Darklina + 33 đâ¤ď¸
âThe General sent the Healers away, Sun Summoner,â Ivan announced.
Alina gleaned, from Ivanâs tone and his use of her Grisha title and the way his eyes flickered as he stared straight ahead and somewhere to the north of her left shoulder, that Ivan felt the General had made a colossal error and it had taken every bit of Ivanâs training to restrain himself from saying as much.
Which meant Aleksander was both injured and ill.
âPerhaps in an hour,â she said, knowing he would understand what she meant.
âTwo,â he replied, familiar with the way she underestimated the duration of arguments and their resolution. This could be ascribed to her upbringing and his longer experience of a marriage.
She nodded, the inclination that of a queen to her subject. And a soldier to her sergeant.
Ivan withdrew silently.
Alina walked over to where Aleksander lay on a camp bed, his torn kefta folded beneath his head as a makeshift pillow. He was bare to the waist, except for where heâd been strapped, the handiwork of a Durast, not a Healer, someone who hadnât grown up in the Little Palace but recalled the methods of the otkazatâsya.
âA fortnight I left you,â she said softly.
His eyes were closed but she knew he wasnât asleep.
âOthers had a greater need. I will not have my Grisha die because the Healers want to fuss over me,â he said, only opening his eyes at the end. âYou look tired, umnaya.â
âI gathered it would be prudent to make haste,â she said.
âIvan sent for you. He neednâtââ
âI disagree, Sasha. And Nikolai can manage without us,â she said, kneeling beside him.
âYou left Nikolai in charge?â he said, starting to sit up. Struggling, his breath short, his lips parted.
Alina rested a hand on his chest to calm him. He was feverish but not in danger. Not yet.
âHush. I left Genya. And Saints help me, your mother,â she said.
âI should trust you,â he said.
âYes, that would be wise. What happened?â she asked.
âA catarrh, I didnât bother about it, with everything going on, the talks broke downââ he said.
 Alina looked at how tightly bound his chest was, how pale his cheeks.
âIt went into your lungs and still you didnât see a Healer,â she said.
âI did. I couldnât spare the time they wanted, this needed seeing to,â he said, meaning the skirmish, the sudden battle, the Grisha he would always put before himself.
âYou fought ill and got injured, yes?â Alina said.
âIt was bad luck I took the hit to my ribs,â he said, trying to smile.
âSashaââÂ
âItâs not so bad,â he said.
âI wonât let it be,â Alina replied, beginning to unwind the linen strips, revealing an extensive mottled bruising that reached down beneath where the rough wool blanket covered him from the waist onwards. She was not a Healer, but theyâd discovered her command of the Sun, their mutual amplification, could work some similar magic.
âI donât want you to exhaust yourself,â he said.Â
He already sounded stronger as she let the light move from her palms across his skin, closing her eyes briefly to send it within him, to the cracked, curved ribs and the strained muscle, the inflamed lungs. She thought of someone trying to hurt him and the light flared into warmth, terribly gentle but potent, and she heard him sigh in relief.
Alina opened her eyes to find him looking at her with a vast tenderness. She touched her fingers lightly to his ribs, watched as he breathed more easily. She bent her head and kissed where her fingers had just been, her lips soft against his skin, the caress without any seductive intent.
His dark eyes told her such a thing was impossible.
âAna Kuya said this is where she was taken from, Ieva from Adem,â Alina said.
âThatâs one story,â Aleksander replied.
âI didnât understand, when I was a little girl. I thought it must have hurt, to have something taken. To be wrenched from where you belong,â she said.
âItâs only an old story, Alya, however much that would horrify your devout old harridan,â he said.
âItâs about being close, being matched,â she said.
âIeva was not Ademâs amplifier,â Aleksander said.
He could be literal when it came to the Small Science. Heâd studied it so long and she hadnât. Sometimes that was to her benefit.
âI know. Itâs a metaphor, Sasha. Thatâs why I still remember it,â Alina said.
âThen be close with me,â he said, shifting over on the camp bed. Alina looked at the space and considered.
âYouâre tired, you said so before you Summoned, youâre more tired now and we both need the rest. I can breathe more easily now,â he coaxed.
âOnly for a little while,â Alina said.
âIvan said two hours. Weâll nap before the Healers get here. It will make him happy,â Aleksander said.
Alina chuckled.
âIf it will please Ivan, then we must.â
