. "Genya," he said. "You know I am not good with words, or feelings. I am more comfortable around metal than people. But when I'm with you…you are the rivet that holds my heart to yours. And I know by the steel in your soul that it will never come loose or fail."
Genya let out a watery laugh. "And you say you don't understand poetry."
Alina felt herself getting a little teary-eyed.
Nikolai grinned. "Genya, would you like to say anything?"
She exhaled in a rush. "I didn't prepare anything, but…" She took his hands in hers. "David, I didn't feel I was strong for so long. It took you seeing strength in me for me to see it in myself. We've endured so much. Today included," she added with a humorous scoff. "But we continue to survive." She glanced around the room. "All of us." Turning back to David, she went on, "A combination of metals are melted down and fused to make a stronger alloy. That is what you and I are, together. What we all are."
"Are you marrying David or all of us?" Tolya interrupted, eliciting a round of chuckles. Tamar smacked him on the arm.
Genya rolled her eyes but couldn't stop smiling.
"Well," Nikolai said. "Genya, David, do you take each other to be your…alloys? To love and strengthen, for as long as you both shall live?"
"I do," David said.
"I do," Genya repeated.
"Then I pronounce you husband and wife. May you live a long and happy life together."
The two leaned in to seal their vows with a kiss, and the rest of them applauded. Then there was a round of hugs and handshakes shared with the wedded couple.
Alina looked at Nikolai, then Mal. A long and happy life; that was not something awarded to most children of Ravka. But they were all fighting for a better future, and maybe it could be theirs someday.