You Must Know The Darkness To Appreciate The Light

🔆🌙 Chapter 19 🔆🌙

Mal hugged me tight against his chest. "Thank you."

I squeezed his arm and pulled away from him after a moment. "So...how do we do this?"

He dug his boot around in the sawdust on the floor. "I'll keep hanging out for a while, you can meet out here and from there we can climb over the wall after dark."

Does he really think it will be that simple? I blinked at him and shook my head in disbelief. "Mal, I love you—you know that—but it will never work. There's guards on patrol! And have you seen how high those walls are?"

He shrugged as if it was nothing. "It will be okay, trust me. How many times did I get us out of trouble in the orphanage?"

I swatted his arms lightly, a bit of playfulness returning to the otherwise tense atmosphere. "If I remember correctly, I was the one who got us out of most of your predicaments."

"Eh, well the memory's a bit hazy." He drummed his fingers along the edge of the horse stall he was leaned against. "As for when, do you think you'll be able to sneak out tonight after you go to bed?"

My head shot up and I looked at him, then quickly away. Oh no, no no no. "I, uh, I can't sneak out after I go to bed. I'll be discovered right away." How am I supposed to explain this to him? After seeing his reaction to seeing me kiss the Darkling I doubted it would go well. Mal frowned and tiled his head. "Are there a lot of servants around your room?"

"Uh...no. I share my rooms." I kicked a pebble around in the dirt. "With the Darkling." I watched his face instantly change from the happy boy I loved to pure anger again.

He huffed and crossed his arms, glaring at me. "I should have figured when I saw your black dress the other night. You always were one to switch sides. You have plenty of times before."

Anger boiled under my skin at his remark and I wanted to bash his head into the wall to get it through his thick skull that this was not my choice. "Everything I have done was to save your ungrateful ass! I gave up my freedom for your life, and you dare to accuse me of switching sides?"

He shrugged, his arms wide. "What else am I suppose to think when I find out you're fucking the man we have been fighting against for years?"

I scoffed and crossed my arms. "I am not fucking him!"

"It didn't look that way to me!"

I couldn't help it. He had just gone too far and I wasn't going to tolerate it. I raised my hand and struck him across the face, making him stumble back a step.

He touched his cheek and winced, before narrowing his eyes. For a moment I was worried about what he might do, but instead he just laughed bitterly. "At least he hasn't completely broken your spirit yet." I said nothing, simply glared until he sighed and ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair, looking at the ground. "I'm sorry, Alina."

Good. You should be.

He looked up at me, tears in his blue eyes. "What happened to us?"

I couldn't meet his eyes, I was too confused. I was still angry at him, but I missed him so much I wanted to leave with him and never look back. Or maybe I did. Maybe the Darkling had finally begun to change for the better. I scuffed at the dirt floor again, still avoiding his eyes and his question. "I should go. If this is going to work I need to get some things together."

Mal nodded and I turned to leave, walking past the same beautiful mare from earlier when an idea popped into my head.

I looked over my shoulder at him and grinned. "How fast can you get over the wall?"