A/N: Follow-up to No. 13

No. 27: "You drew stars around my scars"

It was one of the biggest gambles Alina had ever taken, right up there with sacrificing Mal as the Firebird to use as an amplifier. Maybe it was because she had already experienced the greatest power of Morozova's three Amplifiers that the jurda parem's punch didn't take her by surprise. If anything, she felt better prepared to channel the sudden influx of magic under its influence.

Shadows spilled from her fingertips without her even having to think about it, but she quickly reined them in and turned her focus on Nikolai. His skin between the nexus of black webbing encasing his entire body was ashen, and he looked only half human at this point. Even his eyes had black striations as the shadow infection filled every vein and pore.

Since the shadows were rising to her presence, Alina reached out to connect with the essence inside him, hoping to extract it as poison would be drawn from a wound. She felt resistance, like the shadows had a sticky bond to Nikolai's cells. She pulled harder. His whole body gave an abrupt judder, and she jerked back in surprise.

Pursing her mouth in determination, she tried again. Again, the shadows resisted her pull, and she felt the reverberations of something…snarling in response.

Nikolai gave another convulsion and made a pained sound.

"Alina…" Zoya warned.

She clenched her fists. Why wasn't it working? It was supposed to work!

The nichevo'ya isn't yours, a small voice whispered.

Of course, it was Kirigan's creation, and even he with all his might couldn't control them.

Another voice inside her susurrated that she should try, that she could dominate it if she pushed hard enough. She had the power, greater than Kirigan's. She had used merzost. She only needed to use it again, to take control of this broken, mortal body and make it her own…

"Alina."

It was Genya who spoke, but Alina heard Mal's voice in her head. Mal, who had been her anchor, her compass. The one who pulled her back when she almost went too far. He wasn't here anymore, but that didn't mean she should let herself go unhinged.

She blinked and looked down at Nikolai's face twisted in anguish, his pained eyes mere slits as he gazed up at her, begging. The next sound that tore from his throat sounded more animalistic, like the nichevo'ya…

"I have the sword," Zoya said in a low voice.

Alina whipped her head up. "No! I can do this."

Shadow wasn't working, of course it wasn't. It was Kirigan's power and it was evil to the core. Alina clenched her fists to extinguish it from her hands and turned inward, searching for the light that used to warm her from the inside out. It had to still be there. Tainted by her use of merzost, perhaps, but still salvageable. It had to be salvageable. For all their sakes.

She hadn't realized she'd closed her eyes until she heard a gasp, and when she looked again, the room was filled with a radiant aura emanating from her hands. Nikolai's pale skin looked translucent under the glow, while the black veins pulsed and bulged. Nikolai arched his back and screamed.

Alina pushed the light into his body, and another inhuman shriek pierced the air. She winced but knew she couldn't let up. She concentrated on pouring her light into the open wound, chasing down the shadow infection and burning it out as she went.

Nikolai screamed again and began to thrash, and Zoya and Genya leaped in to hold him down.

"Alina—" Genya started.

"I can do this," she insisted. Nikolai was writhing in agony but she could feel the shadow being incinerated in the light. It was working.

She also knew she couldn't let one single wisp of it remain lest it reinfect him. And so Alina kept the light flowing, blazing…searing.

Pounding at the door almost disrupted her focus. Zoya let go of Nikolai to summon a gust of wind that slammed the door shut before the guards could barge in. By then Nikolai's convulsions were dying down, and Alina prayed to the Saints she wasn't going to burn him out too along with the shadow.

He fell still, his eyes closed and head lolling limply to the side. Genya climbed onto the bed and held her hands over his chest, moving them back and forth as she sought out his vital signs. Alina had to trust she had that covered as she continued to probe every inch of Nikolai's cells. Only once she had confirmed that there was no trace of shadow left did she withdraw her power.

The room grew almost too dark to see after the nova was extinguished, and Alina staggered back. She had burned through the parem and was beginning to feel the effects of withdrawal.

"Genya?" Zoya asked tautly, power still holding the door.

"He's alive!"

Alina sank to the floor in relief. She'd done it; she'd saved Nikolai, and with him the hope of Ravka's future.

The door banged open and there were shouts. Zoya must have used the air to amplify her voice because it bellowed like thunder, assuring everyone that Alina Starkov had just cured the king. Alina felt oddly disconnected, the world narrowing to a shaky point. Then Genya was kneeling beside her and tipping a vial to her lips. After that, exhaustion took her.

It was two days before Alina was recovered enough to visit Nikolai, time which he also spent recuperating from the ordeal. His door was open, what with servants standing by should the convalescing king need anything. Luckily, Genya was in his room and assured the staff Alina was safe to be near the king. She ushered everyone out to give the two of them privacy.

Nikolai was sitting up in bed, propped up with a great many pillows. "Are you all right?" was the first thing he asked.

Alina shook her head. "You nearly died and you're concerned about me."

"You could have died using parem," he countered.

"We had the antidote."

"An untested one." His expression softened. "I'm glad it worked."

Alina came closer, her gaze catching on his lax hands lying on top of the covers. "The shadow was gone; I made sure it was all gone—" she started in alarm.

"It is," Nikolai cut her off. "Genya confirmed there's no more trace of it. These are just…scars." He flexed his hands, the black marks stretching with the taut skin.

Alina sank onto the edge of the mattress and took one of those hands. "Are there more?" she asked softly.

She didn't miss the slight wince Nikolai made, and he reached his other hand up to his shirt and slowly pulled it down one shoulder, revealing the wound that had started all of this. It was a gnarled scar now, ringed in black marks. But there was something else… Alina squinted and noticed the very faint, almost iridescently feathered burn scars woven around the black marks. She traced them down to the edge of the collar, then gingerly reached for the bottom hem and lifted it. Nikolai let her.

His torso was covered in a smattering mix of dull black and shimmery white scars, like galaxies painted across his body.

"I'm sorry," she murmured.

"For what? Saving my life?" He closed his scarred hand around hers and she lowered the shirt. "Thank you."

She turned her hand over in his and caressed her thumb over one of the lighter scars, one she had left behind. Both she and Kirigan had marked him, and there was no taking that back. If there was, Genya would have tailored them away by now.

"How will your vanity recover?" Alina asked, trying for the levity they had so often fallen back on.

Nikolai's lips quirked. "Well, you already married me. So I no longer have to try so hard."

She smirked, even as her heart gave a familiar pang for someone else. But Nikolai had done so much for her, been hurt badly because of her. And he cared for her. She cared for him too. It might not have been a romantic match, but there was love there. Enough to rebuild a kingdom on.

And each other.