Noble Hope| General Kirigan

𝟘𝟚𝟝

{Chapter twenty-five}

THE TREK NEAR THE FIERDAN LINES WAS COLD AND SILENT. Neither Aleksander nor Adaline had brought up or finished the conversation from earlier. He had removed his cloak and placed it over her shoulders with a solemn look, and carried on ahead.

The way Aleksander had dismissed her question so easily made her angry. She knew he wasn't being truthful, and as much as she hated to admit it, what if Alina was right? What if General Kirigan of the Second Army really was trying to bring more harm than good to the people of Ravka?

She would have been more understanding if that was all it was. But power? He claimed he loved her, that he would give her the world if he could. She wasn't going to be some pawn or chesspiece he used in a game of control.

Adaline's hair was dusted with specks of white from the snow, and her lips were chapped and blue. Her boots crunched under the snow, though they sounded muffled due to her thoughts being so loud.

The black-haired woman's silence was unnerving, and Aleksander couldn't shake the feeling that he somehow ruined everything. 

David spoke up. "Sir, she is close by."

With a short nod of his head and a quick glance at Adaline who avoided his gaze, he walked on. The sun had begun to set quickly, and as it did, it illuminated Adaline's hair and eyes. In the golden light, her raven hair shone like a glittery piece of obsidian, and her eyes lightened just the slightest. Aleksander would have a hard time figuring out an appropriate way to tell her the truth if she kept looking like this.

As they continued, they quickly came across human footprints. David directed them in another direction while Adaline uninterestedly played with little shadow balls in her palm.

After what felt like an hour of tension between Aleksander and Adaline, they finally found Alina and Mal.

The two Darklings and a healer stayed around the corner while a small fight occurred that Adaline didn't particularly want to see. She heard Alina call Mal's name, which is when she found herself stepping around the two men.

Aleksander's hand instinctively shot out to keep her in her place, but with a hard glare from her, she pushed away his arm and made her presence known to her sister and best friend. It wasn't his place to hold her back, and she had had enough of Aleksander at the moment.

Alina lay on the ground, staring heatedly up at her three attackers, and angrily shot out beams of light at each of them. Adaline brought a small wall of shadows up across her face to absorb the light, only letting it down once she heard Alina's heavy panting.

Adaline was completely silent and poker-faced as she neared Mal, who sat on his knees groaning. This was the first time Adaline had seen him in months, and as much as she wanted to have a small family reunion, she was still livid with the Sun Summoner.

She took to her knees in front of Mal, her gaze softening as she took his face in her palms and lead his eyes up to hers. Mal's eyes nearly shone with tears at the sight of what he considered his big sister.

"Stay still, alright?" Adaline said, her voice eerily calm.

Alina stepped forward, falling to her knees beside her best friend and rushing to remove the arrow. Adaline slapped her hand away. "You'll only make this worse."