My Name Is Adela Kirigan (A Shadow and Bone Season 1 Fanfiction)

Chapter 25: A Greedy Soul

Aleksander Kirigan entered his quarters, knocking on the table loudly. 

'Alina?' There was no answer. He kept walking through the rest of the spacious quarters, attempting to find the Sun Summoner, but alas, no trace of her. 

His search for Alina, and also the tracker, Malyen Oretsev, led him to the palace courtyard. That was, until he came face to face with Baghra. 

'He's not here,' Baghra said flatly. 

'Who?' 

'The tracker. Yes, I know about him. And your little mission.' 

'What have you done with him?' Aleksander asked, his jaw locking in irritation. 

'Disposed of,' she replied calmly. 'Along with your hopes of locating the Stag.' 

'I always have hope, Mother. Even you can't kill that. What did you do with my sister?' 

'She's gone, too. Finally discovered how you've been lying to her all these years. Your own sister. How could you? This isn't hope. It's greed. You would use Alina against the rest of the world.' 

'You mean against our enemies?' He stepped forward. 'Without me, there's just her. Standing alone. She is all that matters now, not me. She is the future. She is the one...' 

'Yes, but where is she?' The reply from Baghra was filled with scorn. 'Where is your sister?' 

'Careful,' Aleksander replied coolly. Deadly. 'You don't really matter now anymore, either.' Kirigan stepped forward, much closer to his mother. 'And if you have put them in harm's way... think about what I might do.' He turned and walked away. 

'I wager you'd need a skilled tracker to find her now,' Baghra called out, taunting. 'Pity.' 

From behind a tree, Mal was standing, hearing the whole exchange. Turning, he ran off, silent, into the dead of night. 

Jesper was watching the horses. He heard a door creak and turned to see Alina, now wearing a dark, heavy coat, and another girl, walking towards the carriage. He hid behind a shrub as the two climbed into the back trunk of the carriage that they were commandeering. Watching them go in, he laughed softly. Just then, he heard footsteps and turned to see Kaz and Inej walking towards him. He looked them up and down. 

'What happened? You okay?' 

'She's real, Jesper,' Inej replied with awe still in her eyes, the prior regret from throwing her knife into the back of an Inferni's head now gone. 'She made the light sing.' Kaz almost looked bored at the talk of the Sun Summoner. 

'We lost her,' he said blankly. 

'Did we?' Jesper asked, a playful smile coming to his face. 

'We don't know where she is,' Inej spoke. 

'Don't we?' He was being vaguely cryptic as the three walked towards the carriage. 'Just ask.' Inej got into the front seat of the carriage. 

'Jesper...' Kaz said slowly, annoyed. 

'Just ask,' Jesper repeated, Kaz getting in next, with some effort on the part of his injured leg. 'Just ask.' 

'Fine,' Kaz replied. 'Do we have a fix on where the target is?' He indicated his head back towards the back of the carriage, then took up the reins and flicked them, the horses immediately following his lead and trotting out of the grounds of the Little Palace.