#The show had the Darkling kill Zlatan and his people

[stromuprisahat]

The market reminded her of Os Kervo, the bustling town that had served as capital to West Ravka before the unification...

Crooked Kingdom- Chapter 13

“No indeed,” said the count, seating himself at the end of a long rectangular table engraved with the West Ravkan crest—two eagles bracketing a lighthouse.

Rule of Wolves- Chapter 5

Tamar’s spies had brought them news of the Fjerdan prince’s public collapse, and it didn’t bode well for Ravka. They’d renewed diplomatic talks, but Nikolai knew Fjerda was holding separate conversations with West Ravka and trying to encourage them to secede. Jarl Brum had been steering his country’s strategic choices for years, and a weakened Prince Rasmus would only embolden him.

Rule of Wolves- Chapter 12

Remind me again, why did destruction of the Fold mean “unification” of Ravka, when the West was obviously basically sovereign state, the East was weak, vulnerable to any kind of attack, fighting both of their neighbours, with zero resources and newly easy to attack from the west too?!

Why didn’t the richer part easily declare independence and/or crush the east?

[readerinsertsaremyguiltypleasure]

An Unexpected Taste of Love: Chapter Eight

Pairing: Darkling x Female Reader

Rating: Teen and Up

Summary: You are a servant at the Grand Palace, but when a threat to the Second Army’s General leads to the King assigning him a taster, you are forced into a new role that just may be the starting point for a whole new journey.    

Author’s note: I haven’t read the books but there may be a couple of small references to them that I have picked up from other sources (other fics, the grishaverse wiki, etc). Other than that, this fic is solely based on the TV show version of the Darkling.

Warnings: Near death experience, The Darkling is his own warning

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< Chapter Seven | Masterlist | Chapter Nine >

You were not wrong about there being a lot to prepare for the night’s dinner and show, and before you knew it, you were waiting in the dining room with a few other tasters. Alina’s presentation had gone well – you hadn’t seen it yourself, but you were already hearing the words “Sankta Alina” being thrown about – so now you were waiting for everyone to slowly make their way to the dining hall so that the food could be served. There were already a few people wandering in, but you could tell that it would be a while before everyone was seated.

The idleness was killing you, to be honest. Your fingers twitched, longing to do something, anything, just so you didn’t have to stand there with only your own thoughts to focus on. But alas, there was nothing you could do, so you tried your best to find a distraction in people watching, imagining what each person’s life was like and making up silly little stories for them.

You knew it was a lost cause when every one of those stories included Aleksander in some way.

You were in the middle of imagining a grand love story for a Lord and Lady in the far corner when a flash of black caught your eye. You turned to see Aleksander’s familiar back kefta as he passed by the dining hall entrance.

But it wasn’t the only black kefta you saw. Alina was wearing one too, beautifully decorated with gold embroidery. She held a bunch of blue flowers in one hand and the other was tucked under Aleksander’s arm as she smiled up at him.

Even with only the brief glimpse you got of them, it was obvious where they were headed and why.

So that was that then, you thought as you tried to covertly wipe the tears from your eyes. The symbolism of Alina wearing black was not lost on you; she was Aleksander’s now, and they both wanted everyone to know it.

You were pretty sure being poisoned had hurt less.

----

The last few people were just getting themselves seated when the news broke. There had been an attack and the Sun Summoner’s decoy had been killed. Ivan and Fedyor had assured all the guests that Alina was safe, but the party had to end early.

It wasn’t until you were helping the other servants clean up that you caught whispers of the truth; Alina was gone, taken in the night. How, you had no idea. She should have been safe in Aleksander’s rooms, even if he had had to leave to deal with the incursion.

But one look at Aleksander and you knew that the rumours were true. You had never seen him look so angry, not even when discussing General Zlatan. Despite your jealousy and heartache, you hoped Alina would be found soon. Not only were you worried for her, but you couldn’t bear seeing Aleksander looking so troubled.

Which was why you decided to take him his breakfast the next morning, adding something extra to make up for his missed dinner. The pair of you may not have been as close as you once were, but you still hoped you could cheer him up, or at the very least offer some reassurances.

You realised straight away that that was going to be a more difficult task than first thought. He barely even reacted when he saw that it was you who entered his rooms rather than one of the usual servers.

‘I’ve brought you some breakfast,’ you said rather needlessly, but it was better than awkward silence. After clearing a space on the table to set down the tray, you turned to Aleksander with a careful smile. ‘Extra bacon.’

Aleksander didn’t so much as twitch his lips. He didn’t even look at you. He just remained sat on the side of the bed that obviously hadn’t been slept in. He looked more than just tired. You would almost say he looked... defeated.

It was not an expression that you were used to seeing on his face, and you weren’t surprised to find that you hated it.

‘I’ll even test it for you,’ you said, grabbing his fork. ‘Just like old times.’

Still no reaction.

Your smile fell and you put the fork down, already knowing that the meal would not be touched. ‘Is there anything I can do?’ you asked, softly. Anything to help take away that lost look in his eye – to make him smile again. ‘What do you need?’

‘I need Alina.’

His answer was immediate, and you did your best to push away the jealousy that came with it.

‘I’m afraid that is a bit beyond my limits,’ you said with a sad smile. ‘But I’m sure your soldiers will turn up with something soon.’ When he still didn’t look at you, you nodded sombrely, accepting that he didn’t want your help. ‘I’ll, uh… I’ll just go.’

You managed to turn just in time to hide the tears welling in your eyes. He didn’t need to see them, not with everything else he had to worry about.

‘I’m using her.’

Aleksander’s words made you freeze, just a few feet from the door, and you turned back around to face him. He still hadn’t gotten up from where he was sat, but at least he was looking at you now.

‘Using her?’ you asked, too confused to be upset anymore.

‘I need Alina for my plans, and without her, all this will have been for nothing.’

Aleksander’s explanation did nothing to help your confusion.

‘What- I don’t understand. What plans? What will have been for nothing?’

Aleksander silently got up and walked towards you… only to pass you completely and head out to the main room of his quarters. You followed to find him standing at the giant table, looking down at the map.

‘I lied when I said our kiss didn’t mean anything,’ he said. ‘The day I rode out to the Fold, I fully intended to come back and spend every night with you in my bed.’

You had no idea what to do with that information. It was unexpected, to say the least, and you didn’t know if it made you feel better or worse.

‘Why didn’t you?’ you asked. ‘I mean, I know it must have something to do with Alina, but I think I’m going to need some specifics.’

Aleksander let out a weary sigh. ‘I have been waiting a long time for someone with her kind of power. I always expected, if such a person existed, they would be found early and be sent to the Little Palace to train… so when this soldier, a mapmaker no less, showed up out of nowhere, I couldn’t risk leaving things to chance. Alina was a wildcard that I had to keep close. I had to make sure she knew that she needed my help as much as I needed hers.’

‘So you don’t…’ You trailed off and cleared your throat before starting again. ‘Every person in Ravka knows how important it is to destroy the Fold. Surely you don’t need to “use her” or whatever it is you think you are doing. Why keep her that close?’

‘Because I don’t plan to destroy the Fold.’

He turned to face you, and you could tell that he was dead serious.

For a moment, you were too stunned to speak; you had thought that Aleksander would want the Fold gone more than anyone. ‘But… why wouldn’t you destroy the Fold?’ you asked once you had found your voice again. ‘The future of Ravka depends on it.’

‘Not necessarily.’

And so he told you his plan. All of it. He told you about amplifiers and the Stag. He told you about his plans to kill the royal family. He told you about planning to use the Fold as a weapon to wipe out entire cities so that no one would dare threaten Ravka again.

He told you about how he would bind Alina’s power to his, by force if needed.

By the end of it, you were horrified. You understood the why of it all… but surely he could see that the horror of what he planned to do? You had believed that all the stories about him to have been exaggerated or just plain false; you had believed that he was a good man. Had you been wrong?

Looking in his eyes, you got your answer. You could see his resolution, but you could also see how closed off he had become to any other emotions. He had convinced himself that this was the right path, but you knew there was guilt there, maybe even doubt. He wouldn’t have felt the need to explain his plan to you otherwise.

Evil men did not feel guilt.

‘Aleksander,’ you started, softly. ‘Please don’t do this.’

Aleksander did not look surprised by your plea, furthering your belief that he knew what he was planning was wrong. ‘It’s the only way,’ he said, turning back around to face the map. You stepped forward and lightly took a hold of his arm, turning him back.

‘It’s not, and you know it.’ Annoyance spread over his face, but he did not berate you for talking above your station. To be fair, that ship had sailed a long time ago. ‘You can help Alina tear down the Fold,’ you continued. ‘United, Ravka will win the war, and the Grisha will finally be free to choose their own lives. No more grooming children to be soldiers.’

Annoyance turned to anger, and Aleksander shrugged out of your grasp. But you didn’t back down. ‘It’s not your fault,’ you said before he had a chance to lash out. It seemed to work; Aleksander continued to scowl but he let you speak. ‘I know that you only did what you had to do to make a sanctuary for Grisha, to keep them safe… but what you and the King have made here, it’s a training camp.’

‘And you think that will change once the Fold is gone?’ he asked, voice full of condescension. ‘You think the King will suddenly let go of his favourite assets?’

‘I never said I disagreed with every part of your plan.’

The implication of your words was enough to silence him, and you used that silence to your advantage.

‘Tear down the Fold, dethrone the King. Kill him if you must, Saints know he deserves it… And then take the throne as the hero the kingdom will know you to be. The great General Kirigan who found the Sun Summoner and helped her unite our country.’

You could tell that Aleksander liked the sound of that, but you could also tell that he was not convinced.

‘Please, Aleksander.’ You were near begging at this point, but you didn’t care. ‘Fear is not the path to freedom.’

‘But it is the path to power,’ said Aleksander, standing straighter. ‘If we tear down the Fold, we win the war but there will still be those who will try to harm the Grisha. If we use the Fold, our enemies will not dare come for us. We can live in peace at last.’

‘And what of all the innocent people who are killed in your show of power?’ you asked. ‘Or the ones who pay the price when their governments try stand against you? Because they will stand against you. Where is their peace? Where is Alina’s peace?’

‘The Grisha have been persecuted for hundreds of years.’

‘I know, and they deserve to be free from that. But this will not bring them freedom. It will just make them the new drüskelle.’

Finally, you saw a flicker of doubt in his eyes.

‘The only way things will change permanently is for the world to see that Grisha are not that different from non-Grisha.’

Aleksander turned away and rested his hands on the table. His shoulders were still tense, but you could tell that most of his anger had left him. You once again placed a comforting hand on his arm, and this time he didn’t shrug it off.

‘When you rule by fear, someone will always rise up against you,’ you said, softly. ‘And then you will just be right back where you started. That’s not the peace the Grisha deserve. It’s time to move forward, Aleksander Morozova. Please don’t become the villain the history books have painted you as.’

At the sound of his full name, Aleksander spun his head to face you, eyes wide.

‘How did you-’

A knock at the door cut him off, and you reluctantly lowered your hand.

‘Moi soverenyi,’ came Ivan’s voice. ‘We have news on the Sun Summoner’s whereabouts.’

You let out a soft sigh and took a step back from Aleksander. He continued to stare at you for a moment before straightening his shoulders and putting his mask back up, making it impossible for you to tell if you had gotten through to him or not.

‘Whatever we do,’ he said as he strode purposefully towards the door, ‘we still need the Sun Summoner.’

He did not look back.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

First Vs Second Army Speculation (Book Spoilers)

So I’ve been thinking about that clip that was released where you see grisha in cages and the Darkling announces he has returned in an extra dramatic way:

Obviously when first seeing the clip I wondered whether he was the one who put them in the cages or whether he is the one rescuing them. I actually think it it more likely the latter of the two. In the books there is a scene where Fedyor and other grisha show up at the dacha Alina is staying at and we are given a sense of what it has been like for the grisha in the aftermath of what happened in the fold at the end of book/season 1:

Fedyor had been serving near Sikursk on the south-eastern border. When word of the destruction of Novokribirsk reached the outpost, the King’s soldiers had turned on the Grisha, pulling them from their beds in the middle of the night and mounting sham trials to determine their loyalty. Fedyor had helped to lead an escape. “We could have killed them all,” he said. “Instead, we took our wounded and fled.” 

Some Grisha hadn’t been so forgiving. There had been massacres at Chernast and Ulensk when the soldiers there had tried to attack members of the Second Army. Meanwhile, Mal and I had been aboard the Verrhader, sailing west, safe from the chaos we’d unleashed.

I can’t help but wonder if the scene above of Grisha in cages are those sham trails. That these Grisha were pulled from their beds in the middle of the night by the first army and locked up. The image is too dark to see whether or not the dead guys are first army or not but it looks like Aleksander shows up to save the Grisha. There is also that clip in the teaser that shows Genya in a cage:

 which makes me think that she is one of the Grisha that is put on trail. But it also gave me another theory about the David and Genya hug. I don’t remember exactly when in the books David chooses to leave the darkling, but I’ve seen some posts that say they can see the darkling in the background of the Genya/David hug scene. So my theory is that the hug scene happens whilst Genya and David are still in service to the Darkling. Maybe David is the one that tells Aleksander that the first army have been imprisoning and attacking grisha and that they have captured Genya. Or it could be that instead of going to Alina and telling her about these attacks Fedyor in the show actually goes to Aleks and explains the situation , that they were attacked that he was able to escape and lead some of the others away but some were left behind and are still imprisoned. You know Aleksander isn’t going to stand for the first army attacking grisha because it’ll remind him way too much of his past when the king’s soldiers were hunting him and his people down and how they killed Luda. I think Aleksander will rescue Genya and the other grisha and bring her back to David where they’ll share a hug. I think it’ll be later in the season when David and Genya will then turn sides and join Alina instead but I think in that scene they are still loyal to Aleksander. 

If my theory is right then it would seem like there is going to be alot more tension between the First and Second armies this season. We already saw some of that tension in season 1 with Mal and Alina mocking the grisha and saying that the grisha bully first army, but I feel like that dial is going to be turned up to 100 in season 2. Which to me makes Alina being shown in a First Army General’s uniform even odder. Like I keep telling myself to wait and see the context of it but I don’t know I just feel really eek about it. Especially as I saw a post showing a side by side of Alina and Zlatan:    

Like this is the guy who tried to have Alina assassinated which got Marie killed in Alina’s place, who let Fjerdans kidnap and kill grisha and who was willing to kill an entire skiff full of people just so he could also kill Alina. He was clearly no friend of the grisha and so it is really off putting seeing Alina dressed the same as him. Then you have this situation of the first army attacking the grisha and it just makes alina being in this uniform even more yikes for me. I am really hoping that there is a good explanation in the show but even if it is a case of she has been made general of both the second and first army I still would have put her in a kefta, even if it was a kefta in the colours of the first army showing a melding of the two, if they wanted to go for the uniting both armies under one leader thing. But seeing her dressed just like Zlatan makes me feel really uncomfortable for some reason. Again could 100% be just me thinking too much about it but I don’t know, I just don’t like it.  

[caprica99]

Shadow and Bone rant, because I need it

Shadow and Bone has some incredible potential, both the books and the show, but neither actually lives up to it.

Alina could have been interesting. Cartographer is a rare profession for fictional characters, but in the books/show she's just a beginner (at 17/20 it's understandable). Make her at least 25 with 9 years of experience in the army, give her a promotion with subordinates she's responsible for and you would get a more interesting character who saw some serious shit in the army, acts like a soldier, and knows responsibility. (And maybe wants to stop the war at all cost, utilizing the Fold maybe.*wink, wink*)

It bothered me that we never saw her using cartography this profession that makes her unique for reaching her goals. In the show, she has dreams about the stag. It would have been interesting to see HER figuring out the whereabouts of the stag by using the stag's surroundings like mountains, specific types of trees, topography, etc. Work smarter, not harder.

Diana Bishop suffers from the same passiveness in the first book of the All Souls trilogy, but she actively uses her science historian background and those passages are the most interesting parts of her POV. Alina's interest in drawing and geography would give her a unique personality, and made her relatable to many (see ADoW and history nerds). Many YA heroines have a specific and useful skillset: Katniss-archery, Clary Fray-drawing, etc. Sadly, her entire personality is running away with Mal.

Mal's character feels pointless to me. The story depicts an oppressed minority group with special powers, and their struggles in the world, the heroine and the antagonist are both part of the said minority group, and he's constantly shown to be a bigot against the Grisha, so what makes him so important to the plot? His tracking skills? Give the job to a no-name tracker and I wouldn't miss him.

At least the show made him more likable, but Archie and Jessie still lack romantic chemistry. However his chemistry with his friends Mikhail and Dubrov was spot on, I really liked it. They showed life as a simple otkazat'sya soldier on the front, and their death was painful to watch. I thought that his friend's death would make a bigger impact on Mal, him wanting to get revenge on the fjerdans and end the war at all cost, and saying that maybe Kirigan's plan actually makes sense would make an interesting narrative. (They are at war dammit, there's no black and white only grey.)

Mal and Alina don't act like soldiers in a war-torn country, they act like American teenagers, and it's annoying. The General and Ivan are the only ones who act as soldiers in a 3 front war. When the villain shows the most responsibility in your story you should rewrite your heroes completely, or make the villain your hero.

The show is better than the books. It's a rare phenomenon but it is something everyone agrees upon. To me, the first book reads like a draft the author forgot to expand. The worldbuilding, the Grisha, and the characters were a perfect base to an original fantasy universe, but it all falls flat. The show made it richer by introducing multiple POVs and giving the actors more leeway (Ben Barnes ladies and gentlemen). But in the end, they had to stick to the books.

This is incredibly confusing to me because we have numerous fanfictions about Alina staying at the Little Palace, embracing her Grisha side, helping the Darkling because his plan makes sense, or changing his plan by coming up with a better one, or having dark!Alina etc... Clearly, this is what book fans wanted: giving Alina agency, make her realize that she had to work with the Darkling because she's Grisha too and they have the same goals but have different methods, let her be Professor X to Alexander's Magneto, ending the corrupt and incompetent Lantsov line, anything would have been better than taking Baghra's words at face value and running off.

Change I like: the whole West-Ravka storyline, it made the General decision understandable. Zlatan sold Grisha to the fjerdans, wanted to kill Alina and his actions could have led to a civil war, Kirigan only acted as a general of his time (not 21 century guys, we are talking about the unforgiving 19 century) and besides we only see the destruction of Zlatans army (BTW they were ready to kill everyone on the skiff) and not the whole city.

Change I don't like: making Alina half Shu. I'm not completely against it, but it was poorly executed. The racism Alina faces overshadows the Grisha-hate, rather than complementing it. Alina acts like being half Shu is somehow worse than being Grisha, eventough there are literal Holocausts going on against Grisha in two neighbouring countries, slavery in another, and the show never addresses it. This is the biggest problem with her character, she never embraces being Grisha, sides with the muggles, and makes her mission to kill the only person who stands between Grisha and persecution.

Would have been good: the show could have made little 5 minute scenes depicting the plight of Grisha in other countries. Either at the beginning or the end of every episode.

Episode 2: the Ice Court

Episode 3: the Shu concentration camps with the experimenting

Episode 4: slavery in Kerch

Episode 5: the Wandering Isle with consuming grisha blood

Episode 6: the Demon in the Woods storyline

Episode 7: Luda+Aleksander

And now... The Darkling/ Aleksander Morozov/ General Kirigan: the most interesting character in the entire series.

In the first half of SaB he was depicted as every soldier's dream general. Sitting and eating with his men, fighting side by side with them, constantly checking on his troops while other generals prefer to attend court. But in the second half, he transforms into a Mustache Twirling Villain TM and makes rather OOC decisions throughout the trilogy. He could have been a generic villain from the start, but why make him then a compelling character with understandable motivations?

In the books, I understood his motivations, but in the show, he was completely right. His backstory shows that he tried peaceful tactics but those never worked out. The only thing that worked against his enemies was power and violence. The price of hesitance was Luda's life (I'm willing to bet they were married). The Fold was actually a mistake born from desperation. He spent centuries in hiding, seeing his people persecuted. Even with the Little Palace and the Second Army Grisha are considered second-class citizens, they can't hold properties. He has to walk the fine line between usefulness and being a threat. He has to bow to incompetent Kings who don't give a shit about the state of the country. If Alina had to go through so much how would she end up? Because it's a miracle that Aleksander still has it in him to fight for the Grisha.

Many bring up Nikolai Lantsov as the Darklings foil ( or Diet Darkling as @ambitious-witch calls him) to show there is an alternative to Aleksander, but it's wrong. Because Nikolai was never part of an oppressed minority group, never had to fear centuries of persecution, he's an actual prince, it's easy to not be radicalized with his background.

Bonus: If Bardugo wanted to create a fictional world with tsarist Russia as a base, the least she could have done is to open a Wikipedia page or a dictionary for the correct names and terms. Starkov is a man's name: Alina Starkova is the correct form. Ilya Morozov, Aleksander Morozov, and Baghra Morozova would be the correct forms.

EDIT: They could have shown the building of the Little Palace and the start of the Second Army. I wanted to see the normal life at the Little Palace before Alina came along, little Grisha enjoying their powers, their reaction if the Darkling comes to see their training (I headcanon he visits the lessons at least once a year), the other teachers, and their reaction to Alina. Alina in canon is good with kids, maybe if she had spent time with little Grisha, she could have embraced her powers sooner. Having met with foreigners (Fjerdan, or Shu) and hearing their gruesome accounts of the foreign treatment of the Grisha would made her willing to fight for their future.

[visd3stele]

Darkling random thought (spoiler-ish)

I can't shake off the feeling that, if the Darkling had been younger at the time of using the Fold as a weapon, he'd have done things differently.

Let me explain. Firstly, using the Fold as a weapon is a good idea. Strategically speaking. And in a war, what is strategy if not the foundation of survival?

Secondly, Aleksander loves Ravka. He could have flee, keep hiding, start a war on otkazast'ya (hopefully i spelled it right) ages before and turn the tables around. But he doesn't care just for Grisha. He cares about ravkans, all of them.

Years of suffering and futile attempts to have his dream of peace and happiness fulfilled, however, made him prone to drastic measures. Had he been younger, that hopeful boy/young man from early life, I'm sure he would have cleaned the town of civilians. He didn't want to kill those people: in the books he needed to show off to those messangers from Shu and Fjerda and Kerch etc..., in the show, his only target was Zlatan (not sure of the name, the separatist leader) and his suppoerters.

But since immortality clearly took a tool on him, his thoughts would follow the "what is one more sacrifice in the long run" line. He already lost so much, so much has been taken from him, he did so many gruesome things to survive/for the cause, what is one more? One more, to lead to that peace he's holding onto for dear life.

[queerthoughts-gaybrainrot]

if Aleksander was truly a villain

[I apologise for the chaotic structure, however I only now taken my ADHD meds and it takes some time before they kick in]

I am (spite) rewatching the show and have noticed the writers missed many opportunities in which they could absolutely make Aleksander/The Darkling the absolute villain. The one that would actually be feared, that we would maybe even hate as we hated characters such as Joffrey Baratheon (well, probably not because Aleksander is an attractive adult but you know).

For example, their first meeting. 

He could have brought her to him in chains on their first meeting. He could have interrogated her if she isn’t a Shu-spy, or showcase behavior similar to the one Zoya had towards Alina. He could have told her how many people died because of her actions, break her down. He could have told her it was all for nothing and lie that Mal also died, because of her selfish actions. 

And when they transported her to the Little Palace.

He could’ve played on Alina’s emotions, say that those people died for and because of her. That if she had not pushed her powers down and accepted her identity instead of suffocating herself to stay with Mal, she would already be a powerful Grisha. Maybe even destroyed the Fold already. Countless deaths could have been avoided, including those of her friends. Maybe even the war would have ended and there would be no threat of a civil war. And her fear of his own powers? He could have easily flipped it onto her, that she is treating him the way many soldiers and commoners treated her, just she lets her prejudice against Grisha influence her, not her prejudice against the Shu.

Instead of giving her the time to recover after the travel, he could have dragged her to court. Order the servants and Genya to get her ready immediately and introduce her as a tool, a weapon, someone under him, a means to an end. 

He could have isolated her from anyone, not allow any Grisha to be close enough to be considered friends. Order Genya to feed Alina lies that it’s for protection, or that it’s the order of the King, or that they don’t want to interact with her because of her internalised prejudice and unwillingness to help them. He could have forged letters between Mal and Alina, instead of just taking them. Make it seem like they hate each other. That Mal hates Alina for being Grisha and nearly getting him killed. That Alina hates Mal for being human. Kirigan could have gone as far as to tell Alina that Zoya did not sleep with Mal, but instead that Mal attacked her and forced her, and that’s the reason why Zoya hates Alina. Because she’s Mal’s friend.

He could have become Alina’s only friend, the one who would comfort her after Baghra’s lessons, eat meals with her, send her gifts, teach her, take her for rides. All while feeding her lies. Maybe that he too suppressed his powers once, to avoid being taken from someone he loves, and understands her struggles. He could have made her believe that without him, it will not be possible for her to ever take down the Fold. Maybe feed her a story that it was Baghra who was the Black Heretic, but the history changed a woman into a man because it was easier for them to believe. It would be easy to persuade Alina and make her think that Baghra is there just to keep everything under her control, keep Aleksander under her control like she did for centuries. 

He could have shown her the corpses of the Grisha killed by Fjerdans, Shu, Ravkans. The ones who were still tended to by the Healers, still in pain, screaming, covered in blood. Tell her the stories how once Grisha would hunt each other for the amplifiers. How Shadow Summoners were seen as something to hate, to be feared. Make her feel sympathy for him. Fall for him, only to be chained with the amplifiers because Kirigan does not trust her and will never trust her. It would show that he is incapable of trust, of love. He would betray her first. Or maybe she would be given the amplifiers as a sign of love, and once they were in the Fold? that’s when he would betray her. Along the way Baghra, Genya, maybe even Zoya would try to tell Alina who he really is but she wouldn’t believe it.

When Mal comes to Kirigan with the information about the whereabouts of the stag but refuses to say anything if he doesn’t see Alina? Torture the information out of him. Make one of the Heartrenders squeeze it out, or make Zoya do the job just to twist the knife. Send Marie who is tailored as Alina to Mal, make her lie that she (Alina) hates him, that he’s nothing, that he will always be nothing. Tailor one of his soldiers into Mal and send him to Alina, to do the same!

When Mal is later captured? Break the damn promise, kill him. Torture him, make him go mad with hate towards Grisha, lie that he simply ran away and left Alina to deal with all of this alone.

Also - no Kirigan caring for his Grisha. It’s hard to see someone with a good goal (fighting the oppression of his people) as a villain. To make him a villain, he should be like Baghra. No lost love to Ravkan soldiers. No him risking his life to protect the other Grisha. No him being patient-fatherly like towards David. No sending Fedyor to find Nina (who is just another soldier). He should see them as simple pawns, soldiers with no names, expendable tools in his game, and we should see that. 

They had so many opportunities to make him a villain, but they didn’t. Instead they made him one of most logical and sympathetic characters in the show. Who wouldn’t empathise with someone who comes from an oppressed group, and for centuries tries to give his people a safe place? Who started as a helper to the King, and was betrayed by said King after winning a war for him? Who was hunted by the human soldiers and was forced to watch his love be murdered in front of him? Who was raised by an abusive, emotionally unavailable mother who isolated him from his fellow Grisha? Who has shown time and time again that he cares for his people and just wants them to be safe? He used merzost knowing it would be a risk, but he was willing to take it to protect his people. He used it once, when the King was hunting him and his fellow Grisha, and he used it again when Zlatan was causing a civil war and selling Grisha to Fjerdans. That’s not actions of a villain.

[juneisafantasyaddict]

If LB wanted The Darkling to be pure evil, there are literally a lot of things she could have done. But giving him a sympathetic backstory that is actually a legitimate reason for him to turn out the way he did was definitely not the way to do it. If she wanted pure evil, she could’ve given him a backstory that’s just a ridiculous sob story, not “for hundreds of years my people have been hunted and killed because of prejudice and no one did anything about it until I had enough power to.” Do you even realize how easy it is to get people to be on your side when what you want more than anything is for your people to be safe from harm?? That’s literally why we don’t get mad at heroes for killing people, it’s because we know they are protecting vulnerable people.

I’ve seen people say The Darkling is like Magneto (re: his fight against what was happening to mutants), and while that comes close, I think The Darkling is even more sympathetic because at least the XMen had the good sense to have Charles Xavier there to provide a more humane/viable alternative to Magneto’s solutions, and we got to see the difference between their methods. But, in the Grishaverse, we have a monarchy in Ravka that only sees the Grisha as useful for war but also doesn’t let them own property, we have a heroine who doesn’t seem to care about anything except meadows and her childhood crush, we have the entire country of Ravka that seems to only like dead Grisha because “new saint to build a cult over,” then we have the only person who seems to prioritize the protection of these people who have no one and we’re supposed to care that he’s ruthless with anyone he perceives as a threat to his people? When you haven’t given us a viable alternative to his methods? To make matters even worse, he’s not even imagining these threats, he is literally reacting to their aggression, e.g Fjerdans come for Alina, he uses the cut, Zlatan sends an assassin to infiltrate his secure building and kill Alina, but ends up killing another Grisha under his care, he kills the assassin and does Novikribirsk, etc.

This is not a justification of his ruthless methods of punishment for those who are threats to him and his people, this is a “you cannot expect me to focus entirely on his methods when he’s literally the only reason why his people have any semblance of protection” rant. The heroine who we think is going to save the day is basically dragged through her character development and all her progress is destroyed very quickly because of this ridiculous need to pretend that the underdog is always right (Mal, power is evil, blah blah blah).

Somehow, we’re supposed to just be ok with the fact that a group of people who haven’t exactly showed that they care about Grisha suffering are going to save them from prosecution? I mean, let’s not forget that this group includes: Mal who we already know is prejudiced against Grisha, Alina who *sigh* so much potential wasted there, Nikolai who I have decided exists for comic relief because I will not be convinced that a “maybe prince who is also a Jack sparrow type pirate should be king of a country with very complex social and political situations.” Like, I’m looking at this group of supposed saviors and honestly, I would rather take my chances with the 500 year old extremely powerful Grisha who scares everyone. Let’s not even forget that we’re somehow supposed to consider Baghra one of the good guys for “warning Alina,” even though 2 episodes later, we basically see that Baghra doesn’t exactly care about the survival of the Grisha.

Give people a truly evil villain and we will act accordingly. Don’t give us a Magneto type villain with legitimate points and then expect us to treat him like Voldermot or something. You can even decide to not understand Magneto because hello, we are given real alternatives to his problem solving skills right away. But with The Darkling it’s just “he’s pure evil because I said so, but like also this is how he got here, but also he’s super evil, but like do you understand where he’s coming from? but also he’s super evil even though he has points.” That’s not a villain dear, that’s a good person doing bad things and needs to be shown a better way.

You can’t give me an antagonist with a compelling, truly tragic backstory and then be like “now that you understand why and how this character ended up in this dark place and you can see that all this was probably avoidable if so and so did/didn’t happen, let’s totally blow up their life because so what if they’ve deeply suffered?” Especially when there’s a path to redemption right there in the protagonist who you have made sure to establish has a deep bond/connection with this person.

You want to write pure evil? Give me a character that has no remorse, no capacity to care for anyone or anything else, no reason for his cruelty, etc. Don’t give me guy who uses his power to keep his people safe and then falls in love with his soulmate so deeply he can’t stop looking at her and holding her hand in front of the whole country.

Also, can we like actually address the issue that got Nina kidnapped, made the Darkling who he is, and forces all Grisha to basically only have one life plan?

It would be so much easier to believe that The Darkling is a villain if there was an actual alternative to him, but there isn’t.

And btw, in this age of social justice, the fact that LB didn’t think people will see the value in a person from a marginalized community doing whatever is necessary to free his people from oppression is just LOL.

Ok, incoherent rant over.

[cheekygreenty]

Little Witch - Part 10

The Darkling x Reader

*I’ve changed this part like 5 times so if there’s any inconsistencies I do apologize 😝

In a perfect world, you and Aleksander would have spent the day in his luxurious bed surrounded by his soft silk sheets. You felt an overwhelming feeling to open up to him, to tell him everything that happened to you since you saw him last, nearly a century ago, but life has a way to ruin perfect opportunities.

Wars didn't take breaks or vacations, they got more deadly as time went on and each side got more nervous as more people gave their lives to the cause. A solution was necessary and from your understanding, Aleksander still had the same plan as he did all those years ago he just had a different way to go about them. No doubt Alina was at the center of them.

You had business to attend to too. The first on the list was a meeting with the council. The King and his advisors were to be there to 'greet' you with open arms, but you were sure you'd have to put on a quick performance of your abilities to satisfy their curious minds.

Maybe that's why he gave me the shadows, to ensure my position. You quickly brushed off the thought. It didn't really matter to you why he did what he did. You had your shadows back. He claimed protection, but you knew there was a different reason behind it as well. It seemed too quick and too easy in your opinion but who were you to judge what kind of trust he truly had in you. You felt comfort that you always had piece of him wherever you went.

On a lighter note, you could finally wear a black kefta. The thought itself had you quickly leaping out of his bed and skipping to your chambers in a mere robe through the secret passages of the Palace. You didn't want anybody to see you leaving his quarters, not in the state you were in. You needed to grab a Healer and get rid of those very visible marks on your neck that Aleksander took his time creating. He intended to mark you as his own but jokes on him, you never wanted to belong to anybody but yourself.

Time passed and servents scurried in and out of your chambers, carrying information from here there and everywhere. You were already overwhelmed with tasks and your position wasn't even announced to the Palace yet. You were still the mysterious Grisha that served with the Darkling, not for.

Your vanity was covered in papers and reports in handwriting you had trouble reading and your bed had maps strung across it. Aleksander truly meant it when he said he would get you started right away and share his responsibilities as soon as he got the chance.

When the time finally came, you were escorted to the Grand Palace with Aleksander walking right next to you. The conversation was devoted to work and nothing else, Fjerdan intel, rumors of West Ravka and Zlatan, and upcoming skiff journeys but you didn't mind. You were damn good at your job, having started out in the First Army and then joining the Second Army had given you experience not even the General had, it's what made you the first pick when dealing with plans involving otkazat'sya soldiers, they respected you. I wonder if they will now.

You had spent 3 years in the First Army once upon a time. You came from a wealthy merchant family, a family full of drunks and abusers and cowards. You gave up the feeling of a full stomach and duck-feathered beds for the rations of the army once your mother admitted to you being a bastard and not worthy of the family name. What a shame. Look at me now.

You never knew what you could do, but a slip-up with a Tidemaker had you served to the Darkling on a silver platter. He was meaner then, more unforgiving. Your years spent with him after that had changed him, made him better in your eyes. You fell for him, hard, even though there was so much death and destruction in his wake. When you love somebody, it’s easy to see past all of the nasty stuff and focus on whatever is left of the good and Aleksander still had an abundance of if.

You could still remember his cold stare as he asked you what the hell you were. After pleading with him that you didn't know and his Heartrenderer confirming it, he whisked you away to the Little Palace where soon enough you had become his equal, if not his superior.

'I actually wanted to ask you something about one of the Grisha in the Palace. I seen her with Alina, red-hair, big blue eyes... she wore a white kefta?' You said as you wlaked down a mirrored hallway in the Royal building.

'Oh, that's Genya Saffin. She works for the King and Queen.' He said with an underlying tone of irritation.

'What does she do? She wears a white kefta so I'm just curious'

'She's a tailor. Member of the Corporalki. She should be wearing red, I know. But trust me the time will come' He ushered us both into a guarded room of glitering gold and pearly white walls. So tacky. I could make out the king slumped in an overdone throne-like chair.

'Moi tsar' you and Aleksander bowed much to your distastes. You hoped nobody had seen the brief look of disgust wash over your face as the Lanstov King rose and gave his advisors a raised eyebrow, signalling to you. A man wearing a navy uniform looked at you like a piece of meat ready to be devoured. I'm gonna throw up.

'Deputy General Y/L/N is it?' He took your hand in his own sweaty one gave it a wet kiss. 'You Grisha are always easy on the eyes aren't you?'

You took a step back and cleared your throat. 'Yes, Moi Tsar, it is an honour to make your acquantance' You tried so hard to keep your fists at your sides.

'And what can you bring to the war table, apart from the newest fashion' He let out an obnoxious laugh and his advisors followed. They all looked smug and spoiled. None of them had any idea what the real world looked like and yet had the audacity to sit this council. I'll show them what it means to be powerful.

Aleksander stepped away to the side and gave you a nod. You slowly unravlled your fist and plunged the room into darkness while simultanseoly blowing a strong wind throughout the space, letting papers fly in all directions and the fire go out. You relit it, and every candle in the room. The man in the navy unifrom got the runt of your powers, as you slowly medled with his heart until he breathed a worried laugh 'Stop it Girl'.

But you didn't stop, you carefully stared at the chair the man sat in and pushed it just enough for him to let out a yell. You accidently let out a chuckle that was meant to be in your head. You felt Aleksander move toward you 'All right, that should be enough' He said visibly amused too. You let it all drop.

'It's Deputy General to you' You looked at his fearful face that tried to cover by fixing his jacket and whiping away invisible dust off of his shoulder.

'I must say I am impressed. With the Sun-Summoner and... you, we will have West Ravka and the surroundings begging for our alliances.' He sat down on his chair once again and pointed to an empty one across from him and to the right of Aleksander, who unbeknownst to you had already seated himself.

'Please, Deputy General, do take a seat, we have business to tend to'

****

A painful 2 hours later you and Aleksander walked out of the Grand Palace. You had a headache and your hands hurt from clentching them so hard.

'I'm assuming you sitting the King's meetings for me is off the table now?' Aleksander mused and all you could do was give him a side-eye.

'I think I want to kill him'

'In due time'

You weren't even surprised. If he didn't do it himself you definitely would have taken one for the team. That man is unbearable; like a child in a grown man's body.

As you wallked into your home, Aleksander gently took hold of your wrist and pulled you in the direction of his quarters.

'Come'

Your head was pounding too much to say no so you obliged. The hallways were bare of people, not a Grisha in sight.

You reached his war room doors and walked in after him. He pulled out a map and laid it down.

'I've sent out a First-Army search for the Stag.'

You paused. The headache suddenly gone. Morozova’s Stag. He had tried once before and failed. The weeks following his failure sent him into a frenzy, he questioned Morazovas journals and almost burned them all, but you had gotten to him last-minute. You never doubted the stag to be real. You just never believed he would use it. He's powerful on his own unless- it's for Alina.

You audibly sighed and leaned your back against the table. Alina.

'Does she want it?'

'Does that matter?'

‘Of course it matters!’ You scorned but he stayed silent.

You turned to look at him and whispered 'What are you planning this time?' He had been dropping hints here and there, but so far there was no plan you knew of. 'I can't help you if I don't know the plan'

'No. You're better of not knowing anything. I can't lose you again' you turned you head and looked at his side profile.

'But you need me. I'm powerful, I can lead an army'

'If anything happens you can take over for me then, Deputy.' He cocked a sad smile and left a lingering kiss on your forhead before he left you standing in the war room alone and confused.

Part 11

Taglist

@theonelittleone @searching-for-gallifrey @0-artemis @lostysworld @xceafh @fire-in-her-veinz @patdsinner33 @cleverzonkwombatsludge @wizardwheezes @aleksanderwh0r3 @tomhollandisabae @hotleaf-juice @justmesadgirl @exo-1204 @houseofdupree @oberonpascal

[manikas-whims]

Time for Show Kaz Appreciation

This is not in any particular order, I'm just gonna ramble all my thoughts.

Now we all know the show is kinda fast paced so everything doesn't settle in your head within a single watch. But after re-watching a few clips, I grew more fond of show Kaz.

1: Starting with Episode 5

Kaz decides Arken will grab Alina whilst the rest of them set up the lynx flush (was lynx intentional? remember Inej's title at the menagerie?)

Anyways, Inej immediately makes a remark because even though they all believe in Kaz's planning, she is shocked he's ready to let the new guy take the most important part. This shows that like usually in the books Inej (and Jesper) don't know the complete details or the actual plan laid out by Kaz.

Look at Arken's joyous look on knowing he's being handed the most important task. He had wanted to be alone with Alina all along so he could get rid of the sun summoner. He probably even lied about the lodestone and its prolonged use making one..impotent?

And its only later after the Winter Fete event, when she sees Alina hanging out with her grisha pals that Inej realises Kaz had lied about the lynx flush. That they weren't acting as distraction but were actually flushing out the traitor. Arken dumbly took the bait cause Kaz let him believe that he as the leader of crows was putting his trust in Arken when handing him the main job. And it all went exactly as Kaz planned 😌

Look at all the fucks Kaz gives about Arken getting caught 😂 whilst Inej is there somewhat worried for this stranger. Soft Kaz who? He only cares about himself and "his crows". 😗

And he's smart as usual. If there's one person whom you can count on to know about profit makers, its Kaz. Where Inej is concerned about the "what ifs" if he's wrong, Kaz is completely sure because he thinks things over. Everything.

2: Kaz being fine with Arken's inclusion

Since from the SS above we can see Kaz knows that Arken is one of the two people profiting from this whole "Grisha smuggling trade", the other person has to be someone powerful enough to allow such trade to run smoothly. Arken has been doing this for quite a while without any governmental issues whicj means someone powerful enough is backing him up. And Kaz knows which is very useful to Kaz and his crows because:

~ their travel won't be gain much attention of higher ups cause people know its that guy Arken's train

~ if they do get caught by Ravkan government, they can put it all on Arken since the guy actively smuggles out Grisha. And the crows can just say they were working for Arken, not the other way around. (i know the Darkling may not let them go so easily but i know Kaz will have a plan to get out his crew if it ever came to that)

3: Suspicious of Arken

Kaz is always somewhat suspicious of Arken if you re-watch. Why would a smuggler just decide to join a bunch of criminals if he's already profiting off a lot from the fold. There must be something in it for him. And Kaz knows, which is why when its time to fetch things for Arken, Kaz doesn't let Jesper or Inej have any thoughts. He immediately takes up the quick task of bringing the goat and assigns Jesper with alabaster coal. He specifies no detours but he knows Jesper will take his time, which in turn will give Kaz more time to go around and spy on what is Arken actually upto. And he does, he discovers Arken conversing with Zlatan who must've also handed Arken the lodestone and the mission to kill Alina.

Thus, Kaz's suspicions about Arken are confirmed and now he's fully ready to expend Arken whenever the need be. And he finds that opportunity when he discovers there's a decoy to be dressed up as Alina. He immediately uses that to appoint Arken, what everyone believes, is the most important part of their mission but instead tricks him.

4: Other things to take note of

• Inej's lose trust in Kaz

Even when Alina escapes from the Crows, Inej doesn't believe for a second that Kaz has dropped the job. When they have a small argument in that tavern, she even asks if he's threatening to send her back to the Menagerie. We know he'll never but Inej doesn't. And same goes for the show onlys. They don't really know Kaz and trust him just as much as Inej.

Even when Kaz decides for them to board the ship as delegates, both Inej and Jesper are unsure. They ask him if truly just wants to get back to Ketterdam. That its merely coincidence that the sun summoner happens to be traveling via the same ship.

This small sliver of doubts about Kaz is something that the others always have about him even in the books. Nobody knows whats going on in Dirtyhand's mind.

• His outfit changes

We have no idea how he acquired the artist outfit or the guard outfit where Inej is about to stab him xD.

We also have no idea how he snuck amongst the Darkling's personal guard. How he acquired the outfit and what went down between him and whomever he snatched it from, we have no idea. A complete magician if you ask me.

• His Quick Wit

Now we were all having fun watching that "JES" moment. But thats where Kaz also informs them he had been focusing on Arken's timings and that he's learnt them. A quick thinker and a fast learner!

• His moments with Inej

Like I've said in my other post, his moments with Inej are canon compliant. Whenever they are alone, he's always more open..more like a boy talking to his crush ☺

All their book moments are like that— meaningful conversations or heated arguments or a mix of both.

• His friendship with Jesper

Its also canon compliant. If you remember "pay someone to pay someone else to burn my kruge" and "i'll hire Matthias's ghost to beat up yours" all happened in canon. Jesper is his bestie, he's always gonna be like that with Jesper.

5: His scenes in Ketterdam

All his scenes in Ketterdam were amazing. (okay him being bested by two of Pekka's men was kinda unbelievable but needed).

Him warning Jesper about loud noises at the table, him stoically standing when Alexei is shot, him casually looking around and discovering that a woman's way of counting money is different. He's really a keen observer and smart.

Also, him stealing the crow club shares, him quickly catching the note sent by Heleen and him telling Jesper he would've done exactly what Heleen did to manipulate Inej. Thats the cold and calculated Dirtyhands for you!

So there it is! Some of what I noticed whilst re-watching. The finer details about him are sprinkled throughout the show but we find it hard to see them because we are used to see such things fully unveil in books when reading his pov. Unless the show gave us a Kaz pov, we wouldn't have immediately taken note of everything I said above..:)

[orangegreet]

No Minor Miracles | Chapter 10

In the End, In the Beginning

In which we get a jail break and some deaths and some light and some life and maybe the end of the world.

The shrieking cries of the volcra overhead melted into the drumming of hooves across the earth.

All of it, loud and incessant and completely cancelled out by the pulse of blood pounding in his head. The circling thoughts that spurred him forward.

He is going to kill me in the morning. She had said.

Aleksander had never seen her look frail. Not in his memory.

The Grisha slaver bar that kept her powerless, kept the wrath of her Sun at bay, flashed through his mind again.

Fucking cowards. The Darkling pushed his horse harder. Faster.

The Shadows of the Fold reached for him as he passed just as worshippers extended hands of blessing for their Saint.

Behind him, Ivan and Fedyor urged their horses forward, almost falling out of the dome of Light he held overhead.

It had been easy this time—effortless really, to call the Light up from within himself. As if Alina herself had searched through his cupboards and produced it for him with a gentle smile.

Alina. His Alina. His person.

Held captive by a megalomaniac. A fucking degenerate otkazat’sya scum who would sacrifice every Grisha life in Ravka to gain a fraction of power.

Zlatan would soon learn true power. Would see and know it intimately as the force of his Darkness crushed Zlatan’s bones from the inside.

The horses were huffing but none of them faltered their gait. Aleksander was grateful. Fedyor had chosen well.

His Heartrenders had not questioned him when they learned Alina was in trouble and he would be going across the Fold to get her. Feydor left immediately to prepare the horses and Ivan, after a long look at his General, proceeded to delegate duties to the next in command.

It had not slipped Aleksander’s notice that Ivan would elect to follow his General into the Fold deferring his right to become the acting General of the Second Army. As was his rightful succession.

Ivan had scowled for the duration of the preparations which effectively relieved Aleksander of the urge to thank him.

The Darkling lowered his brow, narrowing his eyes as they neared what must be the middle of the Fold. A white stone building was crumbling on his right and the mirroring of events was painful to recognize—the way history often did repeat itself.

He had lived long enough to see that the adage was true.

A woman he loved, killed for fear of what she was, for fear of Aleksander himself, by a power-hungry individual trying to stamp out any threats to his reign.

Only now it felt like a chance to do it all again. To change it all; to rescue and to fix instead of fail and destroy.

It would be different this time. This was Alina. She, a Sun Summoner, an immortal like him and a woman who was stronger and more powerful than anyone could imagine.

A woman whom he had crushed mercilessly just a few weeks before.

Not for the first time since he had met Alina did Aleksander curse his own pride.

This might not have happened had he been able to come to terms with everything she had done and just forgiven her in that fucking cell. Forgiven her on the journey through the Fold.

Not left her alone in a field. Not buried her under the weight of his disappointment.

Had he not learned this lesson from years of experiencing the same treatment from Baghra? Another immortal who would use her years and her influence to leverage pain and guilt over him—shame him into doing as she wished? Into feeling the weight of her expectations with an unyielding rigidity?

Could he not have at least given her something to hold onto—something that said, I am angry and I am hurt but I am yours all the same?

No, instead he had crushed Alina and sent her back into the arms of a Grisha-loathing Secessionist to play spy. Fucked with her head and her heart and expected her to recover fine.

Expected her to be stoic in her duties and not slip up. As if he had been able to keep his head after their every encounter. He was a fucking fool.

They were so alike, he and Alina. In hindsight, her reasoning and her motives and decisions all seemed remarkably easy to understand.

He had been bitter at her for shutting him out. Hurt at her apparent lack of trust that she would not confide in him. It was fair that he should feel that way and yet, would he not have done the same?

Had their years been reversed, had it been Aleksander who was so fresh and new to the world, would he not have hungered and grasped for his own independence?

Alina did not want to need him anymore than he wanted to need her. He could not fault her for her actions—not for long anyway.

When he removed himself from the torturous back and forth they had both endured and inflicted on each other the last several years, Aleksander could not deny the plain truth before him: Alina was his match in every sense of the word.

Alina was and would always be the only one who could meet the depth of his power and counter it. Descend into the cavernous pain he carried and draw him out of it. Climb to the heights of his passion and somehow drive him higher.

It might be cosmic or ancient or fated by the Saints but even outside of all that, Aleksander simply wanted her. Alina. His Alina. Just as she was.

Aleksander wanted her very soul for himself and he would tie their Light and Dark together more completely than any paltry tether if given the chance again.

He is going to kill me in the morning.

He pushed his horse forward.

The city was eery in it’s quiet.

Aleksander shrouded their party of three in shadow as they trotted through the streets. His eyes were sharp but half of his focus was on the pull of the tether, guiding them closer to Alina.

He had zero intention of visiting her friends, despite her requests. Getting to her himself was far more important. Still, he slowed as they were nearing the place he knew they had held him weeks before.

“I fucking knew it! You will pay, Darkling.” A voice shouted from his left and he raised a fine blade of darkness only to feel that clenching in his chest once more. That blood thickening, heart seizing clutch of a Heartrender.

Aleksander growled at the spasm and the screaming Heartrender emerged from an alley. Ivan immediately used the same technique against her and Aleksander was free from the thrall once more. Fedyor sat on his own horse, working to restore his General.

“Stupid girl! He did not do this.” Baghra said, joining the fray from her hiding spot. “Stop. All of you!” She demanded, grabbing the Heartrender from the ground where she had crumpled under Ivan’s will.

The Darkling snarled at them both as he darkened the street with his irritation and shadows sloughed off of him in billowing sheets.

“Good. You’re making this quite easy then.” He said through clenched teeth.

He gripped his reins and cricked his neck to keep from killing both of them and barked out Alina’s message, “Alina is being held captive by Zlatan. She said he knows she is the Sun Summoner and asked me to warn you.”

Aleksander turned his gaze on his mother, growling the words at her, “Your Sun Summoner held captive by the man you traded her to in the first place.”

He glared at her. His thoughts screaming at her. Was this a better life for her, mother? Do you believe I would have done worse to her—worse to the world than terror Zlatan intends to unleash now?

He wanted to ask it. To make her hurt. To make her regret. There wasn’t time.

The reins were tight in his hands and he could not help the added insult he bit off as he left. “Do what you will with that news, you glorified Grisha slavers.”

Picking up his reins, he kicked his horse back into motion and continued through the streets.

“Darkling! Stop!” They called after him. Aleksander did not heed them. Alina called to him in the night and he would not give them another second of wasted time.

“Follow him then, you fools! He knows where she is!” Baghra’s voice echoed up the street. The sound of hooves followed and he knew they would not be far behind.

Aleksander tracked Alina all the way to a mansion on the wealthy end of the capital.

Ivan and Fedyor flanked him on either side as they dismounted. His gaze flicked to the people they now had in tow.

The dark haired woman he recognized as the Heartrender who tried to knock him out again. Next to her was large man and behind them stood four others, unknown to him and irksome merely in their culpability of Alina’s engagement and enslavement.

“I assume you are here because you are loyal to Alina.” He said with a clipped edge.

The woman’s eyes narrowed at him but she nodded.

“Very well. Seeing as I don’t know how many people we can expect inside, it would be foolish not to work together.”

They looked uneasy and the Darkling growled at them, his barely controlled rage spewing from his hands as his shadows blanketed around their ankles, “In case you are missing something, Alina is to be executed in the morning by Zlatan. I’m certain she is inside that home at this very moment and I will not waste time fighting the Grisha who put her there.”

He twitched his fingers and his shadows tightened around their calves. The Darkling watched with a sick grin on his face as they lurched in place.

“We are not following you, Darkling. We will get her out ourselves.” The woman said, pulling her leg free.

“I don’t think you will.” His voice was quiet and dangerous now. Ivan and Fedyor stood to behind him, preparing for a fight. “It was you who gave her to Zlatan in the first place. You’re the reason she is in there now.”

A few of the members shifted guiltily and the Darkling barked at them again, “How long since she lost contact with you?”

A few of them jumped but the Heartrender simply glared at him.

“A little over a week.” The man beside her said.

Aleksander growled at them, condemning them once more. “Reckless. Sloppy pieces of shit.”

“We will fight alongside you, Darkling. Tonight we will.” The man said. The woman glared at the ground but nodded.

Aleksander scrutinized them, loosening his shadows and forcing himself to turn away from them. “Alina is being held underground. Kill anyone who gets in your way but hear this—Zlatan is mine.”

Zlatan was not home.

Or, at least, those were the last words the guard could squeeze out of his throat before the Darkling snapped his neck.

It felt different to kill with his hands. Different wrap his fingers around a throat and twist. Different to physically touch the skin of someone as their life force abandoned their body. Still, it was the only thing that satisfied on this night.

The place had been crawling with First Army soldiers. West Ravkan soldiers, as they preferred to be called. He and his Heartrenders and his borrowed Grisha army had swarmed the home like a plague and he winded his way toward the back of the house, looking for access to the basement.

Underground. He knew she was underground.

“General!” Ivan called from the next room over. Aleksander entered the small parlor where Ivan was unceremoniously shifting a corpse across the floor and lifting the rug from the edge of the room.

A hatch.

The Darkling lifted it and grasped a lantern from the wall.

“Find Fedyor.” He said to Ivan as he began to descend the stairs into the floor, “I will get Alina and we will set out for the Fold again.”

Ivan hesitated by the door.

“Fedyor, Ivan. Find him first. Then we will go together.” Ivan nodded and left.

When he found her, she was asleep.

Beautiful, even with dark circles under her eyes and a pallor to her skin. Both of which had little to do with captivity or starvation and everything to do with the fact that she was an extremely powerful Grisha forced to suppress her power.

Aleksander gingerly lifted the slaver bar, extending her arms out in front of her and laying the bar on the ground.

He conjured the Cut and sliced through one end, as close as he dared cut near her wrist. He took a breath and severed the other side.

Aleksander tucked his arms beneath hers and pulled her into his lap, her head lolling back against his shoulder as his hands met around her stomach.

“Alina.” He said in her ear. A kiss to her cheek. Another to her hair.

“Wake up, solnyshka. You are freed.” Alina stirred in his arms and, with little ceremony, he brought her hands together, forcing her to conjure the tiniest amount of Light. Hoping to feed her a little before they had to move again.

The chamber around them was forced into relief, putting the little gas lantern to shame.

Her eyes fluttered and Alina sighed, sinking into him. Her back pressed into his chest. “You’re here.”

Her forehead fell against his jaw and he could not help the way he held her face there, whispering a silent prayer of gratitude to the Saints for this moment. For her voice and her Light and her life. That she was not gone from him.

When his prayer was done he whispered more words to her. “I’m sorry, Alina. I am so sorry, my love, my Star.”

Her hand caressed his jaw and he nuzzled her in return. Her silence now assuredly attributed to her fatigue as opposed to malice for him. “Come along, we will help get you out.”

And then, to his added relief, “General!” Ivan and Fedyor emerged. Fedyor, clutching his side but otherwise smiling at the sight of Alina and her Light and the way she was sitting up in the arms of the General.

“If the Sun Summoner is able, we must move. They are calling in others now. We cannot face many more soldiers tonight.” Ivan advised.

Aleksander nodded, pushing from his legs into standing and bringing Alina with him.

Her thin, white shift snagged against the buckles of his kefta and with a sharp pang he remembered how she had clasped them together herself in the dacha.

How she had dressed him in his black kefta and his traveling cloak and her hands had smoothed the core cloth and then she had begged him to run away with her.

“Ivan. Come hold her up for a moment.”

Aleksander removed his kefta and threaded her arms through the sleeves. His fingers worked quickly on the clasps and when she was covered in the warm black shield, the only protection he could give to her right now, he lifted her into his arms.

The other Grisha, her ‘friends’ were waiting by the exit. At the sight of her, it looked as if they would reach for her. Expect him to turn her over to them.

The Darkling practically hissed at them, holding her away from them, but it was Ivan who was done with it all.

“Out. Everyone. More are coming. Get to the horses and disperse. They cannot chase us all.”

Everyone dispersed, the woman with a lingering glance at Alina. The three men hurried to their horses and the other Grisha to theirs, quick and silent in their movements.

They had just mounted, the General adjusting his posture in the saddle as Ivan lifted Alina into his arms, when the unmistakeable sound of a dozen horses echoed through the streets.

The General looked at Fedyor, hunched on his horse and waiting for Ivan to join him—he would need assistance on horseback with his injury. Ivan and the General locked eyes.

“Go. Get a head start. We can handle them.” Ivan said.

Aleksander almost protested and then Ivan had slapped his horse on the haunches with a firm hit and Alina jolted in his arms as his horse took off down the city streets.

The pursuit was something of a blur.

The West Ravkan soldiers followed them through the streets, tracking them until they reached the edges of town. Aleksander and Alina were saved more than once by the help of a Tidemaker or Squaller who was hidden in plain sight and ready to impede the pursuing enemy.

He was glad for it as he felt helpless to do much else at the moment. Alina seemed so precarious in his arms and he wondered if they had not done more to her in captivity than prevent her from using her Light.

Wondered if they had performed experiments on her. Bled her and drained her. She should not be so frail from a week of captivity. Not his Sun.

Still, they were nearing the Fold now and Aleksander would need his hands to gather Light if they were going to cross.

“Alina, please. If you can, sit up and lean against me. I need your help to get through the Fold.” Alina stirred, her eyes flickering again.

“‘M sorry.” Feebly, she brushed her hands against each other and sighed as she illuminated everything around them. Like the burst of a dawning Light she lit up their location and Aleksander panicked.

“No! Alina! Stop!”

She did not know. Could not know what she had done. Horses gathering in force sounded behind them, locked on their location now and Aleksander pushed his own horse hard toward the safety of his creation.

The blight he left on the earth. The thing which he meant to protect him and all Grisha would now have to protect him and his Sun.

History would not repeat itself. He would not let her die tonight.

“The Sun Summoner!” He heard the shouting echo across the field even as they neared the black curtain. True dawn was breaking on the horizon. The reddish glow mixing with her bright white.

Aleksander tucked Alina further into his chest, holding her with the frame of his arms and she was finally waking up.

“Sasha. Where are we going?” Her eyes opened, the black Shadow Fold billowing across their vision.

“Oh good. I do like it in there.” She said, absently, “It’s like being covered in you. So familiar. Always so familiar. Even before I ever met you, going into it was like being home.”

Alina sounded delirious now and Aleksander wanted to cry. He swallowed it down and answered her.

“Yes. We are going into the Fold now. I might need your help to Light it—I don’t have my hands free.”

Alina nodded, squeezing his thigh in response and Aleksander heard another set of hooves drawing closer.

“Now Alina!”

Alina conjured her Light and the dome put his to shame. It was broad and beautiful and white, splitting the curtain of the Fold as they entered.

The Light was too big. Too bright. Others had joined them under the dome.

Aleksander urged the horse faster but he knew it was long tired from their long evening.

“Alina, please, pull your Light in just a little.” He urged.

It was useless. Alina’s hands were no longer touching and her Light shone from her anyway. Persistent. Bright.

Her consciousness was wavering and the Light brightened and he could not tell if he was adding to it or not.

“Sun Summoner! Halt!”

Gunfire. His horse faltered. Aleksander looked around frantically but realized it was only a graze to the flank. His horse was good, strong, used to battle and gunfire. It carried on.

Darkling! I know you’re in there! The voices from the past echoed in his head and he knew they were not there and history would not be repeated on this night.

Aleksander could not bring his hands together though. He was terrified Alina would fall and their horse would slow down and all would be lost again.

They neared the center of the Fold. He could feel the pull of the creation point. It called to him. More than it ever had before. A persistent tug on his tether. The same tug he felt when Alina called to him.

Perhaps something in the Making at the Heart of the World was rooted into the Fold as well. Perhaps creation simply echoed from this very spot.

The beginning of time, the creation of the earth, the creation of the Fold.

Perhaps it all centered here in this magnetic pull and out of it’s gravity, Alina and Aleksander were born. Shadow and Light. Magnetic poles arrived to stabilize an otherwise wavering world. Arrived to hold everything and everyone in balance.

More gunfire. “You are still my betrothed, Sun Summoner!” Zlatan was with them, taunting them.

Here’s the little witch who’s been stitching him back together. Aleksander shook his head, willing the words away.

Adrenaline was spiking and Aleksander looked helplessly up at the white Light overhead and brought his hands together to conjure the shadows. He tried to direct them and felt Alina slip a few inches in his grasp, her feet lolling dangerously around the front legs of their horse. A few more inches and she would impede his gait. Would pull them all down.

“Fuck.” He cursed, anxiety mixing into his fear as he clutched Alina by the stomach and pulled her back up.

“The Black General! Did you see the shadows. That’s the General of the Second Army!”

“Are you intending to kidnap my fiancée, General?!” Zlatan shouted behind them.

Stand down, Grisha! The white stone building illuminated beneath the dome as it had not been illuminated in centuries. So bright he could not look at it directly.

Darkling! I know you’re in there!

More gunfire and this time a bullet found his back. He lurched and clutched Alina to him, willing her to hold on in case he lost his grip. Willing her to be hidden completely from their range. Shield her with himself.

The horse was slowing. The graze from before was bleeding profusely now. More than a graze evidently. Blood was spilling heavy down the buckles of the saddle.

“Sasha?” Alina questioned. His hands brushed over the black kefta he had covered her in, bulletproof and safe.

History would not repeat itself.

Another shot. Their horse was trotting and the enemy was upon them, just yards away as the beast came to a stop. As it kneeled.

He and Alina rolled to the side, hidden behind the safety of their horse. The horse who was giving it’s life for them.

Aleksander was growing cold. Shock. Bullets in his back. Bullets in his side.

He looked at her. His Light. His love. Bullet now lodged in his stomach. That was the one that was killing him.

He peaked over the top of the horse. His eyes caught on the anxious West Ravkan General who kept one eye on the wavering Light overhead. One last act. Aleksander could do this for his love. One last act to show her no one would dare hurt her on his watch.

He lifted himself to kneel. His arms sweeping out from his sides and gathered the lingering Shadow—it was waiting—ready to do his bidding. One last dark deed. The thin blade was formed so quickly. Aleksander released it.

The surge of victory at watching the head and shoulders of Zlatan detach from his body filled his chest and warmed him even as he watched Zlatan’s soldiers stagger their horses away from the mess in horror. Those men did not matter.

She was safe. He had done what he should. History would not repeat itself on this night. Aleksander was so tired. He could not reform the Cut if he tried.

“Aleksander?”

Alina looked more awake. He was relieved. Finally, she was bouncing back. Too late for him but early enough for herself. To save herself. Everything would be okay for her. That was what he wanted.

A better world for her. She would lead it.

“Alina?” She looked at him and he realized he had seen this look before. Only, he didn’t remember until now.

“I am having the strangest sense of déjà vu.” He said.

Tears were slipping out of her eyes and he was watching her and he felt certain now that he had seen this all before. A snowy battlefield, flecked with blood.

“What are you doing?” She asked. She tried to pull his face up to hers. A Fjerdan wolf dead beside him and Alina yelling at him on the other.

“What are you doing? Stop. No. You said—not again. Please.” Aleksander watched her eyes close and her face was pinched in pain and it hurt to see her hurt. She had called him weak, weak for leaving her. For dying.

“Don’t cry, solnyshka. You will be safe and that is what matters. You will make the world safe for all of our people.” His hand touched her cheek.

Zlatan’s men had not come close and he could only assume it was for fear that she would rescind the Light or fear he would send another blade of shadow. His mouth tasted like bile and tinged with the metallic taste of blood.

“You have the advantage in here, Alina. The Fold is a place only you can conquer.” He smiled and it was almost whimsical in nature. “It was made from me, after all. You were made to conquer me, were you not, little Star?”

Alina hiccuped a laugh and grimaced at the pain in her weakened body.

“Don’t leave me, Sasha.” She said and he frowned at the sign of defeat in her shoulders. His own eyes filled with tears. He had done this with her before.

“I do not want to, Alinochka.” He whispered and his vision was blackening and only had a few moments to say what he wanted. “You have inspired me, Alina. Made my life good. You will inspire everyone. Do not doubt it.”

Her mouth kissed his and he saw blood on her lips when she pulled away. “Please, Sasha. I cannot go on without you.”

Their tether was sizzling and splitting in his chest, itching to burst forth.

Aleksander was dying. “I’ll find you in the after, Alina. I swear it.”

Her hands were shaking.

They trembled as she touched his face.

His features were slack, no quirked brow, no glare for her. No devious, cunning smirk.

No breathless, open smile, as if he just realized he was caught staring.

Instead she smoothed her quaking hands over his cheeks, pulling him fully into her lap.

The horse at her back took a shuddering breath. It too, was dying. Would be dead in another minute.

Zlatan’s men were there. They were still yelling. That much registered in a distant back room of her brain but then she closed the door.

Everything was muffled.

A tiny pinprick of light illuminated them now. It was small and Alina felt it dying out inside herself, growing dimmer with a smothering loss.

The men moved to stand closer than she would like, their exit from the Fold far too far away to survive on their own.

She did not look at them. They did not move toward her, their fear of the volcra kept their eyes turned up.

It was possible to pull him back. Aleksander. She could bring him back.

She had done it once. Reforged the broken tether and tied his life back to hers. They were Inevitable. One would not exist without the other—not while she was around to ensure it.

He was dying and she was suddenly reaching desperately for their tether. Their lifeline. She forced it to the surface, the fractured electric thing barely connected to their chests. A sliver of light held onto his body.

She wrapped his limp hand around the tether and covered it with her own.

Together they ventured into the abyss. Into the Making at the Heart of the World. That place that belonged to them alone.

Only—

Aleksander was just as lifeless here. His eyes were still closed and she could not feel his breathing.

Alina felt herself beginning to panic. Anxiety and panic and chemicals in her brain lighting her up with a dying surge of energy.

She poured into him all the Light she contained. Drove her beams into his chest over and over and over. Could not explain why she was doing it. It made no sense. She was no healer and maybe her Light would only drive his Shadow farther and farther away from her.

But, it could only be them. It could not be one without the other.

Where Light traveled, Shadow was compelled to follow and she will not allow him to abandon in his duty.

Not now.

Nothing was happening and as her Light surged, the abyss itself began to fade around them.

Quite suddenly, they were back into their pocket of the Fold and those insignificant West Ravkan soldiers were still surrounding them. Crowded close. Terrified that her light would blink out completely and the volcra would descend.

Alina clutched for their tether again. Nothing but the frayed end of rope was returned. Spitting and hissing electricity like a live wire.

Nothing to ground her anymore. Nothing to hold her to the earth. Nothing to balance her out.

Hemorrhaging Light filled up inside of her chest.

Aleksander was gone. She was alone.

In the beginning, Light had joined Darkness. In the end, Darkness had left the Light and all this debating she had done over whether or not to end the world and start over was so silly.

It had never been a choice. A path she could choose to take or not to take.

Alina was alone and the wrongness of it was impossible to overcome. This was not choice. This was Inevitable.

In the end, Light would shine bright enough to blind all of creation. Blind everyone and everything and nothing would be seen but Darkness. Beautiful, glorious Darkness.

In the end it was not a choice that she made.

In the ending, this was as Inevitable as they had been.

Alina stared at the soft, blank face of her love, lost to her in the here and now.

Saint Alina, Sun Summoner and Mother of the West looked up toward the sky.

She opened her mouth and let loose an unholy wail.

White hot Light burned out of her mouth in a beam that ripped through the Shadow around her and overhead. She could not stop the wave of energy anymore than she could stop her own anguished grief.

Aleksander was limp in her lap and it was finally happening. The Sun Summoner was combusting from the inside and the power of the Sun would ravage her body and rend it to shreds.

That did not matter anymore.

Nothing else mattered in this moment.

The heat surged around her and she did not even register the shrieks of Zlatan’s men or the volcra as they burned up in the light that touched them. Gone with very little fanfare in the end.

But then, the entire earth would be gone with little warning and no time to grieve. No time for regret even.

Light poured from her body and scorched the earth and expanded within the Fold farther and farther in a growing radius around her.

Her and her Shadow, alone at the center. The center of the Fold, the center of life itself.

Had he longed for Alina before he created the Fold? Had he known she could exist before he unleashed his Shadow and necessitated a Sun Summoner join him? She could not ask him in this life and so she did not want this life anymore.

At last, she was going to blink out of the world.

Shining out of it with the blinding, fiery fury of a collapsing star, imploding from the inside.

Alina was powerless to stop what had begun.

What force could possibly contain her anymore?

She was so young. She could not keep it in any longer. Never learned to control it properly. Perhaps she was never meant to.

The radius of her light had expanded to the edges of the Fold and where it was erased from the earth, more daylight rushed in and illuminated the scene.

The fire Light was hotter than any she had ever created. Maybe hotter than anything that had ever existed.

Hotter than the fire and combustion of creation itself. Hotter than the Light that burned at the Making at the Heart of the World. She should know, shouldn’t she?

It was past the point of return and the Light would surely swallow everything in its path.

It was beyond anything known. It was beyond the beginning. She would forge a new beginning, though she did not mean to do it.

It was happening now and no one could stop it.

And then—

Something was knitting itself inside her chest.

Born from the fiery core or maybe born from that solitary cool bit of Shadow that she knew lay just beneath her power. That bit of Shadow inside of her that stabilized it all.

Her chest was itching and then Shadow was swirling into her Light.

“Alina.”

His voice reached her and she prayed her thanks to the Saints that he was on the other side of all of this. He was waiting for her.

She had collapsed the world to get to him and it had worked.

Aleksander stirred in her arms, flesh untouched by the ancient power emanating from her being. They were not in the After. He was returned to her on earth. Untouched.

Untouched because Light would never be able to conquer Shadow. Not completely.

Her wailing stopped but she looked at him helpless as she continued to burn. Light beams emanated from her limbs and out of her chest and her gut and every inch of her skin.

Who could stop a star from dying?

Aleksander cupped her face. “It is going to be all right, solnyshka. I know what to do.”

His thumb stroked her cheek, soothing her.

Of course he knew what to do. He had done this very thing four centuries before. Only he had not had Alina to help him. To push back on him and his Shadow.

Aleksander closed his eyes. Shadow denser than she had ever seen—denser than the Fold itself, poured out of him.

Where her star fire was loud with the vibration of radiating energy, his dark matter was deadly silent. It slithered to the very edges of her Light’s reach and encapsulated it.

The world went dark around them. There were no volcra here. No screeches or voices. There was only they two. Shadow and Sun. Dark and Light.

A dying star, shining it’s brightest at it’s imminent collapse and the black hole born from the sheer power of the supernova.

The dark matter swirled and undulated and it was an unyielding master of the Light.

Alina watched it awe as it pulled on every ray that attempted to escape. The Dark curled around it, cooling it, taming it into submission.

Alina gasped for breath, the column of light pouring out of her was gentling at last and cooling off.

“Look at me, little one.”

Her eyes blinked with bleary tears.

“At me.” He said again, coaxing her face.

Her eyes met his steady gaze.

“Breathe with me. We will survive this.”

His voice was soft and unwavering and she burrowed into the assurance it offered.

Her Light gentled and dimmed and then faded entirely at the center of the black hole he created.

Her eyes stared into his. She gave him a small smile which he returned. Both of them captivated in the silent awe of what they created.

Alina laughed. A watery laugh as tears poured down her cheeks and he kissed them over and over.

She sighed, weariness overcoming her and Aleksander soothed her and she let her eyes close, submitting to her exhaustion.

Only then did he call the dark matter back into himself, allowing the natural light of the morning to beat down on them.

They huddled together, centered in the fresh, circular lesion at the heart of the Fold. The buildings of Novokribirsk discernible on one side of him and the army outpost in Kribirsk on the other.

He surveyed the damage, miles wide inside the fold. Wide enough for a small village.

The only casualties were easily explained away. Zlatan and his men no more than dust in the desert. Who would care for the disgraced general and his men? The monsters who would seek to kill the Sainted Sun Summoner?

No one need know how close she came to rending the world apart. No one would know this was an accident—that her powers got away from her.

He could spin this. This—an obviously intentional attempt to banish the Fold—the people would weep and bow at her feet as they were meant to do. The people would not come for her in their fear.

His hands cradled her sleeping form and he allowed himself a smile.

“You cannot escape me now, Sol Koroleva. You watch us. Together we will drag this world into a new age.”

He kissed her cheek, her answering breath somehow, miraculously cool against his skin. He pulled her head close and held her, whispering in her ear.

“When you wake, the world will have been made new.” He stroked a hand over the back of her head, her hair white and gleaming in the morning sun. “You delivered it another miracle." He laughed to himself, tears tracking into her hair from his cheeks, "My cursed, relentless little Saint. Just another miracle.”

[secret-kkh-fics]

Light Casts a Shadow - Chapter 3

Due to this not being posted anywhere else yet, please like but DON’T REBLOG my fics.

Chapter Index  |  First Chapter  |  << Previous Chapter  |  Next Chapter >>

Chapter Summary:

Continuing their conversation, the Darkling and Alina discuss the coup and come to a compromise. Aleksander even shows his softer side as he answers Alina’s questions. But can they truly trust the other?

Author Note:

Yet another chapter I really had fun with. I love playing with the balance of the seriousness, as well as the longing they both feel and where they slip from tension to familiarity and back again. This is far from the end of their conversations, but it wraps up for the night.

Hope you enjoy!

A Fragile Compromise

Alina’s chest tightened, and all the air left her lungs. She was certain that her eyes were bugging out, and her mouth was hanging open. She wasn’t sure how the Darkling could sit there looking as calm and collected as he did after he’d just spoken those words.

Those terrifying, traitorous words.

“Kill the king?!” she repeated breathlessly. “You want to start a coup?!”

“I have spent centuries watching that imbecile and his forebears hunt, kill and mock our people. I have watched them run Ravka into the ground for their own arrogance and pleasure. I have watched them become even more useless and greedy than the one before. You’ve met Prince Vasili. Can you really tell me that he will be a good king?”

Alina’s nose screwed up as she thought of the crown prince. With his weak chin he’d inherited from his father and the lazy eyes that made him seem perpetually sleepy or drunk. The latter being the most likely as he was known to drink as well as whore and race horses, and do little else.

She slowly shook her head. “But… how will you get him to step down. O-or are you planning on killing him too?”

“Vasili is weak,” he said. “There’s a chance he may rebel for his pride, but I’m sure that he’d rather abdicate than lose his life.” She nodded absentmindedly, almost in a daze.

“Don’t they have another son?” she asked. “Genya called him… Sobachka.”

“Ah, yes. Nikolai. He won’t be a problem. The boy is a bastard.”

“A-and you want to rule instead?” Her voice was hesitant. She was speaking treason for crying out loud.

“I wouldn’t say want is the right word. I never wanted to. But in trying to make Ravka a safe haven for Grisha, I have become accustomed to command. I more than have the experience necessary.”

He sat proudly in his chair, exuding confidence in his statement. She wanted to say that he was completely arrogant, but… He had once been an advisor to King Anastas hundreds of years ago. He was still an advisor to the king and had been for hundreds of years. He ruled the Grisha. He really did have a lot of experience. And, she supposed, also the experience of a long life knowing better than the short-sighted kings who couldn’t see beyond their own reign.

Oh, Saints. She was beginning to agree with where he was coming from.

“O-okay,” she said quietly.

“I refuse to be ruled by useless kings and let our people suffer anymore. Do you, Alina?”

She swallowed heavily. He was asking if she was with him… still with him. After all, she’d hesitantly agreed to help him, so long as it was on her own terms. She wasn’t sure how treason and regicide sat with her. Or any murder at all, for that matter. But she was finding that she agreed with the sentiment of everything he said. All the reasons he had for doing the horrible things he planned…

Oh, Saints… She had never believed in them, but she prayed that this wasn’t just manipulation.

No.

No, Feydor was coming later to confirm this was the truth. But then… he’d said it himself. Baghra could manipulate with nothing but the truth. She wouldn’t be all that surprised if he could too. He could tell her anything to get her on his side, say the things she wanted to hear, and through omission, not a word he spoke would be false. And she wouldn’t have a clue since his face gave very little away.

She let out a slow, steady breath.

“No. I don’t.” Her voice was barely a whisper. If the room wasn’t so quiet, he probably wouldn’t have even heard her. The slightest of smiles tugged at the corner of his lip, a smug, hungry one. He knew he had her. He liked that she was choosing this. “I-I don’t know if I like it,” she admitted. “But I can see why. I… agree with your reasons.”

“We can remake the world, Alina,” he told her with renewed fervour. “A world with no war. No need for Grisha to hide. We can change it. Together.”

Her breath shuddered out of her, and she closed her eyes. “Okay,” she agreed. She didn’t see his smile, but she was sure he was. She snapped them open to see his prideful, victorious grin she knew had been there. “But I have some demands.” His brows rose. “I want honesty,” she said first. “I want you to tell me the truth about everything, no manipulations, no tricks, no omissions. I want to know exactly what I’m getting into. And I want you to listen to me when I have concerns. I want you to be willing to compromise on situations and actually discuss plans with me. I’m willing to compromise. Are you, Aleksander?”

He stared at her a long time, and she remained as firm as she could, her chin tilted up defiantly, though her heart was pounding loud enough she was sure he could hear it.

“Those are… acceptable terms, Ms Starkov,” he told her.

Her entire body sagged in relief, the tension flowing out of her. She was in way over her head, and she knew that this wasn’t going to be easy. There was still so much they had to talk about. But she felt like this was the better idea. Saints knew, if she’d listened to Baghra and run, she’d likely be hunted by both the Darkling and all his enemies. She didn’t know if she could fully trust him yet, but she knew she trusted him more than the others. She at least knew he would keep her safe, at least for his own plans, if not for her.

“As long as you are also honest with me, Alina,” he told her. “I want to know what you're thinking. I don’t want you suddenly running off because you don’t agree with something or don’t trust me. If you want to compromise, we will need to talk to each other.”

She nodded. “I’m okay with that,” she told him. “And I-I won’t run off.” She shot him a wry grin. “Besides, where would I go?”

He frowned. “You aren’t trapped here.”

“Aren’t I?” she said, her voice small. “Everyone outside wants to kill me.” She tried to laugh, but it was short and hollow. “Even in here. Didn’t you say there was an assassination attempt?”

He nodded that edge of steel back in his eyes. “Sent by General Zlatan.”

“What happened? How did you catch him?” she asked. She hadn’t noticed any attempt on her life. And that seems like it would have been a noticeable event, unless… A loud gasp left her lips. “Marie!”

Aleksander’s eyes softened, a sadness there as he nodded. “The assassin attacked her and Genya in the fitting room before dinner even started. The Oprichniki heard gunfire and found him attempting to escape. Genya is okay,” he told her. “Her kefta saved her from taking a bullet to the shoulder.”

She noticed that he had neglected to say anything about the girl who had been pretending to be her. “And Marie?” she asked.

He looked down, his face stony. “She didn’t make it,” he said quietly.

His words were like a blow to her stomach. She felt ill, and pain blossomed through her chest, making it hard to breathe. No… No, Marie couldn’t be… It was only that afternoon that they had been in the changing room laughing about how she’d accidentally set Sergei on fire. She still remembered just how embarrassed she’d been that she’d burnt and almost drowned the boy she had a crush on after weeks of psyching herself up to talk to him. Now she never could.

She didn���t make it…

She felt tears begin to run down her cheeks, her throat sore, as if she’d swallowed a sharp lump of ice. Marie had been one of her first friends here. Sure, she’d found her a bit snobbish and a massive gossip, but that came with the territory of being raised at the Little Palace. She’d enjoyed her company, and her gossip had helped her navigate her new life so much when she’d first arrived. Spending time with Marie and Nadia had been one of the few things she truly enjoyed here and-

Oh, Saints… Nadia. Did Nadia know? How would she react to her best friend being murdered? Would she hate her for Marie’s death? After all, the assassin was trying to kill her, not Marie. Marie was innocent. She never should have been there. She wasn’t supposed to die…

“How?” she asked, her voice tight and trembling. “What did he do to her?”

“Alina-”

“No!” she cried, cutting off his soft warning. “He thought she was me. She died protecting me. She died because of me!”

“She died because that filthy otkazat'sya wanted money and didn’t care who he had to kill to get it.” His voice was fierce, seething with hatred.

“How?” she repeated.

He studied her a moment before speaking quietly. “He sliced her throat open. Genya said that her last request was to wear her own face. She’s beside herself because she feels if she’d taken the path of a Healer, she could have done something.” He let out another bone-weary sigh. “It still would have been too late.”

She shook her head, still almost in denial that Marie was gone. It was like she’d understood the words, but her heart was still yet to accept them. Hesitantly, Aleksander finally moved from his chair, approaching her like a frightened animal and knelt before her. He lifted his hand to her face once more, ever so slowly, looking for any trace of uncertainly. When she didn’t so much as flinch away or even look fearful at his approaching touch, he let his hand gently glide across her skin to cup her cheek.

“I am sorry, Alina,” he told her gently. “I understand how you feel. I may have shut myself off from caring about people a long time ago, but I still remember the pain. Each loss never goes away… but it does get easier.”

She sniffed. “How could this ever get easier?” She couldn’t imagine that any death would be easy. Everyone she’d seen die in the last few months still haunted her. Raisa, Alexei, Liev, all the soldiers on the skiff, even the Fjerdan the Darkling had cut in half to stop him from killing her. “And w-why would you stop yourself from caring?” she asked, her brow furrowed. She saw how he looked after his Grisha. Surely he had to care. You couldn’t go forever without caring for people. Heck, she’d tried not to care about the people here, and that had been a massive failure.

“I have lived a very long time, Alina. I have seen too many deaths, either at the hands of others or old age. At a certain point, you become used to it. You accept that everyone around you will die sooner than later.” He sighed deeply. “It’s harder when you like them. You mourn them more.”

She didn’t need him to say it for her to understand what he meant. He tried not to care about anyone to avoid the pain. More tears spilt over her cheeks as she thought about what that could possibly like. To live so long that everyone you cared for died over and over again to the point that you just didn’t care anymore. She imagined it would be similar to having a pet with a much shorter lifespan than your own. That’s how he saw people… Fleeting. She could see it in his eyes, just how ancient he was. An abyss of knowledge and memories in his dark grey eyes that she might one day come to understand.

The Darkling’s thumb brushed her tears away before retreating. This close, she could see that he regretted having to move away, but there was a hesitancy and restraint to his movements. He was being cautious around her, unsure how she would react to him and his touch now that she knew the truth. And honestly, she wasn’t sure either.

“I can’t imagine what that’s like,” she whispered as he withdrew back to his own seat once more. “Knowing that Marie is gone… I barely knew her for a few months, but it hurts so much. I… I can’t imagine not feeling that.”

A sorrowful smile flitted across his lips. “You are kind, Alina. And young. One day you will understand.”

She shook her head, still not able to comprehend it. And he seemed so certain that she would live a long time too. “Have you ever lost someone you couldn’t get over?” she asked, the words out of her mouth before she could think about them. “Someone who’s death you still felt, even though you knew better?”

Aleksander started at her question, not expecting it. For a moment, he became lost in thought, staring blankly at a spot before him. “I had a wife once…,” he told her. “A long time ago.”

With a flick of his wrist, shadow swarmed up from the ground beside him in a pillar and took the form of a woman. Alina blinked in surprise, marvelling at what she was seeing. Before her stood the shadowy form of a woman in perfect detail. She couldn’t distinguish colours or strands of hair, but she could see the emotion on her face. She had no idea that Aleksander could do this.

“Her name was Luda,” he murmured. “And I loved her with everything I had, but I knew that our time was short. I knew that from the start. A few centuries of watching everyone around me die had already taught me better. Yet with her, I found I couldn’t help it… Being Grisha extends your life. And the more powerful Grisha, the longer that life. But most only live a few decades longer than any otkazat'sya. At best, some live to see a decade or so more than a hundred years. And she hoped to find a way to extend that… but even then, I knew she could never be with me as long as she hoped. That her wish for a few hundred years was little more than a drop in a bucket to me.” He stared at her shadowy form for a moment, his hand reaching up as if to caress her cheek before falling back.

“Despite that knowledge, she was still the light in my life, my anchor. I decided I would at least take what time with her that I could. She was a Healer. And together, we found and trained young Grisha, much as we’re still doing here. But back then, all we had was a village - just a small village with houses and fields. No walls. No protection. Only an old church nearby if refuge was needed. When I confronted the King, asking for our kind to be left alone, his first target was the village. As I escaped his grasp, all of the men, women and children that I had taught and protected were slaughtered for no reason at all. My mother managed to get many of them to the church…”

“Did she… she wasn’t amongst the ones at the church, was she?” she asked gently.

“No…” his eyes flicked up to her. “But not because she was killed there. She knew that I would return to our home, so she went there instead. Maybe if she hadn’t, if she had gone to the church, she might have lived… But she wanted to protect me.”

With a wave of his hand, the woman dissipated, and an entire scene sprawled before her. There were now many figures around the room. Most of them had bows drawn on the central figure. His hair was slightly longer and partially done up, and his clothing style was different - older, but it was unmistakably Aleksander. He stood with his arms stretched out behind him, a man moving behind him with strange cuffs held apart by a short post. He looked desperate, something she’d never seen before. And before him, another solder held Luda; a knife pressed to her side. She watched as the shadows began to move. The man behind the shadowy Darkling cuffed his hands and kicked his legs out, so he fell to his knees. She couldn’t hear the words they spoke, but she could see the raw emotion on his face, even through the shadowy distortion. She watched as he begged, desperate and terrified. To no avail as the other solder plunged his dagger into the woman, and she crumpled to the ground. The shadowy form of Aleksander let out a silent, agonised cry.

“They said that their only order was to return with me alive…” his voice, though quiet, cut through the silence that had fallen, making her jump slightly and her eyes snap back to the real man before her. “That they didn’t need her. Mother was right, in the end. She was just mortal… and mortals die.”

It was then that she heard it. He had been so vulnerable with her in these moments, truly letting his guard down for her to see. And she heard it in his voice. Not pain, not sorrow or loss… but the resignation of a lonely man. Hopelessness. A man who was so desperately alone, he had accepted that pain and accepted that he would be lonely forever.

She reached out and placed her hand on his once more. “I’m sorry,” she said.

He flicked her a sad smile. “It was many years ago. Five hundred years is more than enough to dull the sorrow.”

“Was that… was that before you created the Fold?” she asked, pure curiosity getting to her now.

He nodded. “Immediately before. She was still alive when I broke free and killed the King’s men. I took her to the church, hoping there was a healer there. None of them had survived, and she passed away only moments later.” He looked at his empty glass, twisting it in the light. “My mother made me realise that we needed an army of our own to protect us. But back then, Grisha were makers and fixers, not fighters. So, I began looking through Morozova’s journals. I wanted to use Merzost to turn the King’s army into my own. They found us not long after, and I walked out to confront them.” He waved his hand once more, the shadowy figures that had faded away rose up once more, an entire battalion stood around the room while the shadowy Darkling stood before them, his arms out initially in surrender, but then shadows began to lick off his form as he began to speak. “I lost control…”

She watched as the shadows coming off the figure his past self suddenly exploded, rushing out behind him and expanding outwards, encasing the room entirely in darkness. Before her vision was taken by the shadows, she saw the look on the memory’s face. His expression was one of agony, as though the shadows spewing out his back were pulling his very soul with them.

With this much darkness surrounding her, she instinctually reacted, sunlight unfurling off her in waves and chasing the shadows back. When she was able to see the Darkling again, she could see that look on his face once more, the one that was almost awe. Like this was something he’d longed for his entire life. She wondered, for someone who was so entwined in shadows and darkness… He loved the sunlight.

Trying to hide her answering smile at the expression, Alina suddenly realised a discrepancy in the stories she’d been told. Aleksander said that he was telling her the truth, and if he was, then Baghra had definitely lied.

“Your mother said you did it on purpose,” she told him, half teasing.

“Of course she did,” he huffed.

“Mmm, she said you made it to be a weapon.”

“Well, I’ve certainly made plans for that since, but I definitely had no intentions of tearing the entire country in half at the time. I didn’t even think I was powerful enough to do such a thing, and I am very aware of the power I hold.” He smirked at her, and she shook her head, hiding her smile once more. “What other lies did my mother say?”

Alina’s nose scrunched as she tried to think back to what Baghra had told her. It had been a long night, and the details of the conversation were fading away. “Um… Oh! Did you really take a nobleman’s name?”

“Yes, at her suggestion, of course.”

“Right.” She frowned. Baghra had made it sound like it was all his idea. “I…”

“Yes?” His brows rose inquiringly.

“I always thought that mothers were supposed to be kind and love you unconditionally,” she said. It was the dream. The thing that all the children at the orphanage longed for. A part of her knew it wasn’t true, having heard whispers from children whose parents had been less than loving. But it was the ideal that they all wished they had. She had no memory of her mother, only that she had looked like her. “I thought that they were supposed to support their children, not…” She shrugged as she tried to think of the words. “Sabotage them and make them sound worse than they are.”

“Most parents, yes, but Baghra is not like other mothers. She’s too old and too shrewd. She selected my father purely for the sake of offspring and nothing else. And though we care for each other in our own way, it’s not what most would consider normal. We have to consider the times we’re in and the consequences of the years ahead.”

Alina nodded, pretending she understood. “So, not really the kind to show affection, then?”

Aleksander snorted. “Not with Baghra, no. You’ve been to her lessons. Believe me when I say she showed me as much love, if not less. But, as always, she taught me well.”

“What to lie, manipulate and look at people like chess pieces?”

He smirked. “You clearly have a high opinion of my mother,” he said sarcastically. “But yes, she taught me that as well… amongst other things.”

She shuddered, seeing the look in his eye. She got the impression that ‘other things’ were less than pleasant. And considering who he was, how long he’d been alive, what he could do…

A frown played at her lips as she considered just what a young Aleksander must have been through, being a Shadow Summoner in a world where Grisha were constantly hunted, with only a sharp mother who cared more for skill and thinking than affection. “It must have been hard,” she realised aloud.

“You get used to it quickly enough.” He took a sip of kvas, and she realised she’d entirely missed him pouring himself a new glass. It was his third, and she was only halfway through her own. Quickly, she threw the last of hers back, screwing up her face at the sudden rush of the taste she only just tolerated. When she looked back, she saw the Darkling barely suppressing a laugh. “We can get something else to drink next time.”

Her heart thrilled at his words. Next time. As if this would be something they would be doing often. And that both delighted and disturbed her. “I liked the champagne they served tonight. That was nice.”

This time, Aleksander’s laugh was hearty, the amusement in his eyes unrestrained. “You have expensive taste, Miss Starkov.” She couldn’t help but blush at the statement.

“Well, it’s the champagnes fault for costing more than kvas,” she muttered, just making him laugh more.

“Indeed. Though, I can assure you that this particular bottle of kvas was not cheap.” She smiled at him, unable to stop herself from reacting to his joy, but it was interrupted by a large yawn. “I should let you return to your rooms. You must be exhausted.”

“I think I could sleep for a week,” she told him. Just then, her stomach let out a loud rumble of protest. “And eat… We missed the dinner.”

“I should have ordered some food.” His brow furrowed, annoyed at himself for his lack of thinking. “I’ll get something sent to your rooms. Breakfast is better than nothing. But first, I’ll summon Fedyor.”

Alina nodded, having entirely forgotten by now that the Heartrender was supposed to join them after their talk to confirm everything. But it was his comment about breakfast that tripped her up the most. It made her glance towards the windows, and she was startled to realise that she could see the sun beginning to rise over the landscape, soft purple hues beginning to lighten the sky. Outside, a couple of birds began their morning call.

Oh… They had talked all night.

As she stared out the window, the Darkling left the room and opened the door of the war room, where an Oprichniki was stationed nearby and called them over, giving them some orders in hushed tones before closing the door and returning to her.

“It’s dawn,” she pointed out. “Isn’t it a little mean waking him up this early? After the excitement of last night, I’d imagine he’d want to sleep in and cuddle with Ivan.”

“I’d imagine that with the excitement of last night, Fedyor, Ivan, and many others will still be awake.” There was a bitterness to his voice that left no room to take his meaning any other way. He seemed to suddenly pause as if he’d just remembered something. “Many of them are likely searching for you. I was so wrapped up in our conversation I forgot to inform anyone you’d been found. Still, they will be looking for the three criminals who tried to kidnap you, and I want them found.”

With a start, she remembered the rushed, worried words he’d spoken to her when she was still drowsy from sleep. That there had been a kidnapping as well as an assassination attempt.

She blew out a gust of air that made the loose strands of her hair fly up. “It was all happening last night, wasn’t it?”

He smirked. “Yes, a very eventful night.”

“We should hold more lavish parties for murder and intrigue.” She smiled at him teasingly.

Aleksander groaned. “I don’t think that the coffers or my sanity could handle it. You’ll be lucky if you’re not walking around with a full armed escort for the rest of your life.”

She pulled a face at that. “Nah-uh. No, thank you.”

“I will be assigning you at least one guard full time for the foreseeable future,” he informed her sternly. “After the events of tonight, it would be foolish and unseemly not to. The King will expect to have,” his lip suddenly curled in disgust, “his most valuable asset under protection after such monumental slips in security.” He shook his head. “Hundreds of years, and we’ve never had one security breach. Whoever those rogues were, at least one of them must be incredibly clever… yet oh so stupid to attempt such a thing.”

Before either of them could say any more, before Alina could protest the idea of having someone following her around everywhere, there was a knock at the door.

“Who is it?” he called.

“Fedyor, moi Soverenyi,” came the muffled reply. Alina’s brows rose. That was quick. She’d assumed that if they were searching the palace, it would have been longer to hunt him down.

“Enter.” There was a moment’s hesitation before the door opened, and the familiar, happy face of Fedyor slipped inside. Though, he looked tired and less jovial than normal.

“Ah, Fedyor, thank you,” the Darkling said.

As Fedyor approached, he caught sight of Alina, and relief and joy were stark on his face once more. “Alina!” he said happily. “Thank the Saints. You are safe and well!” Alina shot him a small smile.

“Yes. In my relief, I quite forgot to inform anyone that Ms Starkov has been found. If you could spread the word when you leave, that will be most appreciated.”

“Yes, General.” He nodded. “I was actually on my way to find you, Sir. We have news.”

“Of?”

“Nina Zenik, Sir.”

Alexander sat up a little straighter. “Speak.”

“She was abducted by Fjerdans. Put on a ship with other Grisha captives, bound for the Ice Court.”

“Someone must have given her up.” He considered this for a moment. “Zlatan?”

“Well, they have a witch hunter in their ranks. Matthias Helvar. He has been clever in tracking Grisha. I want him dead as much as I want her back alive.”

“Where are they now?”

“They hit a storm front. We lost track of the ship after that.”

Aleksander’s face hardened. “Send a team to the Western Coast. They will go as far North as they can, Arkesk if they can make it. Get them to bring back any Grisha they find, and barring that… bring me one of theirs.”

“Yes, General. Ivan and I won’t fail you.”

“I have no doubt, but I only need you to form a team, Fedyor. I will be in need of yours and Ivan’s assistance in the days to come for a hunt or two of my own.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“W-who’s Nina?” Alina asked, unsure if he’d even tell her.

“One of my spies,” he informed her. “I had sent her to investigate a man going by ‘the Conductor’, who was smuggling Grisha out of Ravka and into the West. Through the Fold by some unknown means. The same man who made an attempt on your life, it seems. Paid out by General Zlatan.”

Alina closed her eyes. She didn’t need to know why someone would try and kill her. Her powers gave people hope. That was enough. And from what she’d heard of General Zlatan, the Fold being torn down would go against his campaign to secede. Instead, another thing stuck in her mind. Something that she’d admittedly wished she could have done back when she first arrived. Something she’d even asked about.

“He’s smuggling Grisha away from here?”

“He was,” he answered darkly. Alina shuddered and tried not to think about it.

“But why?”

“That’s one of the things Nina was trying to find out. Many parents are known to take their children and flee before they can be brought to safety. Often leading them to cross over the borders and directly into trouble.”

“Oh.” Her brow furrowed as she wondered why parents would flee with their children if it meant they wound up in danger. Something about it didn’t sit right with her.

“We will do all we can to get Nina back. And, with luck, apprehend this… Matthias Halvar,” the Darkling said. “But now, for what I called you here for, Fedyor. I have told Alina some things that she doesn’t quite believe. Normally, I would have called Ivan to settle this, but she doesn’t trust your husband not to side with me, no matter what the truth is.”

“Yes, that sounds like something that Ivan would do.”

“See!” she insisted. Feydor shot her a wink.

“So, am I to tell her the truth or what you want?” he asked teasingly.

“Fedyor!” she admonished playfully, earning a cheeky grin in return.

The Darkling rolled his eyes. “The truth, please, Fedyor.”

“Yes, General.” His grin was still wide as he dipped his head.

Aleksander turned back to face her, holding her eye in earnest. “Alina, I swear that everything I have told you this night has been honest and true. Every word I have spoken has been the truth. And I will do my best to keep telling you the truth, and to honour our agreement, so long as you do so as well.”

The intensity in his eyes was enough to take her breath away, and Alina swallowed before turning to look at Fedyor with wide eyes. His eyes looked as wide as hers probably did, though unaware of the context, he was surprised by the General’s words.

He turned to her and nodded. “He is telling the truth.”

A relieved breath rushed out of her, and her body sagged as if letting go of tension she didn’t even know she was holding. This entire night had been… overwhelming. But it was at least a relief to know that Aleksander had been speaking the truth. Of course, that didn’t mean that he hadn’t neglected to tell her things. She wasn’t naïve enough to believe he hadn’t, but she decided to let it be, hoping she could pry other truths from him later. She looked back up to him with a slight smile.

“See,” he said, parroting her earlier jest back at her. Her smile grew. “Thank you, Feydor.”

“You’re welcome, General.” He gave him a slight bow before waiting to be dismissed. But instead, the Darkling just looked him up and down before his eyes flitted back to Alina.

“Oh, and Feydor. One more thing.” The Heartrender stood to attention once more, awaiting his orders. “Starting from now, you are assigned to Alina as her personal Heartrender.” Both Fedyor and Alina wore twin expressions of shock, but Aleksander hardly seemed to notice. “Alina has stated that you are someone here that she trusts above others. I can think of no one better to protect and serve our Sun Summoner.”

“I am honoured, moi Soverenyi,” he said, bowing low. “Sankta Alina.” He bowed to her as well, and she shot him a tight smile, trying to hide her grimace about being called a saint. Seeing everyone bow to her during her demonstration had been thrilling, but she still wasn’t sure how she felt about it, especially when most Saint’s stories ended in a grisly death. “I am glad to see that you are well. I will inform the others of this.”

“Please do,” the Darkling told him. “Make sure you assemble the best teams you can to hunt down Nina and a replacement team for the three Ketterdam criminals. And send them out this morning. I want them all found. We must have the best head start we can. Then and Ivan are to rest. I need the two of you at your best for what’s to come.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good. Dismissed.”

Fedyor bowed once more before departing, leaving the two of them alone once more. Silence fell over them, so thick it was almost a tangible thing. Alina’s eyes were stuck on the door her friend had left through, but she could feel the Darkling’s eyes on her, studying her.

She took a deep breath. “Thank you,” she said quietly.

Aleksander pushed himself from his chair, looking down at her. “This is not a trust I give easily, Alina,” he told her. “In fact, for rather obvious reasons, I never trust anyone.”

“I don’t know if I can trust you either.”

He smirked wryly at her, holding his hand out to help her to her feet. “Smart. But, I trust that you can at least keep what you know a secret.”

She nodded in reply as she was drawn up, now looking up at him, nearly chest to chest. “Of course.”

“Thank you.” He drew closer to her as if pulled by a string, and for a moment, she thought that he might kiss her, but he quickly reeled back, walking towards the door. “We should get you to your room,” he said quickly. “I’ll have an Oprichniki escort you.”

She groaned. “Do I have to?”

“Someone tried to murder you tonight, and three others tried to kidnap you, and you’re arguing security?” He arched an eyebrow at her. He led her out of the Parlor and to the door out of his chambers.

“I just want to stumble back into my room, take off this stupid kefta, maybe eat something and sleep. Preferably without seeing anyone on the way.” She was grumbling like a petulant child, and she knew it. It made him smirk in amusement, which only made her grumble more.

He rolled his eyes at her. “I suppose I can allow this one trip. It is only just down the hall, after all. The Palace has been thoroughly swept, especially your room. There are guards outside, and with any luck, some servants should have delivered you some breakfast by now. And, come tomorrow, Fedyor will be on your detail, no exceptions.”

“Yes, Sir,” she joked.

“None of that,” he told her. There was no mirth or teasing in his voice, completely serious as he loomed over her. “You are the only one here who is my match and equal. You are the Sun Summoner, and after tonight, everyone will treat you with the respect and deference you are owed.” Alina’s breath caught in her throat as she stared up into his coal back eyes. All she could do was nod in response. “Good night, Alina,” he murmured.

“Good night, Aleksander.”

Her response was barely a breath. And with one last look into his ancient eyes, she slipped out the door into the corridor, her heart pounding like she’d spent the night in the training grounds.

She couldn’t deny that despite the danger and the truths she now knew, she longed for the terrible and ancient man on the other side of the door. She could scarcely believe what she’d heard and what she’d agreed to do…

What the fuck had she gotten herself into?

Author Note:

I fully believe that with the time he’s had to practice, the Darkling can do way more with his shadows than what we see. I love the idea that he can manipulate them to take on different shapes and forms or making them solid (similar to how he does with the Cut but with other methods), like creating bonds.

Also, I fully believe that Show!Baghra is more manipulative and toxic than she was in the books (especially if you combine the two versions). You can’t convince me otherwise.

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[whoslaurapalmer]

shadow and bone 5-8 

okay first   -you know the more i think about it the more pissed i am that botkin only did show up for a hot second -i hope he shows up more if there's another season but?????? what a MISSED opportunity with alina!!!!! like!!!!!!!!!!! i can't believe it honestly  -not ONLY is there more of him in the book!! but it would've been great with alina being shu!!!!  -they really didn't think that through, did they. botkin is RIGHT THERE and they missed him  -take out nina and put in botkin!! or take out all the crows and give them the justice they deserve in their own season and put in botkin!!!! (the books, as enjoyable as they were to read, still suffer so much in terms of pacing and not having a super tight plot and the show should’ve taken advantage of the opportunity to make changes to make it better and 90% of the time the show just finds a way to drop the ball!!!!!!!!!!!!) 

-also i don't remember what article i read this in, if it was the slate one or a different one, about alina deserving a teacher who doesn't, know you, beat her with a stick  -like, as usual! ON THE ONE HAND baghra is allowed to be a character that's not a good person. characters are allowed to not be good people. that's fine. i like baghra!  -on the other hand..............................................don't smack your students nobody learns from being smacked around 

i was really excited to see alina not take the path baghra told her to -- because again i had been disappointed to see the show not make any major changes to make the plot better (crows interacting with alina doesn’t count bc as people have rightly pointed out, the crows plotline really doesn’t matter here it’s just them having a good time and filling in space) so to see alina do something different and actually show a lot of agency and be competent on her own was great!!!! wish it hadn’t taken like five episodes to get there, though!!!! i know a lot of it is because she’s completely out of her element in the little palace but that’s a big complaint about alina across the board, that she doesn’t have the most distinct personality, and to see her thinking for herself and especially thinking outside of mal was nice also her getting in the carriage the crows are stealing was the funniest thing  oh but her setting the maps on fire in episode one does not count, because that was completely unnecessary, there was no reason to not just have all the cartographers go in the first place like in the book. 

-i was kind of rooting for arken, because he was just enjoyable with the crows, and because i just completely forgot about kaz seeing him meeting zlatan, but good for kaz for being on top of that, that’s my boy 

-that’s a shame about marie  -but uhhhhhhhhh -“i don’t want to die with the wrong face on” i get what she’s saying but i thought that was. weird 

in the continuing ‘nina and alina have similar things happening and i still don’t know what to make of it????????????’ thoughts, nina and matthias trying to keep warm / alina and mal trying to keep warm, matthias being afraid of nina / mal not being afraid of alina i love nina a lot but i am just not invested in nina here  oh and nina was spying for the darkling??? i don’t have the energy to think about if that tracks for nina’s character  also i never thought about how kind of uncomfortable all her lewd lines are, not because matthias is uncomfortable, but because nina comes off sounding less teasing or flirty and more kind of pushy and creepy  they’ve only known each other for............how long  what is even time here 

-it’s not that baghra isn’t threatening but........no it’s that baghra wasn’t threatening  -her talking to the darkling was like. it was weird? there should be so much weight and power in them talking to each other 

-i did like that she said to alina that the darkling had a lot of practice manipulating naive girls cause, yeah girl that’s what it was -you thought you decided to kiss him yourself???? you think he was really surprised??????? nnnnnnnnnnnnnno  -the thing is i have like very little sympathy for the darkling. very little. i get the allure, everybody who was ever a teenager gets the allure of the dark emo boy wearing all black with the tortured past, i’ve been there!!! i did my time!!!!!!  -i am still doing my time. we’ve all seen kaz.  -and yes i suppose ben barnes is. good-looking. -look it’s the beard. i just hate that beard. -and the darkling and alina are, not an interesting pair, but interesting halves  -two people with completely opposite powers, one who knows how to use them and has for centuries and the other who just discovered them, both the exact match for the other in terms of dark/light and scope of ability and lifespan, who are looking for a place of belonging but also a place of power  -and then he puts a collar on her to use her as his own personal weapon and their possible existence on even playing ground stops, cementing the gap in power dynamics that has been there from the start in their relationship, and always would be, and confirming him as manipulative power-hungry jackass #1 who doesn’t care about grisha or ravka but himself  -and he deserves what he gets in the end. (both times, even!!!!)  -so much so that the demon in the wood is included in the back of ruin and rising and when i got to it i was like ‘okay but the dude’s dead now so i don’t care about this sudden backstory i am being given’ and i did not read it. to this day. i have not. 

-also the darkling kisses alina like he’s physically attacking her and you know what??? that tracks, i guess 

-i love the heartbeat in the scenes with a heartrender!!! i think that was a nice touch.  -i also love all the little hints about jesper being grisha 

-i don’t remember much about zoya in the trilogy since most recently i read rule of wolves but i do not recall zoya sleeping around with everybody and i don’t like it  -zoya’s very proud but??? even there she kind of kept to herself, didn’t she  -she literally has a million better things to be doing than fucking everybody  -and they just fling zoya’s aunt out there???? sure fine whatever  -we get zero good zoya content and then you just give that  -and now she and alina are friends enough for her to say a witty pithy hero statement?????????  -uggggg 

-we saw luda for a hot second so i do not care about her!!!!!  -must it always be For The Death Of A Woman 

-“most grisha aren’t fighters. they fix things, they make things.” wow i love that line a whole lot 

-inej is just gonna sew the wound herself!!!! a legend!!!!!!  -and then inej just STABBING THE DARKLING and kaz BONKING A VOLCRA ON THE HEAD -i love them with my whole stupid heart i love them  -like.......something something the best characters in this bright stunning magic world are the non-magical characters vibing on an entirely different plotline  - ~wring magic out of the ordinary~ 

-it is necessary to have the bones under alina’s skin. no  -noooooooooooooooooooo -noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!! 

-mal saying “you’ll wish you killed me here!” oh boy yeah he will!!!!! also, you tell him, mal 

-milo coming in HOT  -goat ex machina 

-“telling you half a story is not the same as lying” what are you, a child???? -man alina fucking slam dunks him in the tent! good for her. 

-i love snarky characters but again. jesper does it ALL THE TIME that his lines start to sound repetitive or he’s just doing snarky plot nutshelling 

-“remember who’s driving” WHAT ARE YOU, A CHILD?????? -in the last two episodes specifically i was like ‘WHAT is with this dialogue???’

-alina: /reaching for mal on the skiff  me: are you gonna. do the hint  me: oh well it’s fine if you don’t, alina deserves that 

-actually, i would kill for The New Crew of kaz, inej, jesper, alina, mal, and zoya -what a team..........what a time......... me: kaz is gonna say the thing he’s gonna say it kaz: the deal is the deal me: /fingerguns at the tv 

-oh re: is kaz too soft here  -................................actually yeah, maybe a little 

-with kaz having the hair pin instead of alina and mal selling the pin(s) for money, how will the darkling find alina? -not necessarily a BAD thing. just a thought 

-overall, did i like it??????? i don’t know!! some things were enjoyable!! sure failed at A WHOLE FUCKING LOT, THOUGH  -i do know i’m gonna reread six of crows, though 

-i just had a terrible thought. if we get a season 2 and they do the sea whip there's gonna be so many dawn treader jokes, aren't there. 

[mothsandbutterflies13]

Shadow and Bone Pt 2

The General/The Darkling/Aleksander Morozova: I like this character. Like, a lot. It helps that he's the epitome of "Tall, Dark, and Handsome" (TDH) but Aleksander Morozozva, as a person, is so interesting. There are so many things I'd like to pick his brain on; human nature, court politics, the war with Fjerda and Shu Han, Zlatan and his independence movement, etc. As a character, I wish they had injected some more darkness into him. I get it, the show is supposed to be marketed towards a younger audience, so it's not logical to have your tall, dark heartthrob be a literal jackass with no redeemable points. I applaud the show for giving him a more human side to him, but I also wish they would be clear on which couple is endgame. B/c if Darklina is endgame, I don't think you're doing enough to sell it. And if it's not, then you're doing waaaaay too much to sell it.

Alina Starkov: I love the actress. She seems so funny and kind. Her biracial status is just an added bonus. As a character, though… let's just say, Alina might not be a Mary Sue, but she's not not one either. Let me explain. I can't say I was thrilled to hear Alina Starkov was written as biracial in the show. It just felt like they were trying to score diversity points in being able to cast Jessie Mei Li as the female lead in a major TV production. I mean, in the context of the universe of Shadow and Bone, it was fine. I guess. But we really only get one piece of dialogue wherein Alina is discriminated against by the army camp cook for her different looks (which, if we're talking different looks, Mal looks waaaay more Shu Han than Alina, but that's just my opinion) and the confrontation with the tsarista and the maid's comment about changing her eyes, but that was about it. And Botkin, who looks and sounds like a Shu Han, NEVER comments on her appearance. For some people, that's great, it means he doesn't see her any different than anyone else. However, in a country where Ravkans sometimes openly discriminate against anyone that looks Shu Han (not Fjerdan cuz they look way too similar to their southern neighbors🙄🙄), you'd think Botkin would give Alina some advice or, I don't know, impart some knowledge about their shared cultural heritage!? If you're going to portray a character as a different race than she was (implied) in the books, AND make a big deal out of it, I should think you'd at least TRY and highlight why this change was necessary or important. But, if you're not going to do that, then please don't emphasize that particular fact. Just treat her like you would if she were of Caucasian descent.

And don't give me the same-old speel about representation. As an American-born Chinese, I grew up in a predominantly white town where I only had a few classmates who looked like me. I know what it means to be discriminated against or never seeing someone who looked like me on TV or in movies. I don't like watching the animated Mulan movie because she was a Chinese princess amongst a sea of white princesses. I like her because she doesn't take shit from anyone, not even her commanding officer. However, I identified the most with Belle because we were both bookworms and saw the beauty in the written word.

As for her powers… Like I said above, I really want to see what she could do with them. Light + physics = pretty OP.

Ok, so on to some of my biggest gripes with Alina.

One. She's angry that Aleksander has kept her letters from Mal and Mal's letters from her, leading her to believe that Mal doesn't care about her. As a way to woo the heart of possibly the only girl who'll ever be your equal, definitely not the best move. But as a general in charge of an army of grisha who now has finally found the one person who could make all his wishes come true, a necessary evil. True, Aleksander is half a millennia old, you'd think he'd have learned some patience by now. Alternatively, he could just be stubborn and set in his ways because no one has been able to challenge him and he hasn't had to stop and think about the consequences of his actions in terms of the individuals it will affect in a long time. However, in terms of what he could've done (send Mal on some impossible mission that was 100% going to get him killed) (Ok, yes, so the hunt for Morozova's stag probably should've been that, but we're not here to talk about what-ifs), confiscating their letters to each other was practically not even in the top 100. So, I honestly don't get why she seemed to make a mountain out of a mole hill.

Two. Aleksander didn't disclose that he was the Black Heretic and that he was planning to get the stag to be able to control Alina and her powers. I mean… would youdivulge your deepest, darkest secret to someone you just met not even a week before? Especially when it's about something as big as this. No? Point made. As to his plans for the amplifier, it's not like he could've known what the Sun Summoner was going to be like. And this goes back to my point before, that he can't see the trees for the forest because he's used to thinking in big-picture terms and what's best for the grisha as a whole, not the individual person. If you can't predict what this nebulous person is going to be like, you might as well hold all the control in your hands so as not to leave anything up to chance. Maybe Alina just can't see the forest for the trees.

Three. The above points are why (probably, most likely) why she chose Mal over Aleksander in the finale. Oh my God, I don't even know where to start. First of all, I have it on good authority (from someone who's read the books) that Alina is never Mal's first choice (and for that rant, I suggest you read the next point below before coming back to this one) but she still chooses him. When there's a perfectly good, emotionally-available, TDH man who accepts you, boils and all, standing. RIGHT. THERE. Second, this teaches young girls a bad precedent (granted, book!Darkling was a jackass so maybe not him). Why hang onto a guy who's made it clear to you, through his actions, that he'll never see you as his #1? Why waste your time, money, affections for someone like him? He doesn't deserve it and he CERTAINLY doesn't deserve you! You should only be with someone who treats you like a princess, who makes it clear to you that you have been, are, and always will be his #1. (I'm assuming the other person is male, but you don't have to read it like that. Don't @ me.) Trust me, Zhi Hua chasing after Yong Qi in HZIII scared me enough as a child and I have no desire to go through something like that in real life.

Mal: "This is why I have such a problem with Malina as endgame! If they were endgame, why is Mal always treating her like a second choice and Alina always content with the scraps he throws at her?! At least, with Aleksander, Alina was, is, and always will be his first choice and he makes it ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY clear he thinks the world of her! I thought Aleksander was the kind of guy we were taught to grab and hold on to, not some childhood bestie who always puts you on the backburner!" That's all I have to say for this one.

Zoya: I would have liked to see some complexity in this character, other than the whole "unrequited love for the Darkling". Granted, I only saw a quarter of the show, so I don't know about later episodes.

As for the Crows, I wish I had seen more complexity and character backstory from Kaz. Jesper is amazing but, my favorite has to be Inej because she's fulfilling all my Assassin dreams!

My sister claims I'm expecting too much out of a TV show that is based on a YA fantasy novel series, and maybe I am. I just want to see a well-made fantasy TV series or movie with a great cast that has amazing acting chops, beautiful set pieces, intricate costuming, and a well-written plotline with a dash of sarcasm and wit. Is that really so hard to ask for?

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Honestly agreeing Sasha collaring Alina was wrong doesn’t mean we supper the abrís views of their relationship. I think it’s more of a grey area because you have the personal relationship that’s been developing between them and how that’s a betrayal of trust on his part and the bigger picture which is the Grisha’s lives another general would probably not hesitate to do what Aleksander did or alternatively kill her as we saw with Zlatan and his army but they wouldn’t be in love with Alina. I think the show made a much better job showing Alina feeling betrayed ( I think we’re forgetting that she initially agreed to the collard being put on her it’s him taking control of her powers the way he did is what broke that trust)because we saw her genuinely falling for and being ready to have a relationship with hin unlike the books where ut felt like she was attracted towards him and that bothered her because she thought the worst of him from the very beggining so when he collars her you don’t really feel the impact the way you’re supposed to. I think it’s very much a “heart in conflict with itself”thing which for example an author GRRM loves. I think he would love a character like Aleksander and the potential of his relationship with Alina.

Yeah I think most darklinas will say that Aleks was wrong when it came to collaring Alina and taking control of her powers but that doesn't mean that every aspect of their relationship is bad or toxic or unhealthy. Also I think there is this consensus amongst antis (I could be wrong but this is the sense that I get) that Alina was clueless about what having the collar put on would entail and they seem to focus more on the physical change to her body that fusing the collar to her collarbone had. I think everyone felt very uncomfortable watching that scene as you were supposed to. But as many darklinas have pointed out, myself included, Alina knew what putting the collar on would entail. Whilst learning about amplifiers she learned that they worked by fusing the bones of the amplifiers to yourself. She has been around other grisha that have bones fused to them, I mean in that collar scene Ivan is standing right behind her and you can clearly see the bear claw fused into his hand, this is someone who she has spent plenty of time with at the little palace so she knew that the collar would be fused to her. If she had captured the stag herself like she originally intended she would have fused them to herself. So its not the act of being collared that hurts and upsets Alina, after all as has been pointed out and discussed within the darklina fandom before, Alina does actually agree to have the collar put on, no its the betrayal of trust that causes Alina the pain. She trusted Aleks in that moment even after everything Baghra had told her and then her stole her power.

I also agree that I think the darklina fandom recognise that there is a bigger picture and recognise that Aleks isn't doing this just because he's mr mc'evil and the villain who just does evil things because he can, like some would like the audience to believe. He's a much more complex character than that, well in the show at least. The thing that makes him such an interesting, and lets be honest, popular character is because his motives are relatable and sympathetic. What he does to Alina is awful and its heartbreaking to watch but at the same time you can understand that he is doing this because he really does believe that its the only way he can save the grisha.

I also agree with your point about the same scene in the books and how it doesn't have the same impact because darklina's relationship wasn't really built up properly in the books. I also find it laughable when antis make the argument that the darkling manipulated Alina into having feelings for him and trusting him because she never really does trust him in the books. Which I think is why alot of people totally missed the authors intended message of older powerful guy manipulates younger girl by making her fall in love with him. Because its not actually backed up by the text, Alina is very mistrustful of the darkling from the beginning even when she doesn't really have cause to be and as for falling in love with him whilst she clearly has an attraction to him at best she is confused by her feelings but I never got the sense that she was in danger of falling into his trap which kind of made that message fall flat. However in the show darklina had a deep emotional connection to each other. There were genuine feelings from both of them and it did look like they were at least beginning to fall in love with each other and planned to have a future together. This made that collar scene have that much more of an impact and is why it was such a punch in the gut because you have to watch that trust they had built up between them over the season get torn to pieces. The result as you said is a conflict of the heart for both of them. Even after he collars her, even after Novokribirsk you can see that Alina still has conflicting feelings for Aleks and I'm sorry to anyone who disagrees but to me this makes for much more entertaining tv than just this guy is the bad guy and nobody cares about him and he is just a 2d villain who does bad stuff. The fact that the heroine has conflicting feelings for the 'villain' and I use that term loosely, is interesting. The fact that the 'villain' has sympathetic morals and is a complex character is more entertaining. There seems to be this new trend where it is only acceptable to like the 'pure' characters or to only like the healthy, wholesome ships. I saw an anti make the statement that darklinas should get therapy because they think darklina is what a healthy ship looks like, ignoring the blatant prejudice to those with mental health in that statement, I think that they totally missed the point which is darklinas don't think that darklina is a healthy ship, that's not why they ship it. They recognise that like most tv relationships it has both healthy and unhealthy elements to it and that conflict and nuance of the relationship is what makes it entertaining and interesting to watch. I don't understand this new gatekeeping where liking something that is complex or morally grey is somehow an opening for others to make judgements on your real life morals or character. And I think this is one of those fandoms that faces that a lot. An example from another fandom that I think might help me make my point better is that I've had people tell me that I shouldn't ship Barchie because they cheated and that means I support cheating in real life, which of course it doesn't, I don't condone cheating in real life at all. But at the same time I recognise that cheating in tv shows is used as a form of creating drama, when watching it the audience has that anticipation and tension of when will they be found out, this is entertaining. Whether you have excitement about them getting caught and can't wait for the drama of the fall out or whether you are dreading them getting caught because you don't want to see your favourite characters hurt it is still about evoking an emotional reaction from the audience. I feel like nowadays people think entertainment is only about making you feel happy or excited and so you shouldn't be entertained by negative plotlines or toxic relationships, but in my opinion entertainment is about bringing out any emotional reaction from an audience and making them invested in a character, relationship or story. For me I became invested in darklina because of how their relationship was built up

and watching them develop feelings for each other and come to trust each other. As a result when Aleks betrays that trust when he collars her and takes control of her powers I had an emotional reaction to it. It was heartbreaking to see them both in pain and struggling because I had become invested in those characters. I would rather watch a couple or characters that bring out various different emotions in me than just a couple that is always fluffy and wholesome. That's my personal preference, I like couples that will make me squeal at their cuteness on minute and then cry at a betrayal the next, I like to see couples who come together, then break apart but find their way back again. To me that is entertainment. I feel like people need to chill with the whole gatekeeping and judgements. Just let people enjoy what they like, I mean I personally don't like M*lina but that doesn't mean its ok for me to go into one of their fans inboxes or into their tag and judge them for liking them and so I don't. If someone likes M*lina and that ship makes them happy then good for them, I'm glad they have something they enjoy even if its not for me, but I also reserve the right to be able to like darklina without others writing paragraphs tagged as darklina about how the fact that I like darklina means I am a terrible person and that I need therapy. I don't know why some people find the concept of mind your own business and keep your opinions in your own tag is so hard for some to grasp. I have also realised that I have gone on a bit of a rant so I am going to leave it here.