Well, here it is! The climax to my little fanfic! :)
I don't want to give anything away, so just read and enjoy.
Alina
(time skip)
"Do you know what day it is?" Genya asked, reclining gracefully in her chair and crossing her legs. The sun was climbing the sky overhead, burning away the clouds and turning the forest into an emerald gem.
"What do you mean?" I asked from my own chair beside her.
She groaned and let her head fall back in dramatic hopelessness. "I'm beginning to think that you don't remember anything unless it has something to do with the Darkling," she grumbled.
Aleksander raised his hand from his place behind me; he'd wordlessly dragged me onto his lap when Genya and I had appeared on his balcony earlier. "I'm right here," he reminded her meaningfully.
"It's true though!" she pointed out. She gestured energetically at us. "I mean, look at this!"
"Are you going to tell me what day it is or what?" I asked, laughing at her wide-eyed expression.
"Okay, fine." Her face split into a devious grin and she rubbed her palms together in anticipation. "It's the day the Inferni and Tidemakers go out tonight to put on their show."
I straightened up in surprise. "Really?"
"Really," she replied, leaning back in her chair and closing her eye in satisfaction.
"I can't believe I forgot about that," I remarked, half to myself.
"I can believe it," she told me. "You've been with the Darkling. You probably forgot I even existed at one point."
I smiled at her. "Genya, no one could ever forget you; you wouldn't let them."
"I know," she chirped proudly. She met my eyes and smiled back, amber eye glittering playfully.
We fell silent for a little while, the midday sunlight warming the air around us. The Tidemakers and Inferni were gathering around the lake to practice again, their midnight-blue keftas brilliant against the icy color of the water. I watched them, leaning back against Aleksander's chest again. His warmth soaked into me and I relaxed against him. He had one arm around my waist and his other hand was at my neck, playing with my hair. He lazily wrapped a strand around his finger.
I turned my head so that Genya wouldn't hear. "Tell me you love me," I murmured, because I wanted to hear it again. I loved the way he said it, like it was the most important thing he would ever share with me.
He smiled slightly and ran his finger down the middle of my neck. My breath caught and I fought the urge to arch my neck back. His lips moved softly over my jaw and he whispered, "I love you." A tiny sigh escaped me and he pushed his face into my hair. "More than anything, Alina."
"I want to kiss you," I told him, shifting in his arms to look into his eyes. "But Genya's here." I looked down at his mouth, watched it twist seductively into a smirk.
"When she leaves," he said in a low voice, stroking his hand down my arm, "you can do more than just kiss me." His words sent a relentless longing into every part of me. I buried my face in his shoulder and began to pray that Genya would leave soon.
Aleksander
That was one of the last few times I held her, before it happened.
The last times I kissed her.
The last times I heard her voice.
I had thought losing my power was unbearable.
but it was nothing
compared to
losing
her
Night
The blonde man stood calmly, the night air icy and whispering of darkness. The great domes of the Little Palace loomed over him, surrounded by glorious stars suspended against the black velvet of the skies. It was a beautiful sight. At the very edge of Os Alta, the flames of the Grisha filled the night, followed by the delighted cheers of the crowd. Tidemakers stood to the side, carefully observing for trouble and enjoying the performance themselves. He almost pitied them. They would be missing quite a show back home.
He strolled casually up the gravel path, his shoes crunching in the stones. He was utterly collected, sure of what he was doing. There wasn't a rustle of doubt in his mind, no panicked rush of his heartbeat. He was doing the world a favor, he knew. Perhaps other Grisha would be lost in the process, but that was okay. He would only be ridding the world of more witches and more chances for one of them to turn against them.
As he approached the grand front doors of the palace, he slipped a match from his pocket. He spun the little piece of wood in his fingers and watched it blur in the moonlight. Earlier, he had trusted the old man to find help in their mission and he hadn't failed. The fuel of a hundred lamps had been thrown at the walls of the Little Palace, dousing the wood. It wasn't much, considering the bulk of the mighty building, but it was enough. No one had heard. They had waited until they were sure everyone would be asleep before beginning.
The man halted before the doors. The smell of the fuel invaded his senses. Without any expression, he lit the match with a hiss. He held it in front of him. It was a smoldering light in the dark, a tiny sun in his grasp. Such power from something so small. He smiled then, a cruel, unfeeling smile.
The little sun glowed brightly in his hand.
Then he let it fall.
Alina
In the dark, moonlit hall, Aleksander pushed me back into the wall and cradled my face in his hands. I felt his fingers on my jaw, cool and smooth. His body was pressed against mine and when the strength of lean muscle slid over me, I closed my eyes.
"If someone catches us, we're dead," I whispered, making him pause with his head bent toward mine, about to kiss me.
"Everyone else is asleep," he pointed out, his mouth inches from mine. "And besides..." He stroked his thumb over my lower lip and his breath came raggedly. "I couldn't let you go now, even if I wanted to."
I tipped my chin up, pressing my mouth against his. We kissed as though we were starving for each other. His hands skimmed down my arms to wrap around my waist. I curled my fingers in his shirt, inching it up to show a sliver of skin at his waist. He kissed my jaw, then my neck, his mouth soft on my skin. I let my head fall back to give him better access and he trailed burning kisses down the center of my neck. Gasping, I clawed at his shirt, shoving it up his torso. He raised his arms to let me pull it over his head. My hands roamed over his broad shoulders and down his chest to his stomach. When I slipped my fingers around his belt and tugged him closer, he shuddered.
"I have to go," I managed, as he seared my neck with his hands, thumbs sliding beneath my jaw.
He growled under his breath and dragged my shirt down one arm, his lips closing on bare skin. "Come back to my room with me," he murmured, kissing hungrily along my shoulder and making my knees weak.
"I don't want to push our luck by staying again." He reached the sensitive curve where my neck met my shoulder and flicked his tongue against my skin. "You already got in trouble once," I gasped, then a tiny moan of pleasure escaped me as he teased my flesh with his teeth.
"I love it when you make sounds like that," he whispered huskily. My insides melted as he touched our foreheads together and smirked sexily at me. "Makes me crazy to know you want me."
"I really have to go," I said, because if I didn't leave in thirty seconds, I was going to haul him into his room myself. I didn't even realize where my hands were until I felt them slip into his waistband and my thumbs slid over his hips.
He exhaled a trembling breath at my touch. "You're killing me, you know," he murmured. But his lips curved into a half-smile and he gently slipped my shirt back up my arm, kissing my shoulder once before he did.
I swallowed and lifted my hands from his waist. His smile deepened at my reluctance as he bent in one smooth motion to snag his shirt from the floor. Holding it in one hand, he reached up to cup my cheek. He briefly kissed my mouth. "My heart," he whispered, and kissed me a second time. "My life. I never imagined that you would make me so happy."
"You're going to make me cry if you keep saying things like that," I warned him, biting my lip.
He moved his thumb back and forth over my cheek, emotion filling his gaze. "Meet me on the balcony tomorrow morning," he whispered. "There's something I want to ask you."
"You can just ask me now," I told him, puzzled.
He shook his head. "I want to ask you there." He looked almost nervous for some reason, watching me seriously. "At the place I realized I loved you." My pulse sped up when he said it and I nodded. He touched his lips to my forehead and spoke against my skin. "Goodnight, Alina."
I whispered it back to him in the dark.
-o-o-o-
Something was filling my lungs, gripping me with sharp talons. I choked and coughed, dragging myself out of sleep. I sat bolt upright in bed, my hair matted with strands falling over my face. It was so hot, unbearably hot. I rubbed the last of the sleep from my eyes and stared in horror at the room around me. Everything was hazy, blurred by suffocating smoke. Red-hot claws of flame slashed at the walls, crept insidiously across the floor, roiling and deadly. I scrambled out of bed and landed clumsily on my feet. The floor was hot underneath me, warning of the fire blazing in the rooms below. For a brief instant, I wondered how much of the Little Palace was burning. Then a distant crash brought me back to my senses.
Coughing from the smoke, I dashed across the room to the door. Outside, I could hear the sounds of pounding footsteps and people screaming, yelling for others to hurry. They must have started evacuating earlier. I grabbed the doorknob and turned it. To my surprise, it wouldn't budge when I tried to pull it open. I blinked. I wrenched at it again, harder. Nothing happened. Saints. Sweat beaded my forehead as I took the knob in both hands and yanked on it with all my might. Behind me, the flames climbed higher, smoldering my back with heat. The doorknob slipped from my palms.
"Agh!" I hissed as I stumbled a few steps back. I came within a foot of falling into the fire roaring at the wall. Panic began to trickle into me like icy water. There are no Inferni, I thought, with growing dread. And no Tidemakers. They're on the edge of the city, they'll never make it back in time.
I flung myself at the door and rammed my fists against it. "Help!" I yelled, my throat raspy and sore. "Somebody, please! I'm trapped in here!" I listened for their voices, for shoes slapping the floor as they came to me. But there was nothing but the snarls of the flames around me. Even the noise I'd heard earlier was gone, fading away into the palace. I hit the door again. "Help me! I'm still in here!"
I spun around, my eyes flicking frantically about the room. The windows were at the far wall, but the fires had spread there already, eating up the wood around the glass. I couldn't jump through it and I certainly wasn't going to try. The fall would kill me if the flames didn't. My eyes burned with tears, brought by smoke and my own hopeless terror. There wasn't any way out.
Suddenly, there was a loud thud from the door. I whirled back around, eyes wide. Hope pricked at my heart. A familiar voice came to me, muffled from the other side of the door. "Alina?"
"Aleksander!" I cried, pressing my palms flat against the wood. "I can't get out! The door won't open!"
"Back up!" he replied, and I recognized the determination in his voice.
I hastily backed away. The sound of the roaring flames was loud in my ears and the heat was unbelievable. My throat stung from inhaling the poisoned air. I listened, shivering, as Aleksander threw himself against the door. The wood creaked, but didn't open. He swore under his breath. My heart sank. I staggered back to the door and leaned against it.
"Can you get out through the windows?" he asked, an edge of iron to his words.
"No," I croaked. "I can't make it through the fire."
He fell silent for a very long moment. The harsh crackling sliced at the air around us. The world went blurry, then focused again. "Is there anybody else out there?" I asked, desperate for some kind of hope.
"They were already leaving when I woke up," he answered. "It's just you and me."
I shut my eyes. Tears were streaming down my cheeks, blessedly cool compared to the burning walls and ceiling. I rested against the door for a minute, focusing on breathing, knowing that I was inhaling the black breath of the fire. There was no way out. There was no one to help us. I wouldn't be able to survive this. I wiped at my eyes with my sleeve. "Aleksander," I rasped, "you have to go. Before it gets much worse."
"I'm not leaving you," he said at once. "I can get you out."
"You already tried," I replied, my voice thick. "It's not going to work. Please, you have to leave."
"I won't go. Not like this, Alina."
A sob was working its way up into my chest and I struggled to push it down. "If you don't leave, you'll die," I choked out. "Please listen to me. Get out of here."
"I...I can't." He sounded as though the words caused him physical pain. "I can't leave unless you come with me. I can't let you die here, alone."
"You have to," I said weakly. "If you give up because of me, I'll never forgive myself."
There was a brief second of silence. "I'm not going."
"Aleksander—"
"I'm staying with you. You can't change my mind." I heard a small creak from the door and knew he was leaning against it when his voice came from right beside me. "I've given too much for you, to be with you. I lost my power and my army. I lost my mother. I should've known when to stop, but I didn't, and that almost made me lose you." He lowered his voice to a murmur, a soft lullaby next to my ear in the orange, burning world. "I gave myself to you. I've fallen so deeply in love with you, Alina, that there's no way out for me. You're all I have left and..." He stopped, and I heard a quiet sound then, a sound close to a sob. It went straight to my heart. Aleksander never cried, but when he spoke again, there was a definite tremor in his voice. "And I can't live without you."
I pressed my forehead against the door and closed my eyes. I didn't bother to stop the tears when they came. This wasn't the way I'd wanted my life to end. This wasn't fair. But it was even more painful to know that my entire existence was standing on the other side of that door, ready to die with me. "I'm sorry," I sobbed. "I thought I saved you and now it's—it's all nothing."
"It's not nothing," he said softly. "You did save me. I'll never be the person I was before and I owe that to you. You gave me a second chance. You gave me a chance to be a better man, and to live without fear, and to fall in love. If I was still Grisha, I would trade all of my eternity for one moment with you. No matter what, moi svet, I'll never regret what we had."
His voice was the last thing I heard.