CLOCKS AND SHADE // The Darkling

Chapter II.X

The Darkling tracked the escaped Sun Summoner all the way to Tsibeya, a forest territory south of the Permafrost but just as snow-covered and bitter cold. He assigned Fedyor to the southern border and sent Genya to Kribirsk before we left for the Tsibeya. Baghra had also mysteriously disappeared and Aleksander accused her of Alina's escape.

No one told me anything. The oprichniki were under strict orders not to interact with me—something I had just assumed since none of them acknowledged me. He kept Ivan, Zoya, and Azimir on tight leashes. He had forbidden the Fabrikator and Squaller to be left alone with me at any point in time. They all bowed to his will as if they surrendered to his shadows.

He was trapping me again. Locking me in a metaphysical cell to suppress my power and ability to fight back. Or simply flee.

I did as I was told. I ate, slept, stayed put, and didn't raise my voice or my hands. Aleksander was overcome by rage to the point where most would classify him as delusional. But he was just power-hungry. That monster he would only talk about in vulnerable moments had found its way to the surface after Alina left. The bond between us was taught all the time as if he was making sure I hadn't slipped away during our evenings on the road.

My obedience seemed to satisfy him. He had not told me off or yelled at me once thus far. All he offered were muted stares and uneasy tension because he was aware of what he was doing. Fully conscious of it and continued all the same.

After weeks of following both the Sun Summoner and her tracker—which I had learned about through watching the guards in the glass of my Cut—the Darkling and his guards swarmed the duo. By some miracle, they had found Morozova's illusive stag and had seemingly planned to steal it for Alina.

Unfortunately, they hadn't gotten that far when we—they—had ambushed them, hidden within the barren treeline. Alina touched the stag's nose, forming a globe of pure light around them. An oprichnik across the clearing for me fired his gun at the animal. It plunged to the ground, dispersing the light around the animal and the Summoner.

Zoya blew away Mal's, the tracker's, drawn bow before more of the Darkling's soldiers stormed the clearing. I remained at his back, his hand blocking my path before I could rush forward and reverse the mistake.

Blue light brightened the space, illuminating the man's silhouette in front of me. His head peeked over his shoulder as I squeezed his arm. A plea for mercy at the very least. He could very well choose to kill the tracker here and then claim the stag for himself. Aleksander did not need more power. With more power, he would be unstoppable and no match for me, even at my strongest.

"Please," I begged, my voice hoarse and breathless.

A scream resounded through the forest before the moon's glow wanned. His hands rose as he looked forward once more and strode toward the origin of the shout.

"Aleksander, spasibo."

The reflected light ceased at once. I remained locked in place, surrounded by a dark I hoped to never see. Even if I attempted to stop him, to... kill him, I wouldn't succeed. Every thought in my head said to do it, to end it right here and now so that Alina had the chance to destroy the Unsea—or that I had a chance. But I couldn't. It was as if my hands were tied in the same way my friends were.

No. I was lying to myself. My heart dissuaded me.

It would have shattered me more than it would have broken him. Winning that fight would send me down the same road he was on; one of misery and the desire to be needed.

My thoughts took me to faraway places as Aleksander tormented the poor Sun Saint with likely hollow promises and bargains too good to be genuine. I shut down. I had lost to him in my own way. Ensnared in a cage of my own making, not his.