𝑺𝒎𝒐𝒌𝒆 | 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝑲𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒏 𝒙 𝑶𝑪

Thirty

THANK YOU FOR 60K!!! IT'S LITERALLY NUTS!!!! LIKE WE GOT ALMONDS, PEANUTS, AND CASHEWS WITH HOW NUTS THIS IS

to all of you with nut allergies, i apologize for that joke

Aleksander Morozova looked down at the girl in his arms. He wished he could stop her from crying, dry the tears up and put a joyous song in her heart.

He wished he could leave. He wished he didn't care about the girl in his arms. He could feel Alina's eyes on him but if he was being honest he didn't care enough to look up.

He held her as long as she would let him. She quickly pulled away. Jolana picked herself back up and wiped her tears, but the remnants of her emotions lingered on her face. 

"Is there anything about them having a daughter?" she asked in as clear a voice as she could muster.

"Nothing on record, it's probably why we didn't know about you beforehand," Aleksander cleared his throat. He looked at the records again, and then back to Jolana's face. It was slightly pink and puffy but he still thought she looked beautiful, like a slightly wilted flower. 

"Is there any more records?" Jolana asked

"Let me look around," Alina said as she passed Jolana and walked toward the shelf that held all the old books full of deeply yellowed paper, and handwritten notes. Alina pulled out a book from the same year, the pages were bound by red leather. 

Alina flipped through the years, looking through the pages for the surname Sokolov. She shrugged.

"Let me look," Aleksander took the book from Alina. He flipped through the pages with more fervor. Desperately wanting to satisfy Jolana with the answers she desired. He flipped through and found only one trace of a Sokolov, and they seemed to have no relation to the fiery redhead he had grown to care about, "I'll look in the archives," he said surely

"Archives? Aren't these the archives?" Alina questioned

"No, we have older archives. They're in this one obscure room. We shoved all of those on shelves when the Little Palace was built,"

"We? The Little Palace is at least four hundred years old," Jolana narrowed her eyes

"I misspoke," he tensed slightly. He thought he had been imperceptible but something seemed off to Jolana. He didn't notice just how much she had noticed.

"Anyways, I'll just go check it," Aleksander got ready to walk away before Alina cut in,

"I'll go with you," she said rushing to his side

"No," he said quickly, stepping a little further away from Alina, "I will take Jolana with me, she might be useful considering we are searching for knowledge about her," he stepped beside Jolana, "That is of course if you'd want to come with me, you can stay with Alina if you really want, but I want you to come with me,"

He could see gears turning in her eyes, he didn't know exactly how much of a debate it was in her head. A sensible angel versus the devil full of her true desires

He's been a dick to us

But he's being nice now

He's with Alina she might get the wrong idea

She didn't care what we would think

We both know how much you want to get in his pants

We don't want him

But he wants us

"I'll go with you," she said finally and went to his side. They walked through halls and into a small closet, that small closet was just a cover for a staircase that led into an underground cellar. It was very medieval-looking, with stone walls and wooden shelves that had dark grey spots from age.

The stair creaked under their combined weights and some part of Jolana wondered if they would just collapse beneath them.

"They won't fall," the General said as if he could read her mind, "They creak slightly because of the wood layer but everything is enforced and this design was approved by numerous Durasts,"

"Quite the history buff aren't you?"

"Pardon?" he said caught slightly off guard

"Well that's a very obscure fact to know just off the top of your head," "I know you may lead the Grisha army and all of that but that's still a little odd,"

"This place was built by my family. Our line has done good and bad, created the fold but also created this sanctuary,"

"I guess, your ancestor made those amplifiers right?" she asked, making small talk so she could ignore the fact that with every step, his arm brushed against hers as they crept through the cramped space.

"Yes," he said curtly before going to the very top shelf, the outside of it was a faded black that now looked grey. He brushed off the top layer of dust to reveal the full pages. 

"What're you looking for?" she asked peering over his shoulder to try and get a better look at the seemingly ancient book.

"Anything Sokolov but I can't find anything. Most of the time, things crop back up because of genetics so considering you're Grisha with massive power, I would expect there to be some trace of you,"

"Well Alina is a great Grisha and she doesn't have parents who are Grisha that we can tell, and she's still extraordinary," Jolana countered

"I'm not sure I just expected more," he looked down at her slightly, a small sadness in his eyes. 

"Well, what about the thing in the other records," she protested as he put on the books back down and picked up the next one over.

"If we're to assume the people we found in the newer records to be your parents-"

"They have to be, it lines up too perfectly," she said surely, a lot of the sureness was a facade

"Anyways, If we were to assume then that would make you the daughter of Anika Vinke and Anatolii Zvezdov,"

"All A names..." Jolana observed, "Like my brother Ambrus,"

"You don't have an A name," the General noted

"Shut up," she said quickly, "It's probably because my father- the man who raised me named me after my mom died," 

"Your mother died?"

"Yup, in childbirth. She couldn't handle giving birth to me,"

"And your father?"

"Dead too, but that's a good thing,"

"I'm sorry," the General said sincerely as he flipped through the pages, "Anatolii was an inferni, according to our records. Gifts are sometimes genetic,"

"So did your mom have the whole shadow powers?" she said trying to joke a little, she was really stressed and desperate to get anything concrete but in her current position, there was nothing she could do but wait.

He avoided the question, "We don't know if your mother was Fjerdan, that wouldn't be in the records and to check that we would have to deal with Fjerdan documents and that's..."

"Out of the question," she sighed and frowned leaning on one of the hard rough walls of the dusty little room.

"I can look at your brother's father's bloodline," Jolana looked away, Aleksander added, "He's probably your father," he tried to reassure her best he could. He wanted to hug her, wrap his arms around her and let her know that he was trying. 

But he couldn't

Because he shouldn't be trying, he has a plan, he needs to stick to the plan

He couldn't get attached

He cleared his throat, "Go back to Alina," he said in a rushed voice. She opened her mouth to speak but he didn't let her, "This will probably take a while, it'll be more fun there,"

"Wouldn't you want company-?"

"No," he said firmly

She left shuffling her feet as she walked. 

No matter how much he wanted to hold her close, he pushed her away once again.