ᗩᒪEKSᗩᑎᗪEᖇ'S EYES ᗩᖇE as dark as the shadows he conjures. When he turns around to face the Shu assassin, the natural light streaming through the windows is covered with a suffocating drape of darkness that bleeds into the room, twitching and stirring with eagerness. The boy looks blankly back at the Darkling, waiting.
"You went after my daughter," Aleksander states quietly, in a near whisper, but his voice exhibits every bit of his pure, unhindered fury.
"The little one is powerful," Chinua says in his thick Shu Han accent. "But she isn't my main concern." A wicked smile appears on his face as he looks at me for the first time. It makes my skin crawl. "And here is the half-breed in person."
Ivan draws his hands up, ready to inflict pain, but with the blink of an eye, Aleksander is clamping his hand around Chinua's throat. His eyes bulge from their sockets, but the manic smile still remains, making him look doubly insane.
"Don't speak to my wife that way, or I will not hesitate to kill you."
A realization clicks into place after he says that. That's what this man wants. He wants to anger Aleksander. He wants to be killed. This man is going to die either way, but he has information that will perish with him if the Darkling makes the rash move to slaughter him now.
"Wait!" I assert, taking a step forward. My hand rests lightly on Aleksander's shoulder. "That is what he wants."
The Darkling's white-knuckled grip finally releases Bat-Chen's bruised neck it as his reason returns. He shrugs his shoulders back and takes a deep breath. He says, "Yes, you deserve a slow, painful end, but before that, you are going to answer our questions."
More teeth show as his grin returns. "Only if I can speak to her."
"No," Aleks says immediately.
I negate him and answer for myself, "Then, speak."
Aleksander aims a heavy glare in my direction.
Chinua leans as far forward as possible against his ropes and says, "I wonder, what makes you so loyal to Ravka, hm? You have Shu blood coursing through your veins too."
I don't have to ponder the answer for more than a second. The answer is simple. "Ravka doesn't experiment on their Grisha like a sick science project."
"They say you could be the bridge between Shu Han and Ravka. You now know that our Queen wants to burn that bridge. She does not want a science project in her courts. And, see, you are worth a lot of money to our scientists. That energy inside you, that sunlight, it could provide us with a lifetime of energy to power our ships, our weapons, if only we can harvest that power from your filleted corpse."
I hear something pop inside of him when Ivan flicks his fingers nonchalantly. The assassin hunches over and grunts in pain.
"You were using Amelia to get to me. . ." I think out loud.
"She is quite the fighter, your daughter. And she is different too. She has more than one ability. The girl would also be a good addition to our little 'science projects.' Unless you'd like to volunteer." His cold, jet-black eyes look me up and down.
"That is never going to happen."
He just keeps grinning awfully. "I am the future of Shu Han. I am the weapon in their hand, and there are more of us, many more. You and your family will find no shelter that we have not found first."
My stomach lurches with fear-stricken nausea. He came after Amelia to get to me. I feel awful. I took Amelia in to build her a better life, but I've just made her a victim of more vengeance and hate.
"The future of Shu Han," Aleksander finally comments with a long exhale. His anger has subsided slightly for now. "To me," he continues, "the future of Shu Han looks like a battered and bruised boy who was bested by an eight-year-old girl."
His crazed grin sours.
"You targeted my daughter. You targeted my wife. You targeted Ravka."
He lurches forward in his chair. "Ravka will burn as long as she is Queen! We will make sure of it!"
"Why?" I growl, radiant sunlight burning at my fingertips. "We helped Shu Han during the Ravkan-Fjerdan war. In case you've forgotten, Fjerda threatened your Queen's family. We helped her save them."
He mocks my words with a cold laugh that echoes throughout the shadow-laden dining hall. "You lie to yourself if you think your intentions were to help Shu Han. Our people praise you because of it, because you happen to share our blood, but they don't know the truth, that you were only protecting yourself. They worship a lie. You have no loyalty to Shu Han, so why should we be loyal to you?"
"We have no qualms with you. Do not start this war," I plead.
"It has already begun, and it will end with your blood upon our blade."
Aleksander takes a few steps closer until he is towering over the assassin. He leans over him and says, "I can assure you, it will not end that way."
"Then how do you suppose it will end, Darkling, hm?" he sneers up at Aleksander. "With sunshine and friendship between our countries?"
An unsympathetic smile curls on the Darkling's lips. The sight makes me shiver.
"Unfortunately for you, you won't live to find out."
Either the Shu assassin has been in denial this whole time or was too cocky to realize his withering lifespan, but now, it finally dawns on him. For the first time, I spot uncertainty in his young, dark eyes. His focus shifts from me to Aleksander.
The Darkling kneels before Bat-Chen to make eye contact with him when he says, "You are only a low-lever assassin, or I would prod you for information on Shu Han's strategies or future attacks, but that would be a waste of time. It would only prolong the inevitable: your slow, agonizing death."
"You act as if you are better than all other countries, but the Ravkan King resorting to torture isn't very righteous, is it?" he growls, throwing out words to spare his life. He is trying to appeal to the remorse that is not present in this room.
The Darkling says, "I am not here as the Ravkan King." He stands again and glowers down at the restrained man. "I am here as a father whose child you attacked a few rooms over, a husband whose wife you just threatened." He juts his hand out, capturing Chinua's jaw in his iron grip, yanking it forward roughly. "I am going to make you pray for forgiveness, and only then will I kill you. I might have let you go, barely clinging to your life, as an example to Shu Han, but you've seen my daughter's powers. Some know she has both the power to manipulate wind and water, but not many know about the power of fire yet. I'd like to keep that secret from Shu Han. I wouldn't want them getting any further ideas about how valuable she is."
His eyes grow wide when shadows seep from the Darkling's pale palms in the shape of deadly spikes, inching toward the captive's face. Sometimes, the Darkling uses a knife—physical, sharp, and fast to injure—but this time, he makes sure to use his summoning as a statement. As long as we have our powers, we will be stronger than them.
***
Screams can be heard ringing throughout the hallways of the Grand Palace. The young assassin held strong at first, but he inevitably broke. With every slash to his skin, every shadow strangling him, every action hurling him closer to death, his resolve deteriorates. Finally, after an hour of torture, he screams, "PLEASE! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!" He sobs. "I pray for your forgiveness! Please," his voice breaks and turns into a whisper.
"Mm," the Darkling frowns. "I was hoping you'd last longer."
I had long since turned away from the gruesome scene before me. Though I want to see this man suffer for what he did to Amelia, it is hard to look at his shredded eye sockets, bloodied face, and bruised frame. Ivan left a while ago, too, seeing that he was no longer needed. He went back to Amelia for even more protection, even though she has about ten guards at her side as we speak.
"P–Please," the man whispers again.
The Darkling just huffs and turns to face me. He offers an elbow, which I gladly take, wanting to get out of the room as quickly as I can. The smell alone makes me nauseous.
"Come, my Alina."
As we leave the room through the heavy oak doors, his suffocating shadows follow him, overtaking Chinua and the rest of the dining hall, consuming him until there is nothing left. Not even bones.
Aleksander catches the shiver that rakes through me as we enter the hallway.
"It had to be done, my Alina."
"I know." That is all I can get to come out of my mouth until we reach Amelia's room, where the ensemble of guards relocated her until we could arrive.
When we come in, her head is hidden under the protection of her sheets, and I can tell from the position of her arms that she is covering her ears. Ivan whispers to us as we walk in, "She has been reticent since the incident."
"Why is she covering her ears," I ask.
Ivan's posture stiffens, and all the other guards avoid eye contact. "She could hear the intruder's screams from downstairs."
"Saints," I curse.
I go straight to her, sitting on the bed next to the lump of blankets. She is shaking despite the warmth of all the blankets.
"Amelia," I whisper in a sing-song voice. "You're alright now. You're safe." I rub her back above the sheets. Her head and staticky golden curls pop out of the blankets. "I'm sorry you had to hear that. It won't happen again." I blatantly aim a telltale look at Aleksander, and though he might feel bad that Amelia heard the screams, he doesn't regret anything he did to that man.
I wipe a tear from her cheek and give her a hug. "It's alright now. The man is gone."
I start to pull away from the embrace until she says, "But what about the other one?"
I freeze.
"What?"
"The older man that was with that one that attacked me."
My blood turns to ice.
From across the room, I hear Aleksander snap at Ivan, "Search the vicinity immediately. I need this other man found."
Ivan files out with the rest of the guards in search of the second man.
I get up and whisper softly to Aleksander so Amelia does not hear, but it is hard to keep my voice lowered in my state of panic. "There were two of them!? If the second one gets away, he will have seen how powerful Amelia is and report back to Shu Han. Then she will be even more of a target than before!"
"I won't let that happen," he says. My eyes are glossy from tears. My body is shaking from fear until Aleksander wraps his arms around me, placing a kiss on my temple. "If I didn't believe I could protect her, I would let her go."
Before I can question what he means, I feel small arms encircle my waist. Amelia gives both of us a hug at the same time. The gesture, however small, reminds me of what we are—a family. No one can tear our family apart. Not Shu Han. Not Fjerda. Not even if the saints-forsaken world teamed up against us. We will always have each other.
***
Half the day passes with no word from Ivan or our guards. Amelia takes an afternoon nap while I pace back and forth in her room until Aleksander forces me to sit down. We both stay with Amelia the whole time, unwilling to risk her safety by leaving her alone. After all, I'm not sure who we can trust anymore. Our home, which used to serve as a secure place, has been infringed upon twice.
My frantic thoughts are interrupted by Ivan finally re-entering. I have never been so glad to see his face. Come to think of it; I've never really been glad to see his face until today.
My blossoming hope quickly fades when I see his gloomy face, beaded with sweat from searching all day. He shakes his head. I hold back the sob building in my throat.
"We searched the perimeter of the palace, Os Alta, and bordering towns. Whoever the second assassin was, he is gone," Ivan says. "Back to Shu Han, no doubt."
"Look harder," Aleksander growls to his second in command.
"Sir, we've looked everywhere. When Amelia didn't see enough to give a description, it is almost impossible to—"
"Go," the Darkling says in a dangerously low voice. He does not need to elaborate. Ivan stops speaking and bows deeply before leaving a bit more quickly than usual.
All is quiet for a moment. I hear small puffs of air leave Amelia's sleeping lips.
"Soon, Shu Han will know of our daughter's uniqueness," I fret, "and you know what they do to Grisha, especially those set apart from other Grisha. They hunt them, like me. They experiment on them. They are worse than drüskelle. We have to do something!"
The Darkling is silent for a long time. Then, just when I thought he was ignoring my utterances, he says, "We will. They want war, then war they shall have."
____________
Thanks for coming back, my lovely readers. Things are heating up quickly, but the next chapters are like a wildfire of "Uh oh," so prepare yourselves. Sorry for the late update again. I can't promise my updating will get more timely, but I can promise I will see this story to the end. ♥️🌓