Author's note:

***spoiler for actual books***

I am assuming if you are looking at this you have already read the books if not you have been warned there are spoilers in this work.

So, I thought for the New Year I would challenge myself by writing in another 'universe' and another style. I love the Grisha Trilogy; read it all in the three days. I loved the ending and whilst I was rooting for the Darkling and Alina early in the trilogy as Mal's character developed I fell in love with him and was happy that he and Alina had their 'happy ever after'. Having said all that, I shed tears when Alina said the Darkling's given name as he lay on the pyre at the end of 'Ruin and Rising' and when I read 'The Demon in the Woods' I felt so sorry for The Darkling. So I wanted to give him a 'happy ever after' too. So here goes…

Chapter one-In Good Faith

The Brilliant Boy had not seen the Girl for one hundred years. One hundred years he had waited for her to finally realise the truth; that there was no escaping him and that they were meant to be together. He had had a long time to reflect. The Brilliant Boy regretted so much that he had done; the attack on Novokribirsk, the death of so many Grisha but it was done now. All the Brilliant Boy had been able to do was to atone for his wickedness and wait; wait for the Girl to come to him.

The beautiful raven haired boy had kept his vow; he had allowed the Girl to go free, allowed her surviving friends to walk away from the Shadow Fold, allowed her to take her Tracker with her. The Brilliant Boy had promised her she could live. Gifted her the natural lifespan of her lover and time with their children but he had insisted that when her lover's life came to an end the Girl must return; she must come back to him.

The Brilliant Boy had shown the Girl mercy because he was patient, he could wait. He had realised too late that the Girl was too young to understand what immortality meant. Too late he understood that she had to learn the loss and loneliness for herself. Only then would the Girl come to him as an equal. He had been impetuous, too eager to take what he believed was his, and he had not allowed her to grow; the Brilliant Boy realised he had been a fool.

The Brilliant Boy had learnt his lesson so he rebuilt Ravka, it flourished and was at peace. The Little Palace rang with the laugher of the Grisha who came to train with him. It had been hard for the Brilliant Boy to win back their trust but he had done it and now memories of his past, of his battles, his wrong doing and the events on The Fold had begun to fade. The Fold remained but the Brilliant Boy had shown restraint. He had never again tried to use it against his enemies. It had been an act of good faith to show the Girl that he was not a monster.

He knew what pain the Girl would suffer. He had wanted to destroy the Tracker, hating Oretsev for stealing the Girl's love but then he reasoned; what was the life span of an otkazat'sya? Mere decades. The Brilliant Boy knew the Girl would suffer as she saw her lover age. She would be forced to move on constantly (just as he himself had been); away from the life she had lead, the friends she had made. It would be maybe a decade, perhaps a little more before it became obvious the Girl was not aging, she would reinvent herself become a younger bride, and then when she looked no older than her own children she would be forced move on once more and then the Girl would masquerade as a daughter, then a granddaughter and then finally her heart would break when she at last lost her love.

Then, when the Girl outlived all who she had loved, she would begin to understand what the Brilliant Boy had suffered. How he had never dared to allow anyone to touch him; how he could never bare to be close to anyone and how no one ever had or ever could love him. Finally she would see that the Girl had been his only hope. The Brilliant Boy knew she had rejected him made him into her villain and he had allowed her to do it. He had threatened to take from her everything she loved. The Brilliant Boy realised, almost too late, that he did not need to play the villain; time would do his work for him in the end.

The Girl swallowed as she approached the Little Palace, the raven haired boy had kept faith with her, he had kept his word and some large part of her wondered if he might have changed. Ravka was peaceful, prosperous, the Brilliant Boy had become a dictator but he was a benevolent one. He had told her once… That she might make him a better man and the Girl wondered if she believed it now. She wondered if he might still achieve what Bahgra had hoped for him; redemption.

The Girl trembled with nerves as she mounted the steps before the Little Palace. She had arrived unannounced, how ironic, it would be, she though if she was refused entrance.

"Yes," the surly servant greeted her at the door.

"I wish to see the Darkling," The Girl announced.

The Servant almost scoffed as she eyed the peasant's clothing but clearly she had been well trained and the servant held back the sneer.

"And who am I to say wishes to see him?" she demanded wearily as if she expected to have to return to turn the Girl away.

"Alina Starkov," the Girl announced.

Author's note

So I hope you worked it out that the Brilliant Boy is the Darkling. Beghra calls him … 'a brilliant talented boy.' I wanted to take a que from Leigh Bardugo's writing style. She refers to Mal as the Boy and Alina as the Girl- so Brilliant Boy was a means of differentiating the Darkling from Mal.

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