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February 22 - March 20, 2025
“She must have passed her power on to her descendants, built into their bones.” A bitter laugh escaped me. “I thought it was me,” I said. “I was so desperate to believe there was some great purpose to all this, that I didn’t just … happen. I thought I was the other branch of Morozova’s line. But it was you, Mal. It was always you.”
I KNEW IT
“None of this is happening for a reason.” He skimmed his lips over mine. “And Saints help me, Alina, I want to live forever.”
What I felt for Mal was messy and stubborn and might leave me heartbroken in the end, but it was also human.
“Maybe that brought us together, but it didn’t make us who we are. It didn’t make you the girl who could get me to laugh when I had nothing. It sure as hell didn’t make me the idiot who took that for granted. Whatever there is between us, we forged it. It belongs to us.”
“But no matter who or what I was, I would have been yours.”
“I wanted more for you,” he said. “A white veil in your hair. Vows we could keep.” “A proper wedding night? Just tell me this isn’t goodbye. That’s the only vow I need.” “I love you, Alina.”
I would never know if it was greed or selflessness that moved my hand. With Mal’s fingers guiding mine, I shoved the knife up and into his chest.
WHAT? NO SHE DID NOT!!!!
I was on my knees. My hands found Mal’s body, the damp crumple of his blood-soaked shirt. I threw up my hands, calling the light. Nothing happened. I tried again, reaching for the power and finding only absence.
Oh my god
My fists bunched in Mal’s shirt. “Help me,” I gasped.
NOOOOO MY BABY
Even now, as the world we knew was remade in bursts and flashes of light, he couldn’t comprehend what Mal truly was. He wouldn’t.
“You were meant to be like me. You were meant … You’re nothing now.” He dropped his hands. I saw the realization strike him. He was truly alone. And he always would be.
“I don’t need to be Grisha,” I whispered, “to wield Grisha steel.” With one swift movement, I drove the shadow-wrapped blade deep into the Darkling’s heart.
PERIOD
“Nothing left,” I said softly, feeling the emptiness inside me, the emptiness everywhere.
NO MY BABY IM CRYING
And there it was again: the thready, miraculous sound of Mal drawing breath.
HUH?
“Turns out I don’t care for emeralds,” I said. Zoya rolled her eyes. “Or royal blood, blinding charisma, tremendous wealth—”
Im glad someone gets it
I’d wondered how Tolya and Tamar had brought Mal back.
By sheer plot convience and bullshit
They had an ordinary life, full of ordinary things—if love can ever be called that.
