Call Out My Name

Back to Where it All Began

The palace hadn't changed much or at all for that matter. It was empty now, and Alina could feel the ominous energy surrounding her. The calm before the storm. She knew that feeling well. She had been there before one time too many.

"That bad?" Alina asked as they strode at a fast pace toward the entrance of the palace.

"How the war hasn't broken out yet is a surprise to me too."

She noticed that Zoya was glancing in every direction and was flanking Alina; she switched sides a few times as if to guard her against an onlooker who might recognize her. Alina kept her scarf tight around her lowered head.

When they entered one of the rooms, it came as no surprise when Genya threw herself at Alina.

"I've missed you so much!" She exclaimed and examined her face. "You look tired."

"Long week," Alina replied as she hugged her old friend back. Tolya and Tamar were next to squeeze her in a tight embrace. She had missed them all so dearly.

"I am so happy to see you even if the circumstances are not ideal," Tamar told her. Alina was too; even though an imminent war was the reason for all of them to meet like this, she was still glad to see her friends well and alive.

She saw Nikolai sitting at a table in the corner of the room, lost in thought. He did smile at her when his eyes finally met hers, but Alina could tell it was not an entirely sincere smile; it was more of an apologetic one, a regretful one. She knew he was sorry for the trouble he was causing and the risk she had to take. The chances of her being exposed to the world were big.

"Don't look at me like that," Alina started as she went to him. He stood up and too gave her a small hug. "If he is back, then the world would search for me too as well. After all, we were burned together. I guess we rise from the ashes together as well."

"How you can have this amount of confidence and calmness in times like these both surprises me and puts me at ease," he told her as he smiled more. "It is good to have you back."

"Can't really say the same," Alina admitted as she looked around the room. "This time, it all feels too final." Nikolai nodded. He, too, dreaded the outcome of this situation. He felt it in his bones that it would not be a good one.

"Where is he?" Alina asked quietly, only for Nikolai to hear.

"If you think I will hand you over to him that easily then you must have forgotten a few things about me," he winked at her, and Alina smiled. It was nice to fall back into a familiar routine and conversation with the people she loved most. "You can take off the scarf now," he told her as he gave it a thoughtful look. "Everybody knows who you are here, and there is no need to hide now."

Alina gladly took off the scarf and combed through her hair with her fingers.

"So what is the plan?" Alina asked as she and the others joined Nikolai at the table.

"The plan is to save Ravka with all I have to offer," Nikolai said.

"Even the Darkling?" Alina asked.

"Even the Darkling," Nikolai replied.

"Hate to break it to you, but he isn't the type to cooperate, especially when he wanted to destroy Ravka himself," Alina told him.

"I would love to break it to you that as of now, he is my prisoner, and I have a leverage against him."

"Me?"

"Why else would you be here?"

"I can't fight Nikolai," Alina told him. "I can't fight him anymore, not even with Grisha steel. He is ancient and eternal, and I can't kill him again. I won't."