Prompt. "I choose you" Darklina pairing. or something around Alina choosing Alexander rather than running like Bahgra tells her to
Thank you for the ask lovely! This fic follows directly on the heels of the last five minute fic (here)
“I need you to tell me the truth,” she says, once he has her bundled in the carriage and has kicked everyone else out. She counted the horses and the people, and the math doesn’t add up but he doesn’t seem to care and her feet hurt too much to worry about it terribly much.
He arches an eyebrow at her — he hasn’t stopped touching her since he’d found her on the side of the road, and she doesn’t have it in her to object. It’s been an emotional day and probably she should wait to try to find out but — she won’t be able to sleep until she knows. “Is there something in particular you’re looking for an answer for?” he asks, thumb rubbing against the back of her hand soothingly.
She opens her mouth but — all of her questions, all of the questions that she can think of are yes or no and if she asks ‘are you the black heretic’ and he says ‘no' when Baghra said ‘yes’. Alina considers and turns her hand over so she can capture his and still the motion. “Tell me about the Black Heretic again,” she says instead.
“Ah,” he leans back and watches her, and there’s something in his expression that she cannot place now and she’s not sure if the fact that he’s showing her that is a good or bad thing. “Am I to assume you had a conversation with someone before you were taken?”
She wrinkles her nose and pulls her hand back. “That’s not an answer, Aleksander.”
“No,” he says, turning his head away and scratching his jaw before sighing and turning back to meet her eyes. “I don’t suppose it was.”
She waits as he fidgets for another long moment and then rubs a hand over his face. “Can this wait until we’re back in the Little Palace? It’s — I don’t like to talk about it, and I’d prefer not to be interrupted.”
This could be a manipulation, she knows, but it, well, it does sound reasonable. She nods and he relaxes.
Alina refuses to have the conversation in the map room, and has to suffer his smirk for it, before he leads her to a sitting room she’s never been in. The party is still in full swing, and it doesn’t seem to be harmed any by her missing, so surely they won’t miss it longer.
He sits her down and makes tea as he starts to talk. “I’d helped the king first — because I thought it would make the world better for all of us.” She knows he’s not talking about this king, and she takes a bracing sip of her tea and waits for the rest.
The rest is…certainly the rest. He’s still hiding bits, she thinks, when she hears it this time — but what he’s not hiding are his actions. He’s vague as to who died, but not vague about the creation of the fold.
She’s had four cups of tea by the time it’s all done. And then he is looking at her and offering his hand and —
“You lied to me, before,” she says, carefully, “and I haven’t forgotten or forgiven that yet but, I am with you, Aleksander, but I won’t be played.”
He nods slightly, but his hand doesn’t waver, and after a long moment she places hers in his, and he bends to kiss the back of it.
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