#aleksander stepanov | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

filhadoboto · 9 months ago

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The chosen one

Summary: During the reading of his mother's will, Aleksander Morozov discovers that, so that his inheritance does not end up in the hands of his hated cousin Malyen Oretsev, he will have to get married within a year.

AO3

chapter 1; chapter 2; chapter 3; chapter 4; chapter 5; chapter 6; chapter 7; chapter 8

Chapter 9 - The Bride

“You are here, Alina Starkova, to spy on me.”

Alina's eyes left the stack of letters and met his as she heard his words. Her expression was a mixture of shock and disbelief.

She took a step back, then another, as if the words had hit her physically, as if she were unconsciously trying to run away from them, away from him. The two stared at each other in a tense and charged silence for a few seconds as those words seemed to hang in the air between them.

“Your Grace, I can…” she began, but he held up a hand to silence her.

“You can explain?” he asked in a tone that was far from friendly. “I need you to continue to be my eyes and ears in the Little Palace so that I can intervene when necessary.” He continued, quoting the passage he had memorized from the letter she held, and the way she clutched the paper in her hand told him that she recognized it. “I don't think you need to explain yourself. His words are clear enough.”

Her face filled with a mixture of pain and guilt, and Alina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He could see her hands shaking, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He was hurting, and a part of him wanted her to hurt too.

The least he expected from the people who worked for him was loyalty. If not because they respected him or liked him, then at least because he paid a good salary and was a fair employer. But although she had been very good at making him think otherwise, the truth was that Alina had never been loyal to him. How foolish he had been to think he knew her better than he knew himself! The truth was, he had spent those months getting to know someone who didn't exist!

“The Alina I knew doesn’t exist. She never existed.” he continued, and her eyes opened and stared at him. “You invented a character to get close to me. You gained my trust, my friendship just to spy on me! Every conversation, every smile, everything was part of your plan from the moment you chose to come to Morozov Hall!” he blurted in a hurt tone that made him feel like there was an open wound in his chest, leaking blood onto the floor, draining his life with every drop that fell.

How could life be so cruel to him? He wanted so much to fall in love, to find someone to share his life with, someone who would be his companion, his best friend, his accomplice, his lover. And when he finally found someone who could be all of that, someone with whom he could imagine spending his entire life, having a family, she couldn't be his. He was in love and he couldn't live that love.

“No! Your Grace, I did not do any of this on purpose, I swear on my life.” She replied in a desperate tone. “I am the same Alina you knew and every moment we spent together was spontaneous on my part. And I swear there was never any pretense on my part. All our conversations, everything I said about myself, about my… The Alina that you and Miss Morozova and everyone else knew is who I really am.”

He couldn't help the bitter laugh that left him.

“Do you really expect me to believe that after finding out the real reason you are here?”

Aleksander saw her clench her hands into fists and swallow hard before pleading, “Your Grace, please, if you can find it in yourself to listen to me and allow me, I can explain.”

Her tone made his broken heart ache even more. He was torn between anger at her betrayal and sorrow at losing something that had never been and would never be his.

“Then explain yourself, Alina.” he allowed in a harsh, hurt tone. “Explain to me why you came to my house and abused the trust given to you not only by me and my sister, but also by Mrs. Stepanova and your friend Alexei Stepanov, who not only thinks highly of you but sees you as a sister.”

Despite his broken heart, Aleksander wouldn't be the only one to come out of that story hurt. Mrs. Stepanova not only liked Alina, but had, on several occasions, expressed her satisfaction with the maid, praised the girl, told him how quickly she learned and how diligently she did her job. Alexei had only praise for his friend and would certainly be devastated when he found out the truth. And Ulla, who had liked the girl in front of him so much that she already considered her a friend despite the difference in social class and the short time they had known each other. His dear sister would suffer twice as much, for him and for herself, when he told her everything he had discovered.

He saw guilt in her brown eyes at the mention of the three of them, guilt that matched the guilt she had expressed on the sheets of paper he had found in her sketchbook. Guilt that made his anger subside. This guilt made him suspect that the girl he had talked to and so proudly told the story of his family through the gallery, the girl he had fallen in love with, was not a character invented by her to gain his sympathy and get closer to him.

“I’m going to tell them everything I did and beg them to forgive me even though I know I’ll never deserve any of your forgiveness.” she said. “I had my reasons for doing what I did, but I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I know that what I have to say won't fix anything, but at least I'll leave knowing that the truth has been revealed.”

As he watched and listened to her he realized that despite his anger and heartbreak, finding out the truth had not shaken his feelings for her and had in fact added possessiveness and protectiveness to everything he already felt for her after reading the letters sent by his cousin. Despite the betrayal, despite Alina loving Malyen and giving herself to him, despite all the lies, despite everything, he still wanted her. And Aleksander wanted her so much that the idea of having to part with her caused him intense pain and suffering, it made him feel as if his heart was being ripped out of his chest. Hearing her say she was leaving made him realize he didn't want her to leave, made him realize that a life without Alina would be a life without light, without color, without love.

After what he had read in her room and in Malyen’s letters, Aleksander had an idea of how things between them had happened, but perhaps it would be better to listen to what she had to say . Maybe listening to her would help him, somehow, to extirpate that love from his heart, to let her go and move on with his own life.

Can a broken heart still function? , he couldn't help but think , Will I be able to move on with my life without Alina in it? Will I ever be able to love again? Or will the ghost of the woman I thought I knew haunt me forever?

“I will give you just one chance to explain yourself before I decide what to do, Alina.” he continued, unable to hide the pain in his voice. “And if I feel that you are not being truthful, I assure you that I will give you a reason to think that my cousin might have been right in calling me a monster.”

Alina nodded quickly and said in a grateful tone, “Thank you, Your Grace. I will tell you how everything happened, the reasons that brought me here, and I will finally be free of the guilt that has been tormenting me all this time.” s he took a deep breath before continuing in a shaky voice. “Mal… Mr. Oretsev and I have known each other since we were children , since I was taken to the orphanage in Keramzin . Mrs. Oretseva would take the children from my orphanage into her estate during the summer, and since I reminded her of her daughter who died…”

“Anna.” he said in a fond tone before he could stop himself.

“Yes, Mrs. Oretseva told me that she saw a bit of Miss Anna in me, so she chose me to be educated by the same tutors as her son, and later paid for my education at one of the best schools in Poliznaya, and it was thanks to this that I had a better education than the vast majority of orphans in the country. Despite the difference in social class, Mal, Mr. Oretsev has always been a dear friend and I…” she looked away, looking embarrassed by the colloquial and intimate way she continued to refer to his cousin, “and I've always been in love with him. I loved him without any hope of having my feelings reciprocated or of being with him, and I was content to be his friend, to be part of his life.” she admitted with a blush on her cheeks, and the admission was like a punch to his stomach and a dagger to his heart. “When Duchess Morozova died and her will was read, Mrs. Oretseva was overjoyed to learn that there was a chance that her son would inherit the family fortune and become the next Duke.”

He felt his anger being fueled by her words. Of course his aunt, who had always had everything she wanted, would be happy at the prospect of her only son becoming the heir to Morozov Hall.

“So they sent you here to spy on me and prevent me from getting married.” he concluded in a bitter tone, interrupting her.

“No, it was all his idea, Your Grace. Mrs. Oretseva knows nothing about it and has no part in it whatsoever,” she explained, forcing herself to look him in the eye and then continuing her explanation. “Shortly after the reading of the will, Alexei wrote to me saying that Mrs. Stepanova was looking for a trustworthy girl to come and work at Morozov Hall and I mentioned this to Mr. Oretsev because I knew that he could inherit this place one day. The next day he came to me and I saw that this news had changed something in him, because he…” Alina hesitated for a few seconds. “He told me that he loved me and wanted to marry me, but that this would only be possible if I helped him inherit Morozov Hall. I was both ecstatic and confused, but I agreed to help him do whatever was necessary. So we…” Alina hesitated again, seeming to have lost herself in a memory, but her flushed cheeks gave away what had happened between them. She shook her head as if to dispel the memories, then resumed her story. “So he asked me to apply for the position, to use my friendship with Alexei to get it, and to spy on you, Duke Morozov. He wanted to know when you found a bride so that he could sabotage any efforts you made to fulfill the clause before the deadline.”

That made Aleksander's blood boil and he wished his cousin was there so he could take all that anger out on him!

“Sabotage?” he asked through gritted teeth and she nodded. “In what way?”

“Doing whatever was necessary to prevent you from getting married until the end of the deadline given by your mother, Your Grace.” she clarified.

“Whatever was necessary.” he repeated suspiciously. “And how did he plan to do that? Did my cousin intend to kill me? Or to kill my chosen suitor? I am curious. Was that also one of your tasks, one of the things you agreed to do in order to be with him?”

Her eyes widened and she shook her head quickly as she replied, “No! I swear my only purpose here was to spy on you and tell him if you had found a suitor. And Ma… Mr. Oretsev assured me that he only wanted to prevent you from getting married. I swear he never spoke to me about killing or even hurting you or your chosen one.”

“And let me guess, in exchange for this small favor he promised to make you the next Duchess Morozova.”

He saw her cheeks grow even redder as she nodded and replied simply, “Yes.” Then Alina took a deep breath and took a step forward before adding, “I know what I did was wrong and immoral, but I believed it was all justifiable when Mr. Oretsev told me you were a monster, Duke Morozov. He painted you as the villain of the story, and I came to the Little Palace believing everything he told me, believing that you deserved to lose your inheritance.”

Alina paused, took another deep breath, and there was regret in her voice as she continued, “I expected to find someone proud, cruel, and mean. I came here prepared to deal with the worst man in the world. I believed that all the praise, all the nice things Alexei said about you, came from his gratitude for everything your family did for him and his mother. But within the first few minutes of being in your presence, I could see with my own eyes that Alexei was right. Your affection and concern for my friend were not fake. Then, as the days went by and I got to know you and talk to the other employees, the image I had of you began to change, and with it, guilt began to eat away at my certainty that my actions were justified. How could I continue to spy on you, deceive you, and lie to you when I was not only treated with respect but also with kindness and friendship by you despite my position? And with each day that the guilt ate away at me, the more I thought about giving up and the more tempted I was to tell you everything or just leave.”

To his surprise, hearing that extinguished his anger. The girl before him was used by his cousin just as he had used many other girls before her. Even though Alina had agreed to be his spy, Malyen had told her lies and made false promises to convince her to cooperate with him, and even though there was no hope for him, Aleksander needed to make her understand that she had been used, he needed her to see his cousin for who he really was. To do that he would have to break her heart, but he would rather see her heartbroken than clinging to false hope.

“My cousin is not who you think he is, Alina.” he began in a calm tone.

“I have known him since childhood, Your Grace. I know who he is. I know his heart.”

“Do you?”

“Yes, I do.” she replied in a confident tone.

“Tell me, then, who do you think he is?”

Alina stared at him for a few seconds and he could see in her eyes that she was searching for an answer.

“He’s a good person.” she began hesitantly. “He’s a great son and a good friend. He’s loving and caring.” she paused for a few seconds before adding, “When we were kids, he would always play with me and tell me stories.”

“What do you know about his behavior outside of Keramzin?”

She stared at him, confused, and asked, “What do you mean by that, Duke Morozov? I have no doubt that he is a good person anywhere.”

“After everything I’ve heard and read, it’s clear that Malyen lied and manipulated you into coming here. He took advantage of your feelings for him to get what he wanted,” he explained. “Just as he lied about me, Malyen never showed you his true colors, Alina.”

Aleksander then told her every rumor he could remember about Malyen, about the mistresses, the bastards, the bets, and the girls he had seduced and dishonored. He told her about things he had witnessed and things that people he trusted had told him. As she listened to his story, Alina shook her head several times, her face filled with disbelief and indignation and her eyes with unshed tears.

“I have also known him since childhood and I know how he is able to hide his misdeeds, I know how he can convince people of his innocence and blame others with ease.” He continued and looked at the letter that was still in her hand before adding “Has it ever occurred to you why he put his own name as the sender when he spent months using the pseudonym and insisting that you burn all his letters?”

Alina lifted the letter and stared at it for a few seconds before looking him in the eyes again.

“I know him. He would never betray me like that.” she replied, but there was more stubbornness than conviction in her voice.

“Ever since I met you, Alina, your intelligence has been one of the things that has caught my attention the most,” he began sincerely. “You yourself admitted that he lied to you about me, so how can you not see that he has been lying to you all this time?” Alina remained stubbornly silent, but he was not ready to give up. “You know that he and Miss Nazyalenskaya are engaged, don’t you?” he asked, and she turned pale.

She nodded and argued, “He doesn’t love her, and if he inherits the Morozov fortune, he won’t have to marry her for fear of being disinherited by his mother. Mr. Oretsev will be free to choose any wife he wants.”

Can't you see he's already chosen? Even if he had all the money in the world, he wouldn't choose someone in your position to be his wife., he thought, but didn't say it out loud.

How could someone so intelligent be so naive? No, she was not naive. The love she felt for Malyen blinded her and deafened her to his faults.

“And do you believe that wife would be you?” he asked and she nodded with energetic certainty. “Do you really believe that he will keep his promises, that he will marry you, an orphan girl with nothing, instead of marrying the sole heiress to a great fortune and member of one of the most important families in the country?”

Alina looked at him with a mixture of hurt and defiance in her brown eyes and said, “He said I was the only woman he loved and the only one he wanted to marry. Yes, he made me promises and yes, I chose to believe him, Your Grace.”

Aleksander couldn't help but feel sorry for her, but he took the envelope with the invitation to his cousin's wedding, as well as the letter sent by his aunt Margosha and handed them to her before saying, “This arrived today along with the letter he sent to you.”

Alina put her own letter in her apron pocket, took both of them after a few seconds of hesitation, and as she examined them, asked, “What is this?”

From her expression, he knew very well that she had understood what it was, but he replied in a calm tone, “A wedding invitation. To be more precise, it is the invitation to the wedding of my cousin Malyen and Miss Nazyalenskaya that will take place next spring. I believe that the letter sent to you was sent together with the correspondence intended for me to increase the probability of it reaching me.”

With trembling hands, Alina took the thick card out of the envelope, and he watched her face change as she read and understood what was written. Curiosity. Fear. Surprise. Disbelief. Fear again.

There were tears in her eyes as she looked at him and said, “This can’t be true.”

“I’m afraid so,” he commented. “He also lied to you about his disinterest in Miss Nazyalenskaya. I myself witnessed the two of them flirting, and my sister can confirm everything.”

Then he gave her a detailed account of what he had witnessed between Malyen and Zoya in Caryeva and even what Malyen had said to Ulla.

“You can choose not to believe me, but his mother makes everything quite clear in the letter attached to the invitation.” he finished.

Alina took a deep breath and began to read Margosha’s letter. And to his surprise, the girl fell to her knees when she finished reading it, looking shocked. She let the invitation and the letter fall from her hands, and silent tears wet her cheeks. Her cry was that of a heart that had hoped despite everything, the cry of a heart that was breaking. Before he realized what he was doing, Aleksander was kneeling beside her and hugging her, intending to comfort her. Alina didn't protest or push him away and he felt her hands grip his shirt and pull him closer to her, her face burying itself in his chest. As he held her against him with only one hand, he used the other to slowly stroke her hair.

Alina pulled away from him when she was done crying all she needed to cry and her red eyes locked onto his before she commented “After everything I’ve done, I don’t deserve you to be so kind and considerate to me, Your Grace.”

He smiled, took his handkerchief from his pocket and gently wiped her cheeks.

“Thank you.” she said softly.

He stood up, offered her his hand to help her up and she accepted his help with a grateful smile.

“After everything you’ve been through, you need my kindness and attention, Alina.” he countered before asking, “After everything you’ve read and heard, do you still believe he’ll keep his promise when he finds out I’ve discovered his spy and that you’ll no longer be able to help him? Do you really think that the love he said he felt for you will last when I get married and inherit what is rightfully mine?”

She stared at him, surprised and confused.

“But… but, Your Grace, the deadline is almost up and you still haven’t chosen anyone…”

“Who said I haven’t chosen anyone, Alina?” he asked, interrupting her.

Because right there, in that moment as he held Alina and she cried for another man, Aleksander Morozov realized that he had already made his choice, even if it was not consciously. He did not need to look for a bride elsewhere, because right there in front of him was the perfect bride, the answer to all his problems. In order for him to inherit Morozov Hall, his mother demanded that he marry and even left a list of her favorite suitors, all young women of high social standing and heiresses to great fortunes. And he had decided that he would rather leave everything to Malyen than fulfill his mother's wish, but there was something that Aleksander had not considered until that moment. Baghra Morozova didn’t just want him to get married. She wanted him to marry someone in a good social position, someone she considered worthy of being a Morozova and who, as Nikolai had said, would bring some kind of advantage to the family.

And although he had wanted to marry one day and have children of his own, he had refused the idea because it was a wish, no, because it was his mother’s last command. But he had just realized that he could marry for love and receive his inheritance and, at the same time, thwart both his mother's posthumous wish for a daughter-in-law from a high-class family and Malyen's plans to prevent him from getting what was rightfully his. There was still an additional advantage. By marrying Alina, Aleksander would not only inherit Morozov Hall, he would also free the entire region from having to live with and submit to his reckless cousin. He would not have to carry with him for the rest of his life the burden of guilt for having caused so many people's lives to be disrupted and for having burned down the Little Palace.

And he would not be the only one who would benefit if they married. The man Alina loved and had given herself to was engaged to another woman, and the wedding date had already been set. If Alina accepted his proposal, marriage would not only provide her with financial security, but would also save her from ruin if she were exposed by Malyen.

There was no hope for either of their hearts, but one could be the other's salvation. He wanted to marry for love, he wanted to marry someone compatible with him and he was in love with Alina and the two were perfectly compatible, as if the Saints had made them for each other . And if he was honest with himself, he wanted her to be his wife. He enjoyed her company and he enjoyed talking to her. She was smart and talented, and he didn’t have to try very hard to imagine what it would be like to spend the rest of his life with her.

Even if she didn't love him, he knew that Alina had friendship, respect and admiration for him. Even if he never had her heart, at least he would have her friendship and her company, he would have her in his life. There was also the added benefit that Ulla had liked her. Well, maybe his sister wouldn’t approve of his choice of wife after learning the reason why Alina had taken the job at the Little Palace , but she would eventually accept Alina and support them .

However, he could not marry Alina without her agreement and consent. First he had to ask her to marry him, making it clear how advantageous that union would be for both of them and hoping that she would see things as he did and accept his proposal. That was it, he would explain the advantages of his proposal and t hen he would propose to her, and if she accepted, they would be married before the deadline and he would secure his inheritance and she would have her reputation saved .

As he came out of his thoughts with a decision made, he realized that Alina was staring at him with panic in her beautiful brown eyes, as if she was trying to get the truth from his mind with just a look.

“Have you chosen a bride?” she asked, and there was a mixture of pain, despair, disbelief and loss in her voice, and her expression was one of shock. He nodded slowly and she asked, “When?”

“Today.” he replied with feigned calm.

What would he do if she didn’t agree to marry him? Aleksander couldn’t just let her go. He had to try to keep her in his life.

“Today?” she repeated.

He nodded and added in the same tone, “And now that I have discovered everything, I’ll take all necessary precautions so that Malyen doesn’t even have a chance to try to stop me. And you know what that means, don’t you?” he asked, but didn’t wait for her to answer. “It means that he won’t inherit Morozov Hall and that he won’t keep the promises he made to you even if he had any real intention of fulfilling them .”

“Even if… He has to keep his promise to me!” she said, and there was desperation in her voice. “Or else I’ll be… I’ll be…” She trailed off, put her hand on the pocket where she had put the letter, and from her expression, she seemed to be lost in very bad thoughts.

Aleksander studied her for a few seconds and realized that she was finally understanding the gravity of her situation. She was finally understanding that she had been used by Malyen, that he had no intention of keeping any of his promises even if he managed to inherit Morozov Hall.

“You finally realized that you gave yourself to him in vain, didn’t you?” he asked, his eyes studying her face intently.

His words snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked at him with wide eyes.

“What? How… No!” she replied and there was alarm and fear in her beautiful brown eyes “I didn’t…”

“Yes, you did.” he insisted, interrupting her and gesturing to the letters on his desk before adding, “I read those too, and it was quite clear from one of the letters, particularly the part where Malyen says, if I recall his ungentlemanly words correctly, that he ardently wishes to be able to see and touch certain intimate parts of your anatomy again, Alina.”

Saying those words had hurt him as much as they had hurt Alina, and he could still feel the echo of the anger and jealousy he had felt when he read the things Malyen had written about her and the things he wanted to do to her when they met again.

Her face flushed violently and she didn't deny it again. Not wanting to embarrass her further, he thought it best not to mention that he had also read the drafts of letters she had kept inside her sketchbook.

There was shame and tears in her eyes as she begged, “Please, Your Grace, I beg you not to tell anyone about this! I won’t be able to get a job anywhere decent if people know about this. And if he doesn’t… if you’re right and he…” her voice trailed off and Aleksander felt an almost uncontrollable urge to hug her and comfort her again. “Please, I beg you, don’t tell anyone. I promise I will leave, Your Grace, and you will never see or hear from me again.”

Aleksander knew very well what fate awaited Alina if her secret was discovered. It was not the kind of fate he would wish even on someone who had come to his home and gained his trust and sympathy only to help his enemy try to destroy him. Even if he was not in love with her, it was not the fate he would have wanted her to have. Luckily, he was in a position to offer her a much better fate.

“Tell me something, Alina. How badly do you want to be the next Duchess Morozova? From all your efforts, I would say desperately.”

“I care not for your title or your family fortune, Duke Morozov,” she replied, and there was a mixture of pride and outrage in her tone. “The only thing I cared about was being able to be with the man I loved. He was my only desire.” She looked him in the eyes before adding, “But now the man I love and everything I have ever desired since I met him is lost to me.”

The pain in her words and expression made him want to go to her and hug her once again and tell her that he was in love with her, that he would protect her and care for her and that he and his heart would be hers for all eternity. But he couldn't do that, because it was likely that Alina would not only reject him but would leave without looking back. So he needed to make it seem like his marriage proposal was just a good deal for both of them.

He pondered his words for a few seconds to decide what to say and how to say it. The worst that could happen was that she would reject him, right?

“I have a proposal to make to you, Alina.” He began in a calm tone and pointed to the chair across from his. “Sit down.” She looked at him, and there was a mix of uncertainty and fear in her eyes. Then he repeated gently, “Sit down, please.”

Aleksander took his place at the desk again, and after a few more seconds of hesitation, she obeyed him.

“What kind of proposal, Your Grace?” she asked in a suspicious tone, and there was fear in her eyes, as if she were prey and he was a predator.

He hated seeing that suspicious, fearful look being directed at him. It hurt to know that she was afraid he was planning to take advantage of her.

“The kind of proposal that will benefit both of us if you accept it.” he replied calmly, and when she nodded, he continued, “As you may recall from the stories I told you during our evening meetings in the gallery, the Morozov family has always been quite close to the crown. The closeness is so great that the two families have been united by marriage several times over the centuries. My grandfather was a close friend and trusted advisor to the tsar, and the same is expected of me when Vasily Lantsov assumes the throne.”

He took the golden envelope with the royal family crest on it that contained the invitation to the winter fête and handed it to her.

“Please, read it.” he instructed, and she did as she was told.

“You are invited to the winter fête at the Grand Palace, Your Grace.” she said when she finished reading.

He nodded slowly. “And I not only intend to attend, but I also intend to present my wife to the court on that occasion.”

Alina frowned, and a few seconds of heavy silence passed before she asked, “And may I ask who will have the honor of being your wife, Duke Morozov?” and he could swear there was a hint of jealousy in her voice.

He held the bundle of letters before him and her eyes fell on them. Without hesitation, he stood up and threw the letters into the fireplace and she gasped in surprise and stared at him with wide eyes. Those letters were proof that she had spied on him and that she had given herself up to Malyen. Those letters were proof of her crimes against him and now they were burning and turning to ash before their eyes.

Aleksander sat back down before saying, “As I said, I have a proposal for you, Alina. You leave here, take the risk that Malyen will not only reject you but expose everything that happened between the two of you if you go to him, and with your reputation destroyed, you might end up in some city’s brothel.” He saw her body tense, but continued, “Or you stay and agree to marry me, I receive my inheritance, you have your reputation saved by marriage, and all the comfort and security that your position as the new Duchess Morozova can offer you.”

Alina stared at him in silence for so long that he began to imagine that the shock of his proposal had rendered her speechless.

“So, Alina? What do you say?” he asked anxiously. His heart was beating so fast that he was afraid it would rip a hole through his chest.

She blinked a few times and asked in an incredulous tone, “Am I the chosen one?”

“Yes, you are my chosen one.” He replied, and there was a hint of possessiveness in his voice.

“Why me?” she asked in an incredulous tone.

“Why not you?” he asked.

She took a deep breath before replying, “You said yourself that I am an orphan with nothing to offer, Duke Morozov. The difference between our social classes is abysmal. It is as if a fish would want to live with a bird in its nest in a tree. So why me?”

“Because I want to.” he replied with false calm, which was still true but also didn't explain anything.

Because I’m in love with you. Because you’re the only woman I can imagine spending the rest of my life with, he concluded in his thoughts.

“What will other people think when they find out you married someone of such inferior birth?”

That was a fair question, and he pondered it for a few seconds before answering, “I’m sure they’ll think all sorts of things. Some of them will say that I was seduced by you when they see how beautiful you are. Others will think that I was desperate as my mother’s deadline approached. The more romantic minds will think that I fell in love and married for love, because only someone blinded by love would marry someone so inferior to them in society. But the truth is that I don’t care about their opinion, and I can’t stop them from thinking about it.”

“Aren’t you afraid of being ostracized?”

“I am not.” he answered truthfully and without hesitation. He didn’t care about the huge social gulf between them. He didn’t care what other people thought or said about him. His social position was too high for him to care about the opinions of others. Aleksander was in love with her and he wouldn’t let anything like social conventions stop him from marrying for love if Alina accepted him. “The only person whose opinion really matters to me is my sister’s, and I know she will support whatever decision I make.”

“I am absolutely insignificant socially, I am an orphan who was fortunate enough to receive charity from a good family and I have nothing to offer you!” she insisted. “And you, Your Grace, are descended from princes, share the royal family’s table and are held in the highest esteem by them. All of Ravkan society will mock you behind your back. Everyone will talk about how you debased yourself by marrying such an insignificant woman as me.”

But you are not insignificant to me, Alina. You are everything to me, he thought, and wished he could tell her that.

“Are those your only objections, Alina?” he asked anxiously. “Concern for my reputation and nothing else?”

“And what else should matter?”

“Your will is the only thing that truly matters to me right now, Alina.” he replied clearly. “Do you have any personal objections to being my wife?”

She stared at him and he could see that she was struggling to understand everything that was happening.

“Your Grace, do you want to marry me?” she asked in an incredulous tone, looking him in the eye.

She wanted to know if he wanted to marry her or if he was just desperate for a bride and that was why he was asking her. Did he want to marry her? For many months there had been only one right answer.

Maintaining eye contact, he answered without hesitation, “Yes, I want to marry you, Alina Starkova.”

He just didn’t imagine it would be so difficult to get her to answer his proposal.

“Except for Ulla and my cousin Genya, you are the only other single woman I know whose company I truly enjoy and with whom I enjoy being around.” he continued, “And I believe you enjoy my company as well.”

She nodded slowly and asked, “Do you want to marry me even though you know I am no longer… that I have given myself to your enemy?”

Although he wasn't happy to know that Malyen had already touched Alina like that, he didn't care that she wasn't a virgin. He thought it was unfair that men could visit brothels and have as much fun as they wanted while young women were locked up at home and forced to remain virgins until marriage.

The war against the neighboring countries, Shu Han and Fjerda, which had taken place just under four hundred years ago, had decimated a large part of the Ravkan army and forced the government to recruit women as well. The decision was met with astonishment and protests at first, especially by the men, but the women, tired of sending their husbands and sons to die in a war that seemed endless, fulfilled their new duty with courage and bravery. It was under the command of women that Ravka's major victories had taken place and made it possible for an armistice and, a few years later, a peace treaty to be signed between the three nations.

After such a contribution to the country, one would expect women to have more rights and be granted as much freedom as men, but that was not what happened. Men continued to enjoy their freedoms while women were expected to save themselves for their husbands. At least something good had come out of their participation in the war. Now first-born daughters could inherit property and titles, unless a will indicated otherwise, and they could keep their own family names instead of adopting that of their husband's family. Although this caused some surprise at first, the changes this measure brought about in the social structure were soon accepted by everyone.

Besides finding it unfair that women had to save themselves for marriage, Aleksander would never reject or condemn a woman for doing what she wanted with her own body. And he would certainly never reject Alina for giving herself to the man she loved, even if that man was his enemy.

Then he realized that Alina was trying to bring him back to reason with all those questions. The union between people so different socially was so extremely rare that he had never heard of a case like theirs. He had no doubt that their union would be seen as madness, as an eccentricity, but the fact was that he had never been more sane and lucid. He knew what he wanted and all he could do was wait for her to answer.

“I’m not the kind of man who cares about that kind of thing, Alina,” he replied. “I don’t believe that female virginity has any bearing on a woman’s honor. It’s her actions that tell me whether or not she is an honorable person.”

She seemed shocked by his response. “But I also betrayed your trust, Duke Morozov. I came to your home with the sole purpose of spying on you and helping your enemy prevent you from receiving your inheritance.”

He nodded and replied, “I remember a few minutes ago you confessed that you were being eaten away by guilt from the beginning.”

“Yes, I did, but even though I felt guilty I continued to spy on you, I continued to inform Mr. Oretsev about everything.”

He watched her for a few seconds before saying, “And wouldn’t it be poetic if you, instead of helping to prevent it, were exactly the reason I received what is rightfully mine?”

The two of them were silent as she pondered everything he had told her, all the answers he had given her, what was better or worse for her. A nd when Alina took a deep breath and let it out slowly, he prepared himself to hear her answer.

“Duke Morozov, although I am honored by your marriage proposal, I am not the right woman for you.” She began, and he could see that the girl was embarrassed by his proposal. “As you said yourself just now, I am a nobody. I am an orphan, I have nothing to offer you. Marrying me will only serve to embarrass you, and I admire you too much to wish that upon you.”

So that was it, Alina didn't want to marry him and was trying to make him see how scandalous that union would be. But he wasn't ready to give up yet. He took a deep breath before trying again.

“I need a wife, Alina, and I only have three months left to get one,” he said, but decided not to tell her for now that he had been determined not to marry until a few minutes ago, and then continued, “A man in my social position would benefit much more from a marriage with someone of a social class closer to his, and as you yourself have witnessed, no family has hesitated to offer their daughters as suitors. But you must remember, Alina, that I have spent the last few months rejecting each and every suitor who has come into my life. Which means that if I wanted one of them to be my wife, I would already be engaged or even married to one of them.” He took a deep breath and added, “Just as you had your reasons for agreeing to help my cousin, I had and have my reasons for not choosing any of them.”

“May I know what those reasons are, Your Grace?” she asked curiously.

I wanted to marry for love and ended up falling in love with a woman who already loved someone else, he wanted to answer, but held back. Who knows, maybe one day he would be able to tell her the truth about his feelings.

“I’d rather keep them to myself.” he replied, then added, “At least for now.”

The two of them were silent for a long time until she said, “So instead of punishing me for everything I’ve done, you’re suggesting rewarding me.”

“I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

“What are you going to do if I don’t accept your proposal?”

“I will just ask you to pack your things and leave my house immediately, Alina. I don’t need to punish you. You will suffer enough when Malyen marries Miss Nazyalenskaya, the same woman who mistreated and humiliated you.” he answered sincerely and she seemed surprised by his words. “Although he lied and manipulated you to do what he wanted, I don’t think my cousin has any intentions of abandoning you after his marriage, but I’m afraid he’s planning to keep you as his mistress. After all, after you’ve given yourself to him, perhaps he’ll think that you’ll be quite happy to continue serving him in this way. You must know that it is not that rare for a married man with enough money to keep a mistress. However, from what I have learned of your character in the last few months, I doubt that you would accept such a proposal. But I could be wrong.”

Tears began to stream down her cheeks, but despite it breaking his heart to see her cry and suffer like that, he did not do or say anything to comfort her, he just looked at her as she cried silently and made her decision.

This time it didn’t take long for her to cry all she needed. Without even looking in his direction, Alina carefully dried her tears with her apron, stood up, and for a few tense seconds, Aleksander feared she would leave, but she went to the fireplace and, following his example, threw Malyen’s last letter into the fire. She watched the letter burn, sat back down, adjusted her posture, and looked at him before saying, “I already have an answer to your proposal, Duke Morozov.”

“And what is it, Alina?” he asked after swallowing hard.

“Please, ask me again.” she instructed in a calm and determined tone.

His heart raced as hope grew. He nodded and said, “Miss Alina Starkova, will you marry me?”

Alina gave him one of her bright smiles before replying, “Yes, I will marry you . I want to marry you too, Duke Morozov.”

The wave of happiness that hit him almost drowned him and Aleksander wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her! Unable to stop smiling, Aleksander nodded slowly, stood up, walked over to her and helped her up. Then he placed his hand on her chin and gently made her look at him. For a few seconds, they just stared into each other's eyes. He saw her cheeks blushing and couldn't help but think about how beautiful she looked like that. Before he did something foolish like kissing her, he let go of her and took a step back.

“I am your fiancé now. You may call me Aleksander in private.” he said gently with a small, nervous smile.

She nodded and smiled before saying, “As you wish… Aleksander.”

He felt an immense joy at hearing her say his name and almost begged her to repeat it. Almost.

“There’s something I need to ask, Alina.” he began and she nodded. “Is there any chance you’re carrying Malyen’s bastard child?”

Alina paled, looked away and shook her head in denial. “We just… it only happened once before I came to the Little Palace, Your… Aleksander.” She looked down at her hands and held her apron before continuing, “I’ve bled several times since then. And you can ask the other maids if you think I’m lying.”

“That won’t be necessary. I’d rather start this engagement by trusting your word.” he said.

Alina nodded, then bent down to pick up the wedding invitation and letter that were on the floor and handed them back to him. Aleksander held them and stared at them for a few seconds before looking back at her.

“I would love to spare you from another encounter with my cousin, but as my wife, Alina, it will be impossible to avoid occasional contact with him. Despite our mutual hatred, we are still cousins, and there are family and social obligations that we cannot escape.” he explained calmly and gently. “Malyen will certainly attend the winter fête, and I have no doubt that he will be with his bride at his side to show her off to the entire court. And even if I don't want to, I couldn't miss his wedding. My aunt made sure to send the invitation so far in advance so that I wouldn't have an excuse not to attend, and as you read in the letter, she made sure to remind me that we are still a family despite the hard feelings.”

His fiancée just stayed silent and it scared him .

“I will understand if you change your mind and choose to simply leave, Alina. Know that I will not try to stop you. And if you wish to leave, I can give you enough money to start a new life somewhere else away from him. And from me.” He said, looking into her eyes and then forced himself to add, “I have no doubt that I will have no trouble finding another bride in the next few days.”

He saw alarm in her eyes and waited for her to say something.

The two of them sat in silence for what seemed like a lifetime. Then, just as he was about to give up on getting an answer and release her from the commitment they had made minutes before, she took a deep breath and said in a confident tone, “I appreciate your offer, Aleksander, but I will stay and marry you.”

His entire body was filled with relief upon hearing her words. Alina would marry him! Alina would stay in his life!

He nodded slowly, took both of her hands gently and placed a soft kiss on each. Still holding her hands, Aleksander looked into her eyes, and there were emotions in them that he wasn’t sure he was identifying correctly. He waited for doubt or regret to appear, but he only saw happiness and trust and other things he was sure he was imagining, like desire and anticipation. He felt a mixture of fear and hope fill his heart. Could there be hope for him after all? Would Alina ever be able to love him?

Aleksander watched as Alina glanced quickly at his lips before looking back into his eyes, her cheeks deliciously flushed. Was she waiting for him to seal their commitment with a kiss? Did she want him to kiss her? Or was he only seeing what he wanted to see? Should he kiss her? What if he did and she got scared or offended and left the Little Palace? He wanted to kiss her so badly, but that rational part of his brain stopped him from closing the small distance between them and kissing her. He needed to be patient, because he would have the rest of his life with her to make her fall in love with him.

Several seconds passed as they stared at each other and it was only when she gave his fingers a light squeeze that Aleksander took a deep breath and released her hands.

“It’s late and you’d better get some rest, Alina. We have a wedding to plan tomorrow.” he suggested.

Alina nodded, gave him a polite smile, and, after bidding him goodnight, left him alone.

Aleksander watched her leave while wondering what he had just done.

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bountyofbeads · 6 years ago

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Top Secret Russian Unit Seeks to Destabilize Europe, Security Officials Say https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/world/europe/unit-29155-russia-gru.html

For those who have been following Putin for the last 5 or so years, starting with the invasion of Crimea, Brexit, U.S. and French Election interference in 2016 and assassinations in Europe including Skripal posionings, Putin has a plan. PLEASE READ 📖 AND SHARE this informative article. 👇👇🤔

Top Secret Russian Unit Seeks to Destabilize Europe, Security Officials Say

By Michael Schwirtz | Published Oct. 8, 2019 Updated 12:00 p.m. ET | New York Times | Posted October 8, 2019 |

First came a destabilization campaign in Moldova, followed by the poisoning of an arms dealer in Bulgaria and then a thwarted coup in Montenegro. Last year, there was an attempt to assassinate a former Russian spy in Britain using a nerve agent. Though the operations bore the fingerprints of Russia’s intelligence services, the authorities initially saw them as isolated, unconnected attacks.

Western security officials have now concluded that these operations, and potentially many others, are part of a coordinated and ongoing campaign to destabilize Europe, executed by an elite unit inside the Russian intelligence system skilled in subversion, sabotage and assassination.

The group, known as Unit 29155, has operated for at least a decade, yet Western officials only recently discovered it. Intelligence officials in four Western countries say it is unclear how often the unit is mobilized and warn that it is impossible to know when and where its operatives will strike.

The purpose of Unit 29155, which has not been previously reported, underscores the degree to which the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, is actively fighting the West with his brand of so-called hybrid warfare — a blend of propaganda, hacking attacks and disinformation — as well as open military confrontation.

“I think we had forgotten how organically ruthless the Russians could be,” said Peter Zwack, a retired military intelligence officer and former defense attaché at the United States Embassy in Moscow, who said he was not aware of the unit’s existence.

In a text message, Dmitri S. Peskov, Mr. Putin’s spokesman, directed questions about the unit to the Russian Defense Ministry. The ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Hidden behind concrete walls at the headquarters of the 161st Special Purpose Specialist Training Center in eastern Moscow, the unit sits within the command hierarchy of the Russian military intelligence agency, widely known as the G.R.U.

Though much about G.R.U. operations remains a mystery, Western intelligence agencies have begun to get a clearer picture of its underlying architecture. In the months before the 2016 presidential election, American officials say two G.R.U. cyber units, known as 26165 and 74455, hacked into the servers of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign, and then published embarrassing internal communications.

[Our correspondent Matt Apuzzo reported on Russia’s blueprint for foreign disruption on “The Weekly,” The Times’s TV show. Watch on FX and Hulu.]

Last year, Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel overseeing the inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 elections, indicted more than a dozen officers from those units, though all still remain at large. The hacking teams mostly operate from Moscow, thousands of miles from their targets.

By contrast, officers from Unit 29155 travel to and from European countries. Some are decorated veterans of Russia’s bloodiest wars, including in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Ukraine. Its operations are so secret, according to assessments by Western intelligence services, that the unit’s existence is most likely unknown even to other G.R.U. operatives.

The unit appears to be a tight-knit community. A photograph taken in 2017 shows the unit’s commander, Maj. Gen. Andrei V. Averyanov, at his daughter’s wedding in a gray suit and bow tie. He is posing with Col. Anatoly V. Chepiga, one of two officers indicted in Britain over the poisoning of a former spy, Sergei V. Skripal.

“This is a unit of the G.R.U. that has been active over the years across Europe,” said one European security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe classified intelligence matters. “It’s been a surprise that the Russians, the G.R.U., this unit, have felt free to go ahead and carry out this extreme malign activity in friendly countries. That’s been a shock.”

To varying degrees, each of the four operations linked to the unit attracted public attention, even as it took time for the authorities to confirm that they were connected. Western intelligence agencies first identified the unit after the failed 2016 coup in Montenegro, which involved a plot by two unit officers to kill the country’s prime minister and seize the Parliament building.

But officials began to grasp the unit’s specific agenda of disruption only after the March 2018 poisoning of Mr. Skripal, a former G.R.U. officer who had betrayed Russia by spying for the British. Mr. Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, fell grievously ill after exposure to a highly toxic nerve agent, but survived.

(Three other people were sickened, including a police officer and a man who found a small bottle that British officials believe was used to carry the nerve agent and gave it to his girlfriend. The girlfriend, Dawn Sturgess, died after spraying the nerve agent on her skin, mistaking the bottle for perfume.)

The poisoning led to a geopolitical standoff, with more than 20 nations, including the United States, expelling 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity with Britain.

Ultimately, the British authorities exposed two suspects, who had traveled under aliases but were later identified by the investigative site Bellingcat as Colonel Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin. Six months after the poisoning, British prosecutors charged both men with transporting the nerve agent to Mr. Skripal’s home in Salisbury, England, and smearing it on his front door.

But the operation was more complex than officials revealed at the time.

Exactly a year before the poisoning, three Unit 29155 operatives traveled to Britain, possibly for a practice run, two European officials said. One was Mr. Mishkin. A second man used the alias Sergei Pavlov. Intelligence officials believe the third operative, who used the alias Sergei Fedotov, oversaw the mission.

Soon, officials established that two of these officers — the men using the names Fedotov and Pavlov — had been part of a team that attempted to poison the Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev in 2015. (The other operatives, also known only by their aliases, according to European intelligence officials, were Ivan Lebedev, Nikolai Kononikhin, Alexey Nikitin and Danil Stepanov.)

The team would twice try to kill Mr. Gebrev, once in Sofia, the capital, and again a month later at his home on the Black Sea.

Speaking to reporters in February at the Munich Security Conference, Alex Younger, the chief of MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence service, spoke out against the growing Russian threat and hinted at coordination, without mentioning a specific unit.

“You can see there is a concerted program of activity — and, yes, it does often involve the same people,” Mr. Younger said, pointing specifically to the Skripal poisoning and the Montenegro coup attempt. He added: “We assess there is a standing threat from the G.R.U. and the other Russian intelligence services and that very little is off limits.”

The Kremlin sees Russia as being at war with a Western liberal order that it views as an existential threat.

At a ceremony in November for the G.R.U.’s centenary, Mr. Putin stood beneath a glowing backdrop of the agency’s logo — a red carnation and an exploding grenade — and described it as “legendary.” A former intelligence officer himself, Mr. Putin drew a direct line between the Red Army spies who helped defeat the Nazis in World War II and officers of the G.R.U., whose “unique capabilities” are now deployed against a different kind of enemy.

“Unfortunately, the potential for conflict is on the rise in the world,” Mr. Putin said during the ceremony. “Provocations and outright lies are being used and attempts are being made to disrupt strategic parity.”

In 2006, Mr. Putin signed a law legalizing targeted killings abroad, the same year a team of Russian assassins used a radioactive isotope to murder Aleksander V. Litvinenko, another former Russian spy, in London.

Unit 29155 is not the only group authorized to carry out such operations, officials said. The British authorities have attributed Mr. Litvinenko’s killing to the Federal Security Service, the intelligence agency once headed by Mr. Putin that often competes with the G.R.U.

Although little is known about Unit 29155 itself, there are clues in public Russian records that suggest links to the Kremlin’s broader hybrid strategy.

A 2012 directive from the Russian Defense Ministry assigned bonuses to three units for “special achievements in military service.” One was Unit 29155. Another was Unit 74455, which was involved in the 2016 election interference. The third was Unit 99450, whose officers are believed to have been involved in the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

A retired G.R.U. officer with knowledge of Unit 29155 said that it specialized in preparing for “diversionary” missions, “in groups or individually — bombings, murders, anything.”

“They were serious guys who served there,” the retired officer said. ��They were officers who worked undercover and as international agents.”

Photographs of the unit’s dilapidated former headquarters, which has since been abandoned, show myriad gun racks with labels for an assortment of weapons, including Belgian FN-30 sniper rifles, German G3A3s, Austrian Steyr AUGs and American M16s. There was also a form outlining a training regimen, including exercises for hand-to-hand combat. The retired G.R.U. officer confirmed the authenticity of the photographs, which were published by a Russian blogger.

The current commander, General Averyanov, graduated in 1988 from the Tashkent Military Academy in what was then the Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan. It is likely that he would have fought in both the first and second Chechen wars, and he was awarded a Hero of Russia medal, the country’s highest honor, in January 2015. The two officers charged with the Skripal poisoning also received the same award.

Though an elite force, the unit appears to operate on a shoestring budget. According to Russian records, General Averyanov lives in a run-down Soviet-era building a few blocks from the unit’s headquarters and drives a 1996 VAZ 21053, a rattletrap Russia-made sedan. Operatives often share cheap accommodation to economize while on the road. British investigators say the suspects in the Skripal poisoning stayed in a low-cost hotel in Bow, a downtrodden neighborhood in East London.

But European security officials are also perplexed by the apparent sloppiness in the unit’s operations. Mr. Skripal survived the assassination attempt, as did Mr. Gebrev, the Bulgarian arms dealer. The attempted coup in Montenegro drew an enormous amount of attention, but ultimately failed. A year later, Montenegro joined NATO. It is possible, security officials say, that they have yet to discover other, more successful operations.

It is difficult to know if the messiness has bothered the Kremlin. Perhaps, intelligence experts say, it is part of the point.

“That kind of intelligence operation has become part of the psychological warfare,” said Eerik-Niiles Kross, a former intelligence chief in Estonia. “It’s not that they have become that much more aggressive. They want to be felt. It’s part of the game.”

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