Elementals || Grishaverse

Chapter 25: A Scarlet Surprise

"Adaline! Adaline!" There were loud bangings on the door of her room. "Adaline, let me in!"

Adaline's eyes opened and she was in a hazy state. It took her a few seconds to come back to reality from her sleep, and the banging did not help. "What!" She shouted hastily. She had woken up early and gotten ready but her eyes drooped anyway.

"Adaline, let me in!"

"Freya?" The sun was just over the horizon. What was she doing here so early? Adaline walked to the door and opened it up while rubbing her eyes. Her mouth fell open when she saw her friend. "Saints."

Freya was wearing a red kefta. Her red kefta.

"Look!" She spun around slowly and let Adaline see how her kefta looked like. She grabbed Adaline's arm and closed the door. She squealed, jumping up and down in joy.

"How-"

"The Darkling gave it to me himself!" She squealed. "He told me that he didn't want me to spy anymore by forgetting who I really was."

"The Darkling said that?"

"Yes! He gave me this kefta with his own hands. I can't believe that he remembered that I had left it under the birch tree outside. And he gave this for you." She handed her a package, but Adaline did not open it. She knew exactly what it was.

Something wasn't right. "Why would he do that?" She whispered to herself.

"Adaline." Freya said calmly. "He didn't hurt me. He would never hurt a Grisha. And he didn't hurt the seamstress as well."

"How can you still defend him? She was your seamstress. She was working for you!"

"Adaline-"

"He's such a hypocrite! He has all of you under his thumb. Why can't you see that? The Darkling stood over the body while she bled out. He did not help her, which only means that he killed her. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I should have given you the kefta myself."

"Don't defend him. Nothing you say is going to undo what he did."

Freya's lips trembled. She wanted to make Adaline see the truth but she had given her word to the Darkling that she won't talk about what happened. How could she help her friend see the reality? "You're taking this the wrong way."

Right then, there was another knock at the door but before Adaline could answer it, the door flung open to reveal Irina, who always entered that way. She gasped when she saw Freya. "My, my!" She walked over to her. "Look what the wind has brought us here! Doesn't she look radiant, Adaline?"

Adaline tried to smile but her mind was filled with the Darkling's voice. She wished that she could tune him out. "She looks great."

The two Grisha talked to each other for a while before Irina remembered what she wanted to convey. "Oh, Adaline?" She called out. "I need you to come with me."

"Where?"

Irina raised her eyebrow at her. "Just come." She took Adaline's sleeve in her hand and led her down the staircase to the main hall. "The Darkling wants to meet you." She revealed on the last step.

Adaline scoffed and stopped walking. "Tell him to go to Hell."

"Adaline-"

"I want nothing to do with him!"

But alas, the castle started to shake in its place. The ground was trembling beneath everyone's feet. Irina and Freya's eyes were wide open as they realised that Adaline was losing control of her powers.

"Adaline!"

Adaline looked around at her. She looked at her trembling hands. An unbearable weight was forming in her chest and she was finding it hard to breath. The ground threatened to give way. "Oh, take us all in already, will you!" She shouted at thin air.

A few moments before this, the royal brother and sister sat next to each other as they caught up with their life stories. "I hope everything has been alright." Stefan said.

"I could hold the fort up, brother." Maria teased.

"I'm sure you have done it brilliantly." He praised his baby sister. They ate their breakfast as a silent question lingered in the air. "What is it?"

"What?" She looked at him.

"You want to ask me something." He said. "It's pretty evident. You cannot deny it. So what is it, dear sister?"

Maria placed her spoon down. She joined her fingers together as she leaned forward in her seat. "It's about Adaline." Stefan had been expecting that. He had seen his sister look at them dance. She definitely had something on her mind. "I don't think she has the right intentions. She doesn't seem to fit here and I think that we should let her go."

"Maria." He spoke softly. "That is not up to us. She lives in the Little Palace and you know whose decisions matter there."

She knew that he would say that, which is why she hadn't brought up the topic. "Why are you really here, brother? You haven't stayed here for this long because of what you feel for Bella."

Stefan's fist clenched, the knuckles going white. He didn't like it when other people talked about her because nobody cares but for him. "I'm here for the throne."

She leaned back in her seat. "So have you finally come to your senses? Have you realised that this is what you're meant for?"

"I'm not meant for anything, Maria. I'm doing what I feel is right. I may be the Dauphin and I may be the carefree lad, but I haven't forgotten my duties. Taking charge of your own destiny? That's what I'm doing here."

Right then, the table started to shake unbearably. "What's going on?" He asked.

"It's your muse."

Stefan did not have time to scowl at her because he was already heading towards the door. He didn't let the small earthquake stop his way because he was going to reach her in time to stop everything. But he didn't have to go far.

Adaline was on the floor, holding herself together as if she were a piece of glass. Her hair was falling over her face, making it hard to read what she was thinking, but her shoulders were shaking.

Stefan ran towards her and did not let Freya or Irina stop him. He slid on the floor a few feet away from her. But he crawled towards her despite the ground shaking. He was glad to be close to her. "Adaline."

She looked up at him, her eyes red with tears forming. "Stefan...." She could barely talk.

He did not think twice. He put his hands on her trembling ones and pulled her close to him. "Ssh, I'm here now." He rubbed some warmth into her hand and held her shaking shoulders. "I'm here now. I'm not going."

The room stopped shaking. Ravka was safe. "Stefan...." Her voice cracked.

Everyone started to gather in the room, their gaze on the Prince holding a fragile girl in his arms. But that was not what the Darkling saw, and it was certainly not what Maria Lantsov saw.