My Villain, My Balance

Chapter 39: Shine Like the Stars

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕿𝖍𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞-𝕹𝖎𝖓𝖊

Aleksander's POV

ⓌE STOOᗪ STIᒪᒪ in the entryway of the Grand Palace; Alina was holding her breath without realizing it. We knew what getting a third amplifier meant. Connecting all of Morozova's amplifiers was something only theorized by scholars or prophesized by zealots. Bringing them together was thought to be a fable for so many years. But now, we had a Sun Summoner, which was fiction until merely a year ago. Since Alina's discovery, we have also found the Stag and the Sea Whip. However, this time would be different. Before, Alina fought the power. She fought me. This time, she wanted it as much as I did. This could fix everything.

"Do you think obtaining the Firebird will help us?" Alina asked.

"It would give us infinite power. It would stop this foolishness." I gestured to the heap of bodies lying just beyond the gates of the palace—a sight no Saint could bare to witness in all of its brutality, but we were no Saints. At first, I feared I had driven Alina even farther away from her past self, but maybe it was a good thing to separate her from the Saintly image because now she was on my side, not fighting who she was becoming, not trying to be a Saint. We were better together after all, and we couldn't be together if she kept denying herself, and in effect, denying me. We were made for each other. I hoped that now she understood that. I put my hand on her back and led her inside as I spoke. "We would be more than immortal. We would be invincible, Alina."

"I know," she said breathlessly. "It would be unheard of. We are already so powerful. To have more would be..."

Maybe she wasn't as sure of this as I thought. She was second-guessing obtaining the amplifier. "I know you may be hesitant to have another amplifier, but—"

"It would be amazing," she finished. My eyes darted to hers, shock written all over my face before it was replaced with triumph. Alina was ready to hunt for the Firebird. As long as she wouldn't resist the amplifier, I believed I could find it.

"You're not... reluctant to have the Firebird?" I questioned just to be sure.

She shook her head. "No. I think it is what we need to stop more rebellions from forming."

Fury rooted inside me at the thought of what was causing this problem in the first place. The Lantsov pup was supposed to die in that war. I should have hunted him down myself and watched him die by my doing. If I had, he wouldn't still be out there taunting me by being alive. He was no longer a threat himself, but he had put the idea in the public's minds that a revolt would somehow make everything right, that if they killed Alina and me, Ravka would be better off. That was the sobachka's plan all along. He knew he wouldn't be able to fight us off, not with two of the most powerful amplifiers. He called on the battle with the purpose of starting a revolution, and Ravka's loyalty was more fickle than ever. With the Firebird, they would have no choice but to serve us. If I couldn't get loyalty the old-fashioned way, I would have to get it forcefully. Fear, to me, was always more useful than compassion.

Alina saw my anger and put a delicate hand on my shoulder. Somehow, she knew what I was thinking; maybe it was through the connection, perhaps something deeper that I didn't fully understand. She said, "it's alright. Once we get the Firebird, all of this will stop. There won't be any more rebellions."

I took a deep breath and kissed her forehead. She smiled up at me, and that smile was what gave me hope. With her, it was the only time I felt like I was the mortal boy again: just Aleksander, not the Second Army general or the Shadow King. In the beginning, I resented Alina for how she made me feel. I became vulnerable around her, and she didn't even know how much of an effect she had on me. The night of the Winter Fete, I thought that if I embraced my feelings just for that night, I would get over it and move on, but they just kept growing. Finally, I realized that it was the lack of merzost I felt. I am older than most of the people in this world, yet when it comes to understanding feelings, Alina was able to figure it out right away, whereas it took me far too long.