[ she works through it, slowly. that he's admitting she is a shadow summoner too. that he is telling her that baghra's his mother.
no. she's giving him too much credit. it's not the same as honesty. he can tell her he's ancient and terrifying, tell her that his mother has been right there at the little palace the whole time, tell her whatever he wants to except for the thing which matters most. it won't change anything. it can't. ]
What both of you are. [ she exhales slowly. a tiny sliver of her mind tries to hold onto some lesser heartbreak. she thinks of her mistrust of baghra, of all the pain she'd caused alina and marie and nadia and every other grisha, and she wonders if maybe the truth is more convenient. baghra could be the black heretic. aleksander could simply be protecting his mother, trying to correct her mistake. she'd known everything of the details of the fold's creation, she was equally eternal, she —
but alina knows these things aren't true. no matter how she tries to hold onto them. baghra is an awful, bitter, angry woman who mistreats the grisha who come to her that she claims to be helping. alina does not trust her further than she could throw her, and alina knows that she wouldn't win that fight. but she also knows that she's not the black heretic.
aleksander is. ]
So you bear all of it. Alone. [ the chapel is nearby. in view, even. it won't take much longer to get to it, to gather their allotted supplies. but alina can't make her feet move. ]
no subject
[ she works through it, slowly. that he's admitting she is a shadow summoner too. that he is telling her that baghra's his mother.
no. she's giving him too much credit. it's not the same as honesty. he can tell her he's ancient and terrifying, tell her that his mother has been right there at the little palace the whole time, tell her whatever he wants to except for the thing which matters most. it won't change anything. it can't. ]
What both of you are. [ she exhales slowly. a tiny sliver of her mind tries to hold onto some lesser heartbreak. she thinks of her mistrust of baghra, of all the pain she'd caused alina and marie and nadia and every other grisha, and she wonders if maybe the truth is more convenient. baghra could be the black heretic. aleksander could simply be protecting his mother, trying to correct her mistake. she'd known everything of the details of the fold's creation, she was equally eternal, she —
but alina knows these things aren't true. no matter how she tries to hold onto them. baghra is an awful, bitter, angry woman who mistreats the grisha who come to her that she claims to be helping. alina does not trust her further than she could throw her, and alina knows that she wouldn't win that fight. but she also knows that she's not the black heretic.
aleksander is. ]
So you bear all of it. Alone. [ the chapel is nearby. in view, even. it won't take much longer to get to it, to gather their allotted supplies. but alina can't make her feet move. ]