A year after Alina Starkov tears down the Shadow Fold, she is finally able to settle into her peaceful life. There is no more war with Ravka. The Darkling, once her enemy, is now a loyal, protective husband, and a father to their adoptive daughter...
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I TᑌᑕK ᗰYSEᒪᖴ away in my bedroom for the rest of the day. Aleksander must have gotten the hint because he hasn't come in. I go to sleep alone, and that's how it stays for half of the night. However, around one in the morning, I feel his presence in the room. My eyes flutter open to see that my presumption is correct. I spot him sitting on the end of the bed, silently observing me.
I roll my eyes and bury my head in the pillow. "You know you look creepy when you do that, right?"
"Do what?" he says innocently.
"Stare at me in the darkness while I sleep."
With my face still smothered in the pillow, I hear his footsteps approach, and the mattress dips down near my waist. He says nothing; he just sits on the edge, observing me.
I roll over to face him and mumble, "Why are you sitting at the end of the bed creepily? You can still sleep here even if I'm mad, you know."
"I figured you didn't want to see me."
It isn't that I do not want to see him, but I guess I am just unsure of what to say to him. That man in the dungeon was not my husband. He was a villain. A murderer.
His words finally sink in, and my eyes grow wider in realization. To be sure, I incircle his wrist with my fingers. There is no amplification, no jolt of reassuring power. He is also still wearing his kefta instead of nightclothes. He isn't here. With three amplifiers, our connection is stronger than ever. It is difficult to tell the difference between reality and the tether.
"You're not really here."
He brushes his thumb over my knuckles gently as he loosely holds my hand. "As I said, I didn't think you wanted to see me."
We sit in silence for the longest time. He is waiting for me to initiate the conversation. I suppose we can't put this off forever.
I sit up, resting my back against the headboard. "Why did you do that to those prisoners, Aleksander?"
"They deserved to die. They committed the highest form of treason. They tried to kill you."
I cup his cheek to calm him down and reply in a soothing voice. "I know what they did. I'm not saying they didn't deserve to be punished. In this case, consequences were necessary."
"Then why are you upset, Alina?"
"It wasn't the fact that you killed them. It was how you killed them. I saw the look in your eyes, Aleksander. You liked it. As a king, you have to put justice before revenge."
