Baddie Alina and slightly better Darkling?
What if Alina and stayed the night of the winter fete instead of running away? What if she had chosen the Darkling over Mal? What if the Malina ship sank fast and the Darklina ship sailed?
All these charact...
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I woke up with the sun on my face. Blinking, I rubbed my eyes and sat up. I had forgotten to close the curtains the night before. Groaning, I rolled out of the bed and trudged over to the curtains, and pulled them shut. Collapsing back into bed, I pulled the covers up over my head.
I sat up with a start, realizing where I was. The covers were scratchy and made of cheap material, the clothes I wore were not my own, and the room I was in was not the room I had slept in for the past year. I was in Bella and Xander's house.
Getting up, I tiptoed to the door and pressed my ear against it. I could hear Bella talking in the kitchen and footsteps from downstairs, probably Xander. I quickly changed into the clothes I had worn ever since I left the Little Palace and crept downstairs. When Bella saw me lurking in the shadows near the kitchen door, she beckoned me in. "How are you doing, Leigh? Did you sleep well?" I nodded. "Come on in and get some breakfast."
Cautiously, I walked into the kitchen. Just like the night before, Xander was sitting at the table, and Bella was busying herself with making breakfast. It didn't look like anyone else was in the kitchen or the whole house, but as much as I wanted to trust the kind old couple, I was not taking any chances of being found and dragged back to Os Alta.
I sat at the table, and Bella brought me a heaping pile of pancakes. They were made simply and with few ingredients, but they were delicious. I declined another plate of pancakes. For the first time in 4 days, I was full. Instead of tea, this time Bella brought me a glass of water.
"How long are you staying?" she asked.
"Another day, at most. Is it all right if I go into town? I need to get some clothes."
Bella smiled, and the skin around her eyes wrinkled. "Of course, dear. You can do whatever you like. Just don't get lost, now."
"I won't. Thanks for breakfast."
I handed her my cup and went out the door.
**
When I got back late that afternoon, I felt accomplished. I had sold two of the pins for forty kruge each, but only because I had convinced the jeweler that they were real. With that money, I had been able to buy peasant clothes, and although they were a lot less comfortable, I blended in with the crowds a lot better. I had made the trip to where I had left Rochelle to make sure she was okay. Since I had left her by a small stream and in a large patch of grass, she was fine. I had sixty kruge left, and I planned to leave no later than noon the next day. Hopefully, I would make it to Kribirsk before nightfall.
As I walked up the front steps, I could tell something was wrong. The front door was open, hanging from one hinge. Carefully, I walked in the door, hands up in front of me. When I stepped into the kitchen, the floorboard creaked and I froze. Chairs were broken and scattered around the room. On the table were the remains of a meal, and on the wood-burning stove was a pot of soup, long since gone cold. Bella and Xander were nowhere.
My first thought was that the Darkling had found me. Who else would have done this to the house I was staying in? But then I realized something. The Darkling was smarter than that. He wouldn't have ransacked a house I wasn't in. I also didn't think that he would do this even if I was in the house. He would have come in, got me, and left, leaving the house and the people who owned it alive and undamaged.
But who would have done it then?
I didn't have time to think. I ran upstairs to check for Bella and Xander, hoping beyond hope that they would be there. With each step, the mounting dread inside of me grew. When I got to the top of the stairs, I found the second floor just as ruined as the first. Darting into each room, I called for Bella and Xander, each time getting no answer.
The last room I went into was mine. I snatched the comb, the nightclothes, the toothbrush, and a bag to put them in and raced back downstairs. My heart was pounding with tension as I ran out the front door. I had no doubt that whoever had ransacked the house had been there for me. There was no other explanation. And if they had attacked innocent people, then they were serious about coming after me. I doubted that it had been anyone other than Ravkans because coming this far inside the borders without an invitation was an outright declaration of war, especially if they attacked someone.
By the time I got to Rochelle, I had calmed down a little, but not enough to have slowed down. I had run the entire way to her, and I was thanking Botkin for making me stay in shape. Jumping on, I kicked her into a gallop.
Unknown POV
I watched from behind a clump of bushes as the girl jumped onto her gray horse. The raid on the house we attacked had been unsuccessful. The man who had given us the information that she was staying there had been beheaded the moment we realized she wasn't there. I had followed her from the old couple's house, angry that I hadn't thought of the fact that she would have had the horse. I had been shocked at her pace, barely able to keep up. She hadn't gone through the town, which made her a little easier to follow, but it had allowed her to go faster.
I was under orders to follow but not engage. All of our intelligence reports from inside Os Alta had told us that the girl was dangerous. She didn't look like it, though, and our intel from the Ravkan capital had been wrong before. She was slim and didn't have the body of a fighter. But if she was good at anything, it was at running. It was unnatural; girls shouldn't be able to run like that. Women were better suited for the home - cooking, sewing, and looking pretty while they did it. It was natural law, that women should look attractive and produce sons, and men should protect them, and work to make a living or serve their country.
As she kicked her horse, I crept back through the bushes. I hated everything about Ravka - the land, the weather, even the people. When I got to my horse, I signaled the other man to follow. Thankfully, now we were in a thick forest, so she couldn't see us following her. She wouldn't hear us, either, because she wouldn't be able to hear anything over her panicked breathing and the sound of her horse's hooves on the ground.
We followed her for a long way before she went out of the trees. It was too risky to continue following her, so I slowed down, and my comrade did too. There was only one town in the direction she was headed, and that town was Kribirsk. It was more of a port, and if she was heading there, she would be crossing the Fold soon.
"Do you think she's headed for Kribirsk?" I asked my companion.
He shook his head. "She'd be recognized there. She's headed for the Fold all right, but she'll more likely head for the outskirts of Kribirsk."
"Okay. So should we go the long way around so she won't see us, or should we follow behind her?"
"We know where she's going, so let's go around. She'll have to stop for food and water, so either we'll arrive at the same time as her or we'll get there before she leaves, which will give us enough time to find her."
"Got it. Let's get everyone else packed and ready to go. We better go fast so she doesn't get too much of a head start."
He gave me a condescending smile. "Don't worry. She doesn't have a chance."
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