What if we balance each other?, Alina had asked Baghra what feels like centuries ago, but the old woman had dismissed her, called her naive for thinking she could withstand the Darkling, she called her weak just like Mal had. Everyone always seemed to assume that just because she wants Aleksander, just because she feels attracted to him, that will somehow make her stupid and put her completely under his control, as if she would always be powerless when with him, which she’s already proven several times it’s just plainly wrong. It isn’t a matter of changing him, it’s a matter of him listening to her and respecting her opinion, of him making good on that promise he made her long ago, two thrones on a dias even if she screamed at him all day. He did it so far. He listens to her, even when she screams.