( it's a tease, but the sort of tease that you have to know to look for. he won't be eating or drinking, given the choice, no matter how inviting it might look.
shirt buttoned, his fingers are already slipping down to his belt, plucking at the buckle idly. )
[ the movement, the sound, both draw her eye. she finds herself considering the front of his trousers, knowing what's underneath. her mouth goes dry. she straightens her back. ]
Come find me when you're finished. [ despite her best efforts at authoritative, something about her voice just sounds small. it's made worse when she hastens for the door like he's preparing to let some kind of beast off its leash. ]
( surprise quickly gives way to acceptance. he nods, making no move to stop her departure — not because he's ever been particularly modest but her need to leave at this moment is already telling.
he dresses with his usual brisk efficiency. his old clothes are set aside carefully before he steps out of the room, his shirt open enough to expose the column of his throat and the collar that encloses it. )
[ alina looks up from junk mail on the counter when he comes downstairs to the middle floor's living space. the envelopes linger in her hand a moment as she drinks him in. he is too pale for the white. he looks like some foul spirit. and isn't he? he has haunted her well enough.
she drops the letters to the kitchen table. alina wills steel into her stride as she moves to him, reaching up to touch the collar around his throat, admiring the stamp of ownership of that tiny pendant sun. she had left a tie for him, but it doesn't matter that he had foregone it. the purpose was to reveal the collar, and if he'd done it to please her — well, it worked.
she withdraws her hand suddenly, as if burned by the gold piece. ]
It'll do. [ she clears her throat. ] Don't call me that. [ it only reminds her of nikolai and vasily's offers. rule ravka. they were as power-hungry as the darkling. even nikolai. especially nikolai. ]
( it had absolutely been done for her benefit. strange to think that he could ever find himself in a position where he almost welcomes the collar.
almost. )
What would you prefer?
( no endearments at all, obviously, but she's not getting away with that. for all her claims to the contrary, he doesn't think she wants him totally obedient. )
( rather than take offence, he's amused. for all that she has seemed so determined to distance herself from him and all that he represents, she's still styling herself in his image.
does she even realize?
but then he dips his head, decides to accept this like he has everything else she's set before him. if nothing else, humouring her will prove interesting. )
[ she doesn't relish his company. she moves quickly for the door, not touching him as she does but keeping her hands close to her sides. the white dress swishes behind her, long and draping and elegant in a way that alina is simply not. ]
[ she doesn't have a good answer. truth be told, she's terrified that she might. it is too easy to forget herself here. to forget the war and the fold and the nightmares that plagued her for months.
so instead she leads him from the house. the car she has called arrives for them -- just a taxi, but it saves them the walk. at least until they reach the edge of the festival area, where the streets are cordoned off and the city is packed with foot traffic milling from stand to stand.
alina gets out first. the minute she's on her feet she's glad she planned ahead with the car. hours of these shoes will be plenty, even without the hike from the house to the festival. she comes around to the other side of the car to let the darkling out, the way one might a child. ]
( it's adorable, really, how she's trying to exert her control. it's the sort of thing that he knows should annoy him, except that he's perfectly aware of what she's doing and why and so it's easier to swallow back anything but mild amusement. )
With you be holding my hand throughout the festivities, or will I have to earn that privilege?
Is that what you want, Aleksander? To hold my hand?
[ there's a sneer in her voice. the smug insinuation of doubt. it's so ... pedestrian. childish, even. she cannot imagine holding hands with him any more than she can imagine rutting on mal's boot like an animal.
what would he say if he saw her now, like this?
i barely recognize you. had he ever said that, or was it just his voice in her mind? no. she remembers. at the little palace. he's all over you. the humor drains out of her expression. the smugness evaporates. ]
Don't touch me. [ she makes that clear. an order he can't step around. she shuts the car door behind him and pats the roof to signal the driver to leave. then she turns to regard the swelling festival. already she feels sick. ]
I think you know better than to ask, moya soverenyi. ( the word rolls off his tongue, rich and dark and tasting of home.
unfolded from the car, he smooths his hands over the front of his suit. it's immaculate, of course. all sleek, perfect lines even if the color really does nothing for him. )
Shall we then? ( a nod toward the festivities. a smile that shades a little too close to a smirk pulling at his mouth. )
[ she sets a brisk pace into the festival. too quick to look casual, comfortable, and she realizes it when the first crowd of bodies bottlenecks on the path ahead of them and she has to slow down.
she looks like she's competing in a race, not enjoying an afternoon. alina draws a slow, steadying breath.
up ahead, music spills out of the central square. beneath it, the sound of a crackling fire. smoke fills the air. she glances over her shoulder to ensure she hasn't lost the darkling — not out of worry for him, but for what kind of trouble he might get up to.
but the bottleneck gives way, and they filter into the square, where people dance in unfamiliar but energetic steps in staggered congress near the roasting pig. a dance, a wrestling match, and an offering. she can make it through just three things. she draws her shoulders straighter and turns to him, offering her hand. she can't claim to have quite parsed all the steps, but failure is a part of joining in for festival dancing. you figure it out as you go. ]
( he'd been thinking about all the similarities between this and the winter fête. it wasn't the sort of thing he'd muse aloud — not with alina's temper already so frayed.
that doesn't mean his brow doesn't dip, briefly skeptical of the proffered hand. )
How long has it been since you danced like this? ( his voice is neutral, carefully so, as he finally takes her hand. )
If I told you that I danced like this with Nikolai Lantsov in West Ravka?
[ she draws him nearer, taking his other hand too so she can tug him into the first skip-like motion, turning into a side bend together as they find the rhythm. there are other movements, but her first order of business seems to be the footing and turning. ]
[ Nikolai wasn't the first person to use Alina to make himself look better, to try to advance his claim on Ravka. At least Nikolai's method didn't involve murder.
The dance involves a peppy step, a sort of near constant bounce that has Alina releasing one of the Darkling's hands to twirl around him like he was a kind of maypole. She draws her other hand back and picks up too-late on a series of claps, fumbling. Her brow furrows as she loses step. ]
I wouldn't conflate a lack of ability to collar you with a lack of desire to do so. Given the choice between you and his throne, which do you imagine he'd choose?
( simple, unweighted. in this, he and nikolai are perhaps not that different — what is different is that he had always intended to have them both. and what he wanted, he tended to get. )
The question you should be asking — [ the steps bring her in against him as she says this, and she bumps against his chest in her own clumsiness. it's a natural part of folk dance, the staggering. people around them laugh at their own mistakes. alina doesn't. she glowers at him, hesitating. ] — is how many innocent people he would kill to get either. And the answer is fewer than you.
( hands immediately lift to steady her. there's an awkward moment that verges on intimacy, which threatens to push memories of the beach ritual to the surface of his thoughts.
but this is not that kind of situation, even if her proximity makes his skin tingle with the desire to touch her everywhere. )
Leading is never wholly bloodless, Alina. No matter how pure your intentions.
There is a difference between accepting that fact and embracing the bloodshed.
[ she shoves him back from her. the dance has continued. the couple next to them is trying to move into their space as the whole group rotates, and alina pulls aleksander with her, trying to catch up. her steps are out of rhythm. too fast, too jerky, too angry.
the fire is hot, even with the air billowing under the loose shift of her dress, the light breeze rustling over the sweat of her bare back. ]
If all you wanted was to lead, do you really think I'd have stopped you?
( he'd considered it, actually. not immediately, because she had still been an unknown quantity, then, and he had been so close to his goal. close enough to taste it. but eventually, he had.
and then she'd run and whatever tenuous trust he'd had withered like fruit on the vine. there were no chances after that. )
( they settle into the rhythm of the dance. it's still clumsy at points, because he really hasn't danced anything like this in years but there's something about being close to her, being swallowed up by the music. )
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( it's a tease, but the sort of tease that you have to know to look for. he won't be eating or drinking, given the choice, no matter how inviting it might look.
shirt buttoned, his fingers are already slipping down to his belt, plucking at the buckle idly. )
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Come find me when you're finished. [ despite her best efforts at authoritative, something about her voice just sounds small. it's made worse when she hastens for the door like he's preparing to let some kind of beast off its leash. ]
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he dresses with his usual brisk efficiency. his old clothes are set aside carefully before he steps out of the room, his shirt open enough to expose the column of his throat and the collar that encloses it. )
Do I meet your satisfaction, printessa?
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she drops the letters to the kitchen table. alina wills steel into her stride as she moves to him, reaching up to touch the collar around his throat, admiring the stamp of ownership of that tiny pendant sun. she had left a tie for him, but it doesn't matter that he had foregone it. the purpose was to reveal the collar, and if he'd done it to please her — well, it worked.
she withdraws her hand suddenly, as if burned by the gold piece. ]
It'll do. [ she clears her throat. ] Don't call me that. [ it only reminds her of nikolai and vasily's offers. rule ravka. they were as power-hungry as the darkling. even nikolai. especially nikolai. ]
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almost. )
What would you prefer?
( no endearments at all, obviously, but she's not getting away with that. for all her claims to the contrary, he doesn't think she wants him totally obedient. )
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[ she arrives upon this after a moment of thought, lifting her chin stubbornly. ]
'Moya soverennyi.'
[ in case their discussion of tactics had given him any delusions as to whether she would treat him like an equal. ]
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( rather than take offence, he's amused. for all that she has seemed so determined to distance herself from him and all that he represents, she's still styling herself in his image.
does she even realize?
but then he dips his head, decides to accept this like he has everything else she's set before him. if nothing else, humouring her will prove interesting. )
Very well, moya soverennyi.
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[ she doesn't relish his company. she moves quickly for the door, not touching him as she does but keeping her hands close to her sides. the white dress swishes behind her, long and draping and elegant in a way that alina is simply not. ]
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saints. it must be deliberate, her choosing this particular dress. it must be. )
Are you so sure you won't enjoy it?
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so instead she leads him from the house. the car she has called arrives for them -- just a taxi, but it saves them the walk. at least until they reach the edge of the festival area, where the streets are cordoned off and the city is packed with foot traffic milling from stand to stand.
alina gets out first. the minute she's on her feet she's glad she planned ahead with the car. hours of these shoes will be plenty, even without the hike from the house to the festival. she comes around to the other side of the car to let the darkling out, the way one might a child. ]
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With you be holding my hand throughout the festivities, or will I have to earn that privilege?
( because he's certainly game if she is. )
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[ there's a sneer in her voice. the smug insinuation of doubt. it's so ... pedestrian. childish, even. she cannot imagine holding hands with him any more than she can imagine rutting on mal's boot like an animal.
what would he say if he saw her now, like this?
i barely recognize you. had he ever said that, or was it just his voice in her mind? no. she remembers. at the little palace. he's all over you. the humor drains out of her expression. the smugness evaporates. ]
Don't touch me. [ she makes that clear. an order he can't step around. she shuts the car door behind him and pats the roof to signal the driver to leave. then she turns to regard the swelling festival. already she feels sick. ]
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unfolded from the car, he smooths his hands over the front of his suit. it's immaculate, of course. all sleek, perfect lines even if the color really does nothing for him. )
Shall we then? ( a nod toward the festivities. a smile that shades a little too close to a smirk pulling at his mouth. )
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she looks like she's competing in a race, not enjoying an afternoon. alina draws a slow, steadying breath.
up ahead, music spills out of the central square. beneath it, the sound of a crackling fire. smoke fills the air. she glances over her shoulder to ensure she hasn't lost the darkling — not out of worry for him, but for what kind of trouble he might get up to.
but the bottleneck gives way, and they filter into the square, where people dance in unfamiliar but energetic steps in staggered congress near the roasting pig. a dance, a wrestling match, and an offering. she can make it through just three things. she draws her shoulders straighter and turns to him, offering her hand. she can't claim to have quite parsed all the steps, but failure is a part of joining in for festival dancing. you figure it out as you go. ]
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that doesn't mean his brow doesn't dip, briefly skeptical of the proffered hand. )
How long has it been since you danced like this? ( his voice is neutral, carefully so, as he finally takes her hand. )
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[ she draws him nearer, taking his other hand too so she can tug him into the first skip-like motion, turning into a side bend together as they find the rhythm. there are other movements, but her first order of business seems to be the footing and turning. ]
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It does seem like the sort of thing the little Lantsov would enjoy.
( the spectacle, at least. like the rest of his family, nikolai knows how to make a scene. )
Particularly with the Sun Summoner on his arm.
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[ Nikolai wasn't the first person to use Alina to make himself look better, to try to advance his claim on Ravka. At least Nikolai's method didn't involve murder.
The dance involves a peppy step, a sort of near constant bounce that has Alina releasing one of the Darkling's hands to twirl around him like he was a kind of maypole. She draws her other hand back and picks up too-late on a series of claps, fumbling. Her brow furrows as she loses step. ]
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( simple, unweighted. in this, he and nikolai are perhaps not that different — what is different is that he had always intended to have them both. and what he wanted, he tended to get. )
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but this is not that kind of situation, even if her proximity makes his skin tingle with the desire to touch her everywhere. )
Leading is never wholly bloodless, Alina. No matter how pure your intentions.
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[ she shoves him back from her. the dance has continued. the couple next to them is trying to move into their space as the whole group rotates, and alina pulls aleksander with her, trying to catch up. her steps are out of rhythm. too fast, too jerky, too angry.
the fire is hot, even with the air billowing under the loose shift of her dress, the light breeze rustling over the sweat of her bare back. ]
If all you wanted was to lead, do you really think I'd have stopped you?
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( he'd considered it, actually. not immediately, because she had still been an unknown quantity, then, and he had been so close to his goal. close enough to taste it. but eventually, he had.
and then she'd run and whatever tenuous trust he'd had withered like fruit on the vine. there were no chances after that. )
The West was rallying against us.
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[ How many times will they rehash this argument? How much time do they have to do precisely that?
She falls back into step with the rest of the crowd, tugging the Darkling along with her. ]
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( they settle into the rhythm of the dance. it's still clumsy at points, because he really hasn't danced anything like this in years but there's something about being close to her, being swallowed up by the music. )
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