Aleksander loves camping. He finds it helps to keep him grounded in his life as the founder for Grisha, the world’s leading corporation for medicine, renewable energy resources, advanced weaponry, and clothes.
Of course, Aleksander was not born into this wealthy lifestyle, where he lives in a palatial estate boasting of a greenhouse, ballroom, observatory, dozens of servants, and hundreds of guest rooms.
Aleksander had been born into a nomadic lifestyle, leading a lonely life following his mother around the world, never having a constant friend through the years but plenty of language lessons.
Back then, the stars had been his main constant, other than his mother. Perhaps that was why he always asked for astronomy books on his birthdays.
You can’t see the stars in the city because of the light pollution.
But far away from the skyscrapers and stadiums, the stars could be seen clearly, framed by the untamed treetops bordering their little campsite.
As Fedyor set up the large tent, and Ivan went to gather some brushwood, Aleksander went down to the lakeshore and set up their fishing spots.
Sure they had bread and cheese, but there was always the hope that one of them would catch something before nightfall.
Nothing beats freshly caught herring in Aleksander’s opinion.
As the sun painted the sky gorgeous shades of sunset amber and pearly pink, it also shone on the silver pendant hanging from his neck.
The charm was a pair of antlers, sprouting from a tiny moonstone.
The pendant had been his mother’s, given to her by her father before he went missing.
Baghra only gave Aleksander this last piece of her neglectful father when she saw how fascinated her boy had been by her father’s scientific research.
Ilya Morozova had been the inventor of bulletproof silk, but he mainly dealt in ivory. He had been sent on the run for daring to hunt the endangered white stag on protected grounds.
Baghra had always wanted to see the stag alive, so she was secretly glad it escaped unharmed, even as she sorely missed her father’s presence. Without Ilya Morozova around, her mother fell apart and it fell onto Baghra to keep the family alive. Needless to say child support found out and opted to send Baghra into the care of another family instead.
The only thing she kept of her old life was her pendant.
Later, when she brought Aleksander to her old home, they found her father’s old journals and notes. Seeing Aleksander interested to expand on this research, Baghra gave her son her pendant as a good luck charm, and a reminder to obey the law.
The pendant had never left Aleksander’s neck since. It was made of good, strong steel and the metal had never tarnished.
The line in Aleksander’s hand grew taut and he dug himself in against the force of his escaping catch.
He reeled the fish in as Fedyor cheered “We’re having roasted fish tonight!”
Only, it was not a fish that emerged from the water.
Rather, a very long sea snake. The Rusalye. What was it doing here? This was a freshwater lake! Was it possible the Rusalye could survive freshwater?
Aleksander was stunned, his hand paused in reeling the snake in.
Not that the Rusalye needed help. It slithered over sand, enraged red eyes on the fisherman, sharp teeth protruding from its lipless mouth.
Aleksander leaped out of its chair just in time.
The momentum causing his necklace to bounce off his chest and hang in midair.
By chance, the necklace clasp had once again slid down next to the pendant, and one of the serpent’s needle sharp teeth poked through it, opening the necklace and sliding it free from Aleksander’s neck.
Bang!
Ivan already had his gun out. “Get out of the way, boss!”
If they couldn’t have fish, they could have roasted snake. Like the white stag, the Rusalye had been deemed an endangered creature, hunted for its beautiful scales and eel taste, but it was attacking them right now and if it got dead, there was no sense wasting the meat.
The serpent beat a hasty retreat at the report of the thunderous shot.
As soon as it slid underwater, they lost sight of it since the lake mostly reflected the sky at this point in time.
“No!” Aleksander went as near the lakeshore as he dared. That beast stole his necklace!
He went back to his fishing pole, determined to catch it again. Forget dinner, he wanted his necklace back.
“Come on!” he ordered Ivan and Fedyor. “Grab your fishing poles. We’ve got a Rusalye to catch.”
They did not catch the Rusalye again. Aleksander did not give up, even as Fedyor tried to get him to eat their roasted, lemon-sprinkled herring, or Ivan did his best to drag him back to the tent to sleep.
“It probably returned to the sea by this point,” he pointed out logically.
When Aleksander returned to work, he was noticeably gloomy and upset.
From then on, the animal lover businessman ordered Sea Whip Soup whenever he dined at a restaurant serving it.
The next month
Alina hated camping. This was more Mal’s thing but he promised her there would be a spectacular star shower tonight and it would be best seen out here in the woods.
Unfortunately, Alina’s job - taking videos and photos of rare and/or endangered animals for their show - required her to go camping a lot. So the star shower Mal promised had better be worth camping on her break.
As Alina set up the tent and went to gather the firewood, Mal got ready to fish, promising to find them something other than herring.
But if he failed, Alina had packed some sweet rolls just in case.
“Saints,” Mal whispered, then shouted, “Alina, come see this!”
Alina ran over, dusting her hands on her jeans.
Mal had not found herring. He found a Rusalye.
The creature was writing on the lake shore, having been caught in Mal’s large net, something other than fishing line protruding from its jaws.
“Is that a chain?” Alina asked. “The poor thing.”
“Yeah, poor snake,” Mal grunted, doing his best to pin the thrashing snake in place.
“Keep it here,” Alina instructed. “I’m going to try to free it.”
“Alina, it’s a man-eating snake!” Mal yelped, alarmed at his friend’s suicidal rescue attempt.
“It’s endangered!”
The Rusalye should have struggled harder upon seeing Alina enter its personal space. It glared at her, a musical whine coming from its tortured mouth.
Mal kept a tighter grip around the base of the serpent’s head.
Alina carefully lifted the chain up from the bottom of a fang, and unhooked the fishing lure from the snake’s mouth. “There we go.”
“Stand back, Alina,” warned Mal.
Carefully, Mal extended the net until it was over the lake. Then he turned it over and dumped the Rusalye back into its freshwater habitat.
The snake did not resurface, but Mal assured Alina it was alive.
“What is that chain anyway?” he asked, wiping his face.
Alina opened her hand and blinked in surprise. “It’s a pendant.” And so pretty too.
Mal huffed. “Seems like fate for you to have it. Save an endangered animal and it gives you a pretty necklace.” Especially since Alina had a fascination with white reindeer.
Alina beamed and put the necklace on, the antler charm shining in the sunset light.
Less than one month later
Aleksander nearly spat out his coffee when he read the morning news.
TV CREW FIND MOROZOVA’S STAG
On the night of the winter solstice, which took place last week, tracker Mal Oretsev and camerawoman Alina Starkov from the National Geographic show “Rare Species”, stumbled upon the White Stag, a creature not seen in more than fifty years, not since Ilya Morozova was caught redhanded poaching this magnificent creature, and fled, leaving the stag behind.
Indeed, experts have considered the white stag to be extinct until recently.
”We were after white tigers,” Oretsev said. “Instead we found the white stag.”
His colleague, Starkov, pets the stag’s muzzle as she adds, “Normally deer are shy animals, they normally avoid human contact. But this beauty just walked right up to me and started licking my hair as if it were grooming me.”
”He would not leave us alone after that,” Oretsev said, petting the stag. “Or rather he would not leave Alina alone.”
”We were thinking about leading him to the nearest animal sanctuary, except he doesn’t seem to want to leave our backyard or the nearby forests,” Alina explained.
(See more on page 20)
Aleksander flipped to page 20, and sure enough, there was a colorful picture showing the stag his grandfather had nearly killed.
Magnificent was an understatement when it came to those gigantic, crowning antlers.
Standing next to the stag must have been the photogenic crew. The tracker bore a startling resemblance to Ilya Morozova, if one had studied the bonesmith as much as Aleksander or David Kotysk had.
The camerawoman looked to be Eurasian but it was not her face that captured Aleksander’s attention. It was her necklace.
That is my necklace.
For a matter of retrieving a personal heirloom, Aleksander would rather make this a private affair.
He got Ivan to find out Miss Starkov’s address and working hours, and have them sent over to him.
Then he called his driver.
Alina was in the zone.
Ever since she saw Trevor (the name the public had decided for the White Stag), she had been hounded by visions of the sun shining between his antlers.
From one angle, her canvas seemed to show that same forest of ivory antlers. From another angle, it would show the sun’s rays spreading in a fantastic pattern.
Right now, Alina was painting Trevor’s eyes, trying to capture the animal wisdom and calmness she saw in real life.
Knock, knock
Alina let loose an annoyed breath, but reluctantly put down her brush before heading down to the door, wiping her paint stained hands on her apron.
She opened the door, expecting Mal or maybe Girl Scouts selling cookies. She was not expecting Mr Tall Drink of Water.
Seriously, was he a movie star or something?
Alina blinked, her mouth slightly open, before she regained her senses. “Hello. Can I help you?”
The man’s mouth tugged a bit at her gawking. “Miss Starkov, I presume. I’m Aleksander Morozova, from Grisha.”
Alina blinked again. Two names stood out from that sentence.
Everyone knows the company Grisha, the same way everyone knows Apple or Chanel. Grisha was practically her country’s version of Wayne Enterprises or Stark Industries.
And Morozova. Alina knew the basics about Morozova’s family. The criminal Ilya and his philanthropic grandson.
While Ilya sought to hunt down endangered species for his own bone collection, Aleksander was known for starting a company that sold affordable environmentally-friendly clothing, cheaper and more efficient medicine. Grisha also produced renewable energy and their founder was known as an avid supporter for animal sanctuaries.
“Are you here about Trevor?”
At his raised brow, Alina rushed to clarify, “The white stag. That’s what we chose to call him.”
Under Morozova’s piercing state, she babbled on, “He isn’t here right now. He’s back in the forest. We are actually working on making it a protected site-“
“Miss Starkov,” his deep voice broke in. “I was actually here for you.”
“Me?” What could Aleksander Morozova want with her?
“Yes. I heard you were an alumni of the Little Palace University.”
Ah yes, the same University where Baghra Morozova was Alina’s physics professor.
“You got in there because of a science scholarship and yet for some reason you chose to be camerawoman.” Morozova’s tone made it a question.
Alina raised her chin a bit. “I wanted to see the world.”
“An admirable goal,” Aleksander nodded. “However I would like to offer you a place in my company, as one of our solar energy scientists. The pay and annual leave are such that you can easily take and afford a two month vacation every year. What do you say?”
Alina did not know what to say. It was not every day that a job offer from one of the most illustrious companies in the world fell into her lap, let alone have it personally delivered by the founder at her doorstep.
She wasn’t worried about how long it had been since she had been in the lab. Light just spoke to her. She got that scholarship for a reason.
Baghra would always chide her for not studying harder but she was the one who actually gave Alina a recommendation at Grisha and then scolded her star pupil for turning down the offer.
”You’re a hawk pretending to be a lizard!” Baghra yelled. “And for what? For that boy you moon over? The one who will never see you as anything more? You want to waste your life chasing after him, fine! But don’t come looking for me when you regret your life choices!”
That had been more than three years ago.
Alina was doing well, but on lonely nights, which happened more often than she liked, she dwelled on Baghra’s words.
True, she and Mal were sometimes paired off to go film the Sherborn bears or the Heartrender shark. But she had just as much chance of being paired with Mikhail or Dubrov, both of whom she was not fond of. She got along well with her fellow cameraman Alexei except he was even busier than she was, more in demand.
Mal, for all his preening whenever girls looked his way, never commented whenever he caught Alina staring at him or sometimes ditched their rendezvous to go hang with his bros.
It hurt that he did not seem to value her as much as his male friends.
Just as it hurt when he would casually talk about who he was hooking up with.
And for crying out loud, these were her whole social circle. Every time Alina tried to make new friends, the girls were more interested in Mal after they saw him, and every time she saw a potential male friend, she ended up comparing their relationship to the easy one she had with Mal.
Clearly she needed to get some distance between her and Mal, to get over her ridiculous crush and move on.
And don’t get her wrong, she loves seeing the world and seeing those beautiful animals, but she really is more of an indoors person.
She’d rather see the libraries and art museums than forests and deserts.
This job can give her a world tour like that.
And she would be putting distance between herself and Mal, like she needed.
She can still email him and Alexei.
Faced with this second chance to excel rather than just follow Mal (she was a good photographer but Alexei was excellent), Alina said, her voice just inches away from shaking, “I’m interested.”
Aleksander nodded again, beautiful gray eyes sparkling in the light. “I understand that this is a lot to take in but I will have my team send you an email with all you need to know.”
Alina returned her own head bob, “I’ll let you know my final answer later then.”
Aleksander grinned, he could see her eagerness to accept. But he respected her desire to play hard to get. “I hope you say yes in the end, Miss Starkov. I have a feeling you and I could change the world together.”
Alina knew he probably meant with the rest of Grisha yet her cheeks flushed anyway.
That did not go as Aleksander had planned.
Ivan, efficient as ever, had done more than tell Aleksander when and where he could meet up with Alina. He compiled her school history, her travels for her job, her surprisingly small social circle, and even her family background.
Aleksander had already been intrigued by the girl who could become friends with Trevor the stag, but to hear that his own critical mother wanted her to join Grisha, that just highlighted her brilliant talent and wasted potential.
But still, he had come with the firm intention of asking for his necklace back, the job offer was supposed to come up later.
Seeing Alina, however, her friendly, sparkling eyes, silky hair haloed with afternoon lights from her windows, a cute smile gracing her face, and Aleksander could not do it.
Perhaps this was her magic, making everyone fall for her. First Trevor, then Aleksander.
He has dated many women, a lot of them actresses or models, all stunningly beautiful and smart.
Aleksander had only felt felt something was real with Luda and that had been after years of close friendship.
Whatever spell Alina cast over him was unnatural. It made him lose focus, made him weak.
A logical voice cut through his internal nonsense. Or maybe it’s not a spell. It’s just good chemistry you both share.
Regardless of his attraction to Alina, Ivan was still informed to prepare a generous contract to lure Miss Starkov to work in their company.
Three months later
Though there were times Alina had looked back on her life changing decision and almost wished she could take it back (Mal had guilt-tripped her that her job would mean they spend even less time. And no, video chatting is not the same), but right now she felt as if she were right where she needed to be.
Before, Mal had always been her home, until Alina realized that she needed to move out.
Now, she was a scientist under Grisha’s solar energy division.
True many had been surprised by her placement, until they heard Baghra of all people had once recommended her.
It seemed Aleksander’s mother was known by all Grisha employees. And for her to recommend someone was exceedingly rare. Not even Ivan or Zoya got her stamp of approval.
And Alina proved she deserved to be Grisha when she managed to improve the efficiency of their brand’s solar panels to collect energy from moonlight and starlight.
Her progress was enough that Harshaw asked her if she could help him refine his pet project: to power the solar panels using simple candlelight.
Unfortunately, not everyone at Grisha was pleased with her success.
Zoya, the head scientist of the wind energy division, continually insulted Alina over her mixed heritage and camerawoman career.
Alina stood her ground then. She was proud of her heritage and her previous job (even if she was not fond of camping). Zoya was nothing more than hot air, having shown no progress on the Grisha wind farms.
Ivan, a member of the board, criticised Alina whenever he found her not working. Come on! Alina never saw him nagging at her colleagues for taking a lunch break or not staying overtime.
Fortunately for Alina, despite Zoya and Ivan’s high positions, they were not well liked either.
“They’re just jealous,” Nadia assured. She was from the same division as Zoya. “Mr Morozova’s been paying your division a lot more attention and she doesn’t like the competition.”
“And Ivan?” Alina raised a brow. Seeing as how he was usually beside Aleksander, she doubted jealousy was the same issue.
“Him too,” Genya added. “He shows disdain for all us simple employees, and he doesn’t like sharing his friends. He’s territorial like that.”
Genya was head of the clothing and makeup department, and had been one of the first to welcome Alina. Unlike Zoya, Genya actually met up with Aleksander on a regular basis, for what reason, Alina could not say. But they were definitely not an item since Genya was happily in love with David, the head of the weapons development department.
Aleksander did pay an inordinate amount of attention to Alina. It went beyond checking on their projects at the labs. He invited her to lunch to talk about the stag at first. Aleksander had promised to support Alina with whatever she had in mind for Trevor, whether it was releasing him back to the wild and declaring the area off limits to poachers, or sending him to a breeding program so that the white reindeer no longer face extinction.
Oh, and did she forget to mention he asked her to call him, her boss, by his first name?!!!
Then came the invitation to join him for another lunch, this time with a walk through the gardens after their meal, under pretense of asking her how she was adjusting to the company. It lasted for barely five minutes before they were bantering about their favorite plays.
Said talk had led to Alina finding a sealed envelope on her desk with a ticket to watch Phantom of the Opera with him.
As an actual date this time.
Somehow Genya found out, and while Alina expected her chirpy friend to be happy for her, the redhead’s expression was unusually worried. “Mr Morozova has dated a lot of women before, Alina. I just don’t think you should let your heart get involved just yet.”
Considering how she was still moving on from Mal, who suddenly wanted to video chat her whenever he could now that Alina was in a different company, Alina knew she did not have to worry about that. But a distraction would be nice.
Perhaps Aleksander can help her move on from Mal and they can end whatever this was between them as friends?
One week later
Fedyor, a friendly member of the board, decided to clear things up for Alina. “Aleksander most certainly does not see you as a friend. He really likes you.”
Alina raised a brow. “Oh? Is he flirting differently this time?”
Fedyor shook his head. “It’s your necklace.”
Alina looked down at her golden pendant. “What about it?”
Fedyor seemed almost exasperated. “Before this year, haven’t you ever noticed that there was one thing Aleksander always wore for interviews and photographs?”
Alina blushed. She did look through their old news once she got the job, but she never paid much attention to the pictures, determined not to ogle her boss at first.
Fedyor sighed and took out his phone, typing furiously. Click, click, click.
Finally he brandished the screen for Alina to see.
It was a close up of Aleksander at the Met Gala. Stunning as ever in an all-black suit, the only color Aleksander had was the glint of gold around his neck.
Alina automatically touched her pendant.
“This was his?”
Fedyor nodded. “Made by Ilya Morozova himself for Baghra. She gave it to Aleksander as a good luck charm for Grisha. He lost it earlier this year while camping. Ivan and I finally convinced him to give it up for lost when he took a week’s leave to resume camping there and searching for it.”
Alina was still speechless.
Fedyor carried on. “When he saw your interview about Trevor, he also saw his pendant. That’s why he came to see you, other than to offer you a job.”
Alina shook her head. “He should have told me,” she mumbled. “It means more to him.”
“But don’t you see what this means?” Fedyor asked impatiently. “Aleksander gave you, his girlfriend, his most prized heirloom. Not some random purse or necklace or whatever he normally gives his ex-girlfriends. If that doesn’t say he’s serious about you, I don’t know what will!”
Alina passively confronted Aleksander about this over dinner later. “Why didn’t you tell me this was yours?” she held up the pendant charm.
Aleksander’s eyes focused briefly on it before he returned to Alina’s face. “It didn’t seem to matter anymore.”
“That sounds kind of hard to believe, considering how I heard you spent a whole week in a forest looking for it.”
Aleksander’s cheeks reddened boyishly. “I just thought it suited you better than me. Like we were coming full circle with my grandfather’s history with the stag.”
Alina grinned. “Right.”
Aleksander placed his hand over hers. “Forgetting my grandfather, I’m just glad Trevor somehow actually led me to you.”
“That is so cheesy!”
“How about, I am so glad Trevor led me to the best scientist in the whole world?”
“Flatterer!” Alina laughed harder, both she and Aleksander grinning at each other.
Less than one week to Alina and Aleksander’s anniversary celebrating when they first met
It had been one month of gift searching and Alina has got nothing.
This would be a lot easier if Aleksander’s presents hadn’t been so…je ne sais quoi.
Ok, Alina’s necklace turning out to be a highly valued heirloom? She got used to the idea easily enough after wearing it for so long.
But then Aleksander gave her a signed copy of Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo herself! Just before she would have headed out to buy it. (LB’s books were always a must-buy for Alina.)
And then while they were perusing an art gallery being held for a charity event for orphans, Aleksander covertly bought the Firefalls after deducing it was the piece Alina loved most.
The magnitude and thoughtfulness of the gifts added pressure on Alina’s shoulders when it came time for her own gift shopping.
It’s not that Alina’s own gifts were so inferior in comparison.
For Aleksander’s birthday, she baked him his favorite cake as well as a whole other galore of desserts her physically-fit boyfriend adored.
For Christmas, Aleksander unwrapped the portrait Alina made of him and hung it in his personal art gallery at his estate, along with all the other artwork he shamelessly bought from Alina’s website on the sly.
For their anniversary, Alina thought about giving him a new necklace, with the pendant charm made by herself.
Except…metalwork was just not her thing.
Her attempts at Trevor’s antlers looked more like dead bushes than antlers, or else like simple cheap twigs.
Genya had suggested she change to a different charm instead. “Think about what Aleksander likes.”
Hmm. Aleksander likes sweets, animals, music, astronomy.
Yet Alina couldn’t see him wearing a charm shaped like a cupcake or pony or music note or planet except to spare her feelings.
Gah.
Alexei had heard her troubles over video chat and advised her to stop stressing and just take a walk. “Let the answer come to you,” he said.
And that is how Alina wound up at the Park, watching the dogs play on the grass and joggers run by drenched in sweat.
Near the bridge over a pond, Alina heard the most lovely tune ever sung by the wildest voice ever heard.
She ran to it, wondering if this music gift would be perfect for Aleksander.
What she found was a girl sitting behind a blanket covered in an assortment of items. The music came from a fiery bird the size of a swan, perched on a wooden stand beside her.
Already there was a crowd gathered just to hear it sing, and an upturned bowler hat brimming with notes.
No one seemed interested in the goods on sale.
Alina walked over, curious.
The girl had messy, pale blond hair. She seemed to be wearing a school uniform with a blue tie. Her tiny colourful earrings were a vegetable Alina had not seen before.
“Hello,” the girl said dreamily. “Would you like to buy something?”
“Hello,” Alina replied, automatically looking down at the items on display. “I’m just browsing.”
The girl hummed. “No worries, take your time.”
It was all accessories, strange ones too.
The largest were these animal themed hats that wrapped under the neck. Then there were the life-size sunflower hair pins.
The metal hairbands, one with a raven motif and the other resembling an oversized sun headdress, looked more fitting for a costume than daily wear. The corkscrew necklace was interesting, perhaps a way to be eco friendly. The most numerous items were the pink framed 3-D glasses.
All strange.
Alina’s attention drifted over to the necklaces again. Next to the corkscrew necklace was another pendant ending in a strange triangle shape that was probably a fan merchandise Alina did not know about. And the necklace after that…
“How much for this necklace?” Alina lifted the chain that dangled a silver wire in the shape of a circle.
The girl beamed, happy to have a customer. “You like my Phoenix cycle charm?”
“Phoenix cycle?” Was this also fan merchandise?”
By answer, the girl quoted, “Which came first, the phoenix or the flame? My answer is that a circle has no beginning.”
Right.
Alina looked at the necklace, doubt creeping in.
The bird beside the girl now gave a croon. The latter gazed at it and then said, “Of course there is more then one answer for that riddle. And my boyfriend thought that my charm was meant to be an eclipse.”
Alina stared at the necklace, fingers now tightening around the chain.
“That will be two hundred nuts, please,” the girl said. Alina must have misheard her.
“I’m sorry, did you say you wanted nuts for this necklace?” If so, Alina was sure she saw a vendor selling snacks earlier. Maybe he sold peanuts.
“Sorry,” the girl corrected. “I meant two pounds.”
Oh. Alina fished out her wallet and produced the change.
Perhaps the eclipse necklace was cheap, but Alina somehow felt it was the right present.
Anniversary
Instead of going out, both Aleksander and Alina agreed to a private dinner at his home.
He insisted on cooking her a meal this time, and politely declined her offer to come help.
Dinner was roasted quail, with baked potatoe stuffed with bacon bits and cheese, freshly toasted garlic bread and a salad, not necessarily in that order.
Alina arrived to find their table set outside on the patio, lit by the full moon and a single candle. Glasses of Romanee-Conti were already laid out.
A terribly romantic setting, not overly done and just the right amount of privacy.
“Are you sure I can’t help you?” Alina asked, watching as her boyfriend returned, balancing bowls of salads and a bread basket.
“Positive. I’m your chef and server for this evening,” he bowed, looking absolutely dashing in his black button-down, with the sleeves rolled up to expose his muscular forearms.
“And also my dinner partner,” she reminded as he sat down across from her.
“That is my most important role of the evening,” he smiled.
The dinner was fantastic and delicious. Alina thoroughly enjoyed Aleksander’s cooking, and privately hoped that this was all he prepared for their anniversary.
“That was wonderful,” she enthused as soon as they had finished their shared ice cream sundae. She fidgeted. “I got something for you too. It’s not expensive or ancient, but when I saw it, I just instantly thought it fit you.”
She took out the box from her purse and offered it to Aleksander.
Aleksander removed the cover and stared at the simple circle pendant. “A full circle,” he said softly, gaze darting back to Alina, the bearer of his prized heirloom.
“It’s all about the interpretation,” Alina tried to grin, nerves getting the better of her. “The girl who sold me this said she thought it represented the life cycle of a Firebird. I thought it was an eclipse. But you’re right too. I bought this necklace for you because, you gave me this necklace when we first met. Now I want to give you one on the same day.”
Aleksander took out the necklace and let the simple charm shine in the blue moonlight. “It’s perfect.”
Indeed, perhaps it was a trick of the light but Alina and Aleksander could have sworn that they saw faint images within the circle as it revolved.
Later that night, Aleksander let the charm dangle in the air again before speeding its rotation.
Within the spinning wheel, he got a better glimpse of what the images were. A repeating cycle of a Phoenix rising from flame and ash to grow from an ugly chick to a magnificent bird that eventually exploded into flame and ash. And then the cycle repeated itself.
A truly marvellous present. Aleksander wondered if his grandfather could even make the like.
But what was better was the symbolism of the gift. A circle has no beginning and ending. And Aleksander truly hoped his relationship with Alina would never end.