#sanktaalinas

[starlsssankt]

@sankta-alina-s sent an ask //

I want you to listen to me carefully.

Aleksander smirks, leaning oh so casually against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest. An eyebrow raises, as if he's merely humoring her, the smirk on his lips ever-growing.

❝ Do you really think you are in a good position for that, my Alina? ❞ he muses, Aleksander pushing away from the door and stalking closer to her.

❝ It is just the two of us right now... ❞

[billyrussc]

@sankta-alina-s sent an ask //

[ BATHE ]  our muses take a shower together and sender looks over receiver’s scars 

While it wasn't exactly a secret, the way his life had gone, there were a lot of things that Billy kept buried deep. Didn't reveal to anyone, lest it come back to haunt him, be used against him. He wasn't used to letting anyone in past a certain extent, a certain mask...

Somehow, though, Alina had managed to worm her way a bit deeper than Billy had initially intended her to. She'd made him actually care--at least a little, which was something Billy hadn't remembered doing for anyone else outside his own interests in what felt like forever.

Fingers roamed over her skin as the water cascaded down his back, over different scars that came from a life hard-lived. Knives and other blades; bullet wounds and broken bones...

All evidence on his body in one way or another...

[threecardtrick]

An empire destroyed by darkness and reforged in light.  Thomas had never believed in saints and certainly never expected to see one in his lifetime... let alone to call them king & queen. His own life and existence had been stripped away; all that he knew, all that he had been... were gone. He had once been the king’s spymaster, if it could be called that; he did whatever needed to be done. He had as a man, only a man. But now, that wasn’t enough. It had been a shock at court, those who had been spared, to learn that Thomas was a Grisha... a heartrender. He does not try to dwell too much on the idea that it might be this which had saved him. The secret which he had kept all his life.  But he does not feel it will be enough... he knew that he must make himself as indispensable as he had been to the previous monarchy. So, here he is, with a stack of letters in his hand, like a mere messenger.  “Moi Tsaritsa,” he greeted reverently as he entered in the room, head initially bowed. “I have some diplomatic invitations,” he explained, walking closer, though stopping far enough that he must extend his arm to give them to her. A respectable distance. “Many are eager to host you, as you might imagine.”

[starlsssankt]

@sankta-alina-s sent an ask //

❝ the realm owes you a great debt. ❞

The enemy had been pushed back, and perhaps that was cause for celebration among the nobility, the royal family. Not that they did much to ensure such a victory, of course, but any chance the Lantsovs had to congratulate themselves would obviously not be wasted.

Even if he and the others of the Second Army had been the ones actually succeeding.

But he'd fought that argument over and over; it rarely, if ever, amounted to anything. So Aleksander merely nodded at her.

❝ If only you knew, ❞ the Darkling muttered under his breath, but he forced a smile nonetheless. Like he was actually gracious, even if every bone in his body wanted to annihilate the royal family.

❝ I do what I can for Ravka, Duchess. That is all. ❞

[starlsssankt]

@sankta-alina-s sent an ask //

“Would you like to dance with me?”

She is beautiful tonight, but then again, Aleksander is no longer surprised by how radiant she shines. Like the sun itself, like the light from her is the same essence as that which gifts in her veins. Perhaps in the beginning, when he had first been forced into this arrangement, he hadn't appreciated it.

Perhaps, at first, he'd have done almost anything to escape this chain.

And yet now... Aleksander nods, his hand extending to take her arm as they move through the ballroom towards the dance floor.

Now, Aleksander simply cannot imagine not having this--all of this--with her.

❝ You are perhaps even more stunning tonight than usual, ❞ he whispers to the duchess, a gleam in his dark eyes as the music starts.

[starlsssankt]

@sankta-alina-s sent an ask //

❝ take your fucking hands off me. ❞

He sighed, as if she was being particularly difficult. A child that was misbehaving and he was almost on his last straw with it. ❝ I told you to behave, Alina. ❞ The words, hissed into her ear, as his hands tighten on her arms, holding her more firmly.

Quite the opposite of letting her go, of course.

❝ You are not a prisoner here but if you continue to act like this, I will have no choice but to treat you like one! Is that what you're after? ❞

[starlsssankt]

@sankta-alina-s sent an ask //

 ❛ i felt your absence.  ❜  

He came and rested his hands on her shoulders as she sat there, Aleksander meeting Alina's stare in the reflection of her mirror. Fingers slid over her shoulders as he leaned down, whispered, ❝ It took longer than expected. ❞

Perhaps he might have considered apologizing, but the words--even now--caught on his tongue. Kept themselves silent. Apologies, regret-- it wasn't something he'd ever let himself feel, express.

What was the point, at the end of it all, to regret his actions?

❝ I am here now, however... ❞

[starlsssankt]

@sankta-alina-s /

we have been given a miraculous second chance.

𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐊𝐀 𝐁𝐎𝐖𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐈𝐌, to her, and he might hold the title of Darkling, of a monster to so many, a heretic, but the power is his. The influence is his. And with the 'sun saint' at his side...

He turns at her words. ❝ A second chance? ❞ he ponders, Aleksander focusing more on what Alina is saying. ❝ And just what do you propose we do with this second chance? ❞