My Villain, My Balance

Chapter 9: Only Yourself to Blame

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕹𝖎𝖓𝖊

I CAUGHT A GLIMPSE of a dirty green army uniform, brown hair and deep blue eyes that hurt to look at again. Those eyes reminded me of a simpler time when I could afford to be just the girl from Keramzin. An invisible nobody.

"Mal?" I uttered under my breath.

"Alina!" he called as he ran towards me. As he was about to approach, the Darkling stepped in front of me, blocking my vision of Mal. The Darkling raised his chin and said, "I am not sure how you got this far without being caught by guards, but I suggest you leave immediately."

"Not until I see Alina."

"I beg your pardon," Aleksander said with a harsh edge to his voice, like a thin metal blade. "Who do you think you are to demand a meeting with the Sun Summoner?" Mal ignored the Darkling and tried to pass him, but he held out a hand to stop Mal from advancing. "Alina, tell him you know me!"

I closed my eyes to shut out all of the stress and pain Mal brought back. More than that, I was filled with resentment towards him. He did nothing to reach out to me for months and now he suddenly wanted to talk to me? I may not want to speak with him, but I should at least get closure for myself, I reasoned.

"I know him."

Aleksander looked back at me and I gave him a confident nod to indicate I wanted to speak with Mal. The Darkling withdrew his protective hand and stepped out of our path.

Mal walked up to hug me, but I took a preventative step back. "Alina?" he asked in concern. I had never avoided him before. I had never been so furious with him either, but I was so blinded by my hopes of a life with him that I ignored all of the signs. A memory played in my mind when he introduced me to one of his tracking mates in his group. "Oh, is this your little friend from Keramzin?"

I looked at him with narrowed eyes and said, "I thought you were dead. All these months and not even a single letter to tell me you were okay. I wrote you every day until I realized I was making a fool out of myself. If you didn't want my friendship, you should have said so a long time ago."

He started at me wide-eyed. "Alina, I don't know what you mean. What letters?"

I laughed humorlessly. "So you did not even bother to read my letters."

"If I had gotten any letters from you, I would have read them," he argued. I could not listen to anything else he had to say. I was too infuriated to think straight. "Alina, you have to believe me." I looked down at the ground.

"Alright, tracker." Aleksander cut him off. "You've had your time with her. Now, you shall take your leave; permanently, I must add." Mal looked at him with a new fire lit in his ocean-blue irises.

"You did this." He pointed at Kirigan. "You have been lying to her this whole time to keep her by your side. I am guessing you did not even tell her about how I found the Stag and came to see her the night of your big demonstration. You promised me I would get to see Alina but you were too busy corrupting her!" He whirled around to face me. "Tell him you want to leave with me, Alina. We can forget this place and everyone in it."

Kirigan took a long step towards Mal, towering over him. I used to think Mal was tall, but his height was insignificant in comparison. "Tracker, I am going to give you a choice. Consider it a blessing, seeing that I do not usually give alternative options. You will either leave on your own and never return to the Little Palace, continue to serve in the First Army because you are, I hear, one of the best trackers, or your other option is to be thrown out of the palace gates and be stripped of your honorable service in the army."