𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕿𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖞-𝕺𝖓𝖊
Ⓘ STᗩᖇEᗪ ᗩT the Darkling for a moment, and my feet stayed glued to their spot on the parquet floor a safe distance away. If it was possible, his glare turned colder than before, enough for me to snap out of my frozen state and move quickly over to the dais. I sat hesitantly on the throne beside Aleksander's. After a moment of silence, he spoke, not looking at me, but aiming his gaze forward into the vast throne room which he had been in thousands of times, only now he could finally claim it as his.
"I am growing quite tired of this game you are playing, Alina. I'm not sure you realize how much you are risking in doing so."
"I know exactly what I'm risking."
Now, he looked at me.
"You've been talking to the sobachka. He offered you a crown if you let him go, didn't he." He raised his eyebrows, expecting an affirmation.
"You were in my thoughts again!" I accused hastily.
"I don't need to look into your mind to know how you and your otkazat'sya work." I averted my gaze to the floor, and he looked at me through lidded eyes. "You're not honestly considering his proposal, are you?" I stayed silent. I wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear when Darkling laughed. It was a cruel and mocking sound, echoing up into the gilded ceilings. "What more could he offer you that I could not? Power? Control? The crown? I can give you the same things he offers."
"He would not make me a monster. That is what he offers."
The corner of his mouth twitched downwards; all humor leaving his eyes, and he got up, taking three intimidating steps toward me. The Darkling stood before my throne, laid his palms flat on each handrest, and leaned in so that I could see each line, every highlight, and shadow of his grey irises. "The sobachka will only make you feel solitude at a level of which you have never experienced before. It will be small at first, just sadness, wondering if you made the right decision, wishing for someone like you. But as time passes, the realization will sink in, corroding a hole in your heart until you can bear it no longer. You may very well live a happy life with him. But after your precious otkazat'sya prince dies and you have not developed a single wrinkle, the empty throne next to yours will make you see just what loneliness can do to a person. It will silently mold you into a monster much faster than I ever could. Then, you will remember the man that could have shared eternity with you and made the corrosive loneliness fade from your little heart because you and me," he tilted his head closer, his lips almost touching mine which were quivering, "we are the same, Alina. We are eternal."
"No. Stop," I pleaded hoarsely, covering my ears with my hands. I couldn't take it any longer. I felt like I couldn't breathe. Aleksander promptly reached forward and pried my hands away so that I would listen.
"I am not doing this to upset you, milaya. I just want to make you see what will happen—what happened to me. I do not want you to make the same mistakes."
"It is not a mistake to want to save the prince."
Aleksander shook his head and clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth. "You are so young. So lively. I remember when I was like you."
"What happened?"
"I realized the world is too cruel for people with a sliver of exuberance. It is survival of the soulless and the wicked."
"Now, you feel no remorse for the things you do? Covering up Prince Nikolai's face before you kill him, finding people to dump him somewhere he can never be found—do you not have any guilt over that plan?"
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My Villain, My Balance
Fanfiction"You might make me a better man." "And you might make me a monster." ― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising PREVIEW: "I could not see it at the time," I told the Darkling. "I was too blinded by your half-truths and seduction to see clearly. You claimed m...
