Alina scoffs, shaking her head. She hadn't expected better—not really. Zoya always thought she knew better than everyone around her because Zoya thought she was better than everyone around her. But 'the monster nonsense' is so ignorant that it somehow manages to surprise.

"It's not nonsense." She says that plainly, drawing herself up straighter. For once, she does know better. And while she won't explicitly lord it over Zoya, she's also not going to meekly avoid acknowledgment of it in her body language. "You have a mark, don't you? Or maybe you haven't seen it yet."