Sound Your Name (Oh, My Darling)

8. Fedyor's Favorite Memory

Fedyor had never had so much fun in all his life. 

Anyone else in his position would have been uncomfortable being the fifth wheel to the two sets of soulmate couples but not him. Fedyor loved watching the interactions. As a Corporalki Heartrender, it made for quite an interesting show. 

He marveled on how the General had remained relatively calm back in Kirbirsk. He was surprised Kirigan hadn’t torn the camp apart searching for his soulmate. Especially now that he realized the General had always known she was his soulmate even if he didn’t know her name. So many of his superior’s odd idiosyncrasies suddenly made sense as Fedyor discovered the odd phenomenon that was being an amplifier and an amplifier’s soulmate. 

Ivan and Fedyor had worried the General had at last gone slightly mad several years ago when he demanded the suite across from him to be renovated to certain specifications. When not working or sleeping, they would often find the General in those suites fine tuning things with several Fabricators following after him. 

Then the events of the Fold and the girl named Alina Starkova. The General’s heart palpitated more fiercely than ever before. She was young but fierce. Fedyor made eye contact with Ivan, both having the same thought, thinking of those rooms that seemed almost made for a queen.  

Fedyor’s thoughts were brought forward in time to their journey and the other soulmate couple, who were not shy in their affections. 

The young Alina was caught sitting between him and his soverenyi blushing as they all overheard the quite passionate sounds of the couple behind the stack of hay they sat on the other side of. 

He spoke up, trying to distract her but also trying to sate his own curiosity, “May I ask how the dreams work exactly?”

She glanced over at the General who gave a small nod of his head, before she turned back to Fedyor. 

“Well, my brother and I figured out close to the time of our adolescence that our dreams were prompted by similar experiences, emotions, feelings, and the like. They didn’t have to be exact, just a semblance. For instance, Mal mentioned to me that when he had gained recognition by the Duke for his excellent tracking skills his dream that night was when Zoya got commended for having a great future ahead of her as a Squaller.” 

“Then how were you able to suppress them?” The General’s gaze seemed to almost burn. 

Alina bowed her head and fiddled with her pant leg, “Well…” She winced when a loud moan came from behind them. “There were certain memories that I thought I shouldn’t see of yours...that I thought were inappropriate.” She cleared her throat and Fedyor tried to hide his grin as he felt her pulse quicken and watch her try to look anywhere else but the General. “So...I...um...learned to push certain feelings and emotions into the back of my mind.” 

Ah, Fedyor could only imagine what a coming-to-age girl could start feeling that could prompt interesting dreams from an experienced soulmate. However, when Fedyor glanced up at his General it seemed his mind was elsewhere along with his heart. 

“You suppressed your feelings since you entered the First Army so I wouldn’t find you.” 

Alina’s gaze widened and turned quickly to him, “It wasn’t…” She took a deep breath and glanced at Fedyor before continuing more truthfully. “I was in a different area than Mal. I had no way of knowing when we would meet back up, we always had this plan that we would find our soulmates at the same time. I knew you’d always be protecting the Grisha so I knew you’d be nearby, I just hadn’t connected certain dots until I got into the First Army. Then, I had other reasons why I had to wait.”