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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Genya took her time Tailoring me, taking extra care to make my hair shine, my skin smoother, and my lashes darker than usual. She seemed nervous, although she hid it well.
Stopping our conversation about the Inferni who almost burned down Bahgra's hut, I stopped her hands that were gliding across my face. Turning towards her, I asked, "What's wrong?"
"What do you mean?" she asked hesitantly. "Why would anything be wro-"
A knock at the door silenced her mid-sentence. Looking terrified, she walked slowly into the main room, over to the door, and opened it. Following her, I saw who it was. Standing there was David. She squeaked.
In his quiet voice, he said, "The Darkling had me make these for you, Miss Starkov. They are to help make it easier to split light into two beams."
"Thank you. I can already split it by myself, though. I'll try them on." He walked over to where I sat on a couch and handed them to me. Trying them on, I saw that they fit perfectly. Calling the light, I created a ball in my right hand. Easily, I split it into two, then three. Taking the gloves off, I continued dividing it until we were surrounded by tiny pinpricks of sunshine, making it look like we were enveloped by stars. I lowered my hands to my sides, and the little stars winked out one by one. "Thanks anyways, David." He nodded and started toward the door.
"They're lovely, David," Genya called after him. He turned slightly before closing the door behind him, giving her the subtlest hint of a smile.
Walking over to where she stood, I looked at Genya with my mouth open. "You never compliment anyone to their face. You like him!"
She glared at me. "Not a word." She turned on her heel to lead the way back to the bathroom.
Before she could get there, another knock made us both jump. Genya stalked over to the door and threw it open, barking "What?!" and scaring the poor maid standing there. Timidly, the girl said, "I was told to give this to Sankta- I mean, the Sun Summoner." Genya grabbed the box out of her hands and slammed the door shut in her face.
Marching to the table in the bedroom, she slammed the box onto the bed. Yanking it open, she stopped cold. Seeing her frozen like that scared me. "What is it? Genya?" She just shook her head and whispered, "I knew it. Alina, don't play with shadows, okay? Promise me." When I gave her a confused nod, she reached into the box and pulled out a kefta. It wasn't my usual blue kefta, however. It was as dark as midnight. Almost identical to the Darkling's, it had fur lining and was black, but it had delicate gold embroidery on the shoulders and trailing down the front and back. The hems were rimmed with gold. It was the most beautiful kefta I had ever seen. There was only one problem.
"It's... black. Isn't he the only one allowed to wear black?"
"Yeah, but he can allow people to wear it if he wants. He's never done it before, though." She looked back at me. "You promised. Just remember that."
