2. The Black Heretic

General Kirigan took Katya to the stables and selected two horses, a nearly black one for himself and a bay for her.

At first they cantered through the park along a raked gravel path. They passed several lawns framed by evergreen hedges and onion shaped topiaries, the latter matching the towers on the Little Palace, and in the flowerbeds grew late-blooming marigolds.

At the end of the park came a forest. The branches were getting bare and the ground was littered with fallen leaves in golden hues, rustling under your horses' hooves. It smelled fresh and earthy, and was a pleasant contrast to the rather stuffy air indoors. Being from the country, Katya felt a lot more at home out here.

Filled with a sudden burst of energy, she nudged her horse into a gallop. The tree trunks rushed by and the wind whipped her face, whirling up a cloud of leaves in her wake. Aleksander followed her example, and suddenly their ride had turned into a friendly race. With adrenaline flowing through their veins, they drove their horses faster and faster.

Over the wind Katya heard Aleksander laugh; a hearty, truly joyful sound that made her chest swell with happiness.

When they finally slowed down, the horses were steaming. Continuing the ride at loose reins to let them stretch their necks and catch their breaths, Aleksander led Katya onto an old, nearly overgrown path.

"I used to run here when I was young," he said, breaking off a low-hanging branch and tossing it to the side.

"Why?"

"Because I needed it. All my life, I…" He broke off, and then started again. "You wouldn't understand what it was like growing up a Grisha with powers nobody had ever seen before. They feared me. And therefore they hated me." He sounded bitter.

"What do you mean, nobody had seen it before? What about the Black Heretic? He was a Shadow Summoner too." The Black Heretic, also called the Darkling, was a Grisha who lived over five hundred years ago. He aided the king in a great war, and in payment he was allowed to build the Little Palace as a sanctuary for his order. But later the Darkling rebelled against the king, and using forbidden powers he tried to convert the king's soldiers into his slaves, inadvertently creating the Shadow Fold and getting killed in the process.

"True," Aleksander replied curtly, not really answering the question.

The path ended at an old stone well. They tied their horses to a tree, and went to peer into the murky water. It looked deep, but dead leaves and branches littering the surface made it hard to tell.

"It's a wishing well," said Aleksander. "Though, it probably doesn't work. I've dropped a great many coins into it but it never granted my wish."

"What were you wishing for?"

He met her gaze. "To be normal."

Feeling her heart constrict in sympathy Katya nodded quickly. "I understand." After all, that had been her own wish too, every day of her life before coming to the Little Palace.

"I've never brought anyone else here." He sat on the edge of the well.

"I'm flattered." She sat beside him.

Their hands were close enough to brush against each other. Now that Katya was not summoning, it did not feel quite the same way, but even now some sort of connection began to form where their skin touched.

"When can we summon again?" she asked. She longed to repeat it, craved it even.

He raised his eyebrows. "You really do like it?"

"Yes. It's… I can't even describe it. The power… Your power and mine working together… It feels like I can do anything. Like nobody can resist me." Just thinking of it made her heart beat faster.

Placing a thumb on Katya's wrist, he felt her quick pulse. "You're hard to resist." He moved his finger, tracing the inside of her arm. Her skin felt alive where he touched.

Was he flirting with her? She felt a flutter in her stomach.

"Yesterday, you seemed to be startled by me," she mumbled.

He stiffened. "Yes. You look almost uncannily like a Grisha I knew a long time ago."

She had suspected as much. Who had it been? Suddenly Katya itched to know.

"Your lover?" she guessed.

He did not deny it. "A healer named Luda. One of the best…" His eyes grew distant.

"What happened?"

"The king's men happened," he spat.

"The king?" She stared at him in disbelief.

"Not this king. But he got what he deserved in the end." His face had become distorted with hatred. She had never seen him angry before, and for the first time she felt a twinge of fear. She was reminded of her earlier assessment of him: he was a dangerous man.

"What did you do?" she whispered.

"You don't want to know that." He abruptly rose, and busied himself with tidying the well from debris.

"Yes, I do." Katya tried to catch his arm, but he shook her off.

"I will continue with your training, and if you learn to summon a sun then you shall help me work on the Fold. That's all. You don't need to be corrupted further." His voice was cold and uninviting.

"Corrupted? Aleksander, what are you talking about?" Again she tried to get a hold of him, and this time he allowed it, meeting her gaze. His eyes were hard and sharp like smooth onyx.

"Tell me," she pleaded.

"No. It's time to return. Lunch is due." He mounted his horse, and Katya had no other option than doing the same.

They spent the ride home in silence.

oOo

Kirigan did not call Katya the next day, nor the days after that, so when she finally received his summons a week later it was not without some nerves she walked through the corridors towards his office.

In the past days she had resumed her training with the other Grisha. Unlike before, she was nearly invincible in duels now, which surprised both her and the others. It was unfathomable what difference just two summoning sessions with Aleksander had made; as if he had unlocked a hidden source of power deep within Katya.

However, if she had thought her new skills would make her liked and accepted among them, she was disappointed. Ana, her first sparring partner, accused Katya of holding back earlier to make her look weak now, and several of the others thought she was cheating with a hidden amplifier somehow.

It was clear Katya could never win, no matter what.

Besides sparring, she had done some thinking. Again and again she had mulled over the conversation with Aleksander at the wishing well, and apart from his anger and secrecy, one thing struck her as very odd. He had said it was 'not this king' who killed Luda. But what other king could it have been?

King Pyotr was over sixty years old, and he had succeeded his father in his twenties. If Aleksander was born then he could only have been a baby, for surely he was not more than forty now? He had not a single white strand in his hair and beard, and no wrinkles. But to have a lover, he must have been a teen at least, and that would make him around the same age as Pyotr or even older. The numbers just didn't add up.

It was clear that Kirigan was hiding something, some secret. Either that, or he had lied – but somehow Katya did not think he was the lying type.

Hoping their meeting today would cast light over it, she entered his room.

This time, Kirigan stood with his back towards her, looking smart in his well-tailored, black kefta. He said nothing as she walked up to him.

"You called for me… General." She had meant to say Aleksander, but stopped herself at the last moment.

"It's time for another training session. Light it." He indicated the same wax candle she had used as ignition before.

Katya did as told. While picking up the tinderbox, she glanced at him, and tried to sound casual as she asked: "How old were you when it happened? With Luda, I mean."

He turned around sharply. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious." She struck the steel to produce a spark. On the second try the candle began to burn.

"I told you these meetings would be about your training. No more personal questions."

She observed his face closely. Was he the same age as the king? No. No that was impossible.

"What are you looking at?" He frowned as he came closer.

"You don't look like a sixty-year-old."

"Stop it." His frown deepened, and there was a warning edge to his voice. "Don't go there."

Frowning back at him, Katya decided to hold her tongue for now, but if he thought she had given up he would have to think again.

This time the darkness Kirigan summoned was pitch black. She knew he was angry, and feeding on that anger his power became stronger than ever.

Well, two could play that game. When she lit her fireball it blazed white-hot from the start, bigger and brighter than ever, before Kirigan had even come near her.

Swearing under his breath, he stepped back to avoid getting his beard burnt, but he did not tell her off. Instead he positioned himself behind her as usual, and reached for her hands.

When the connection was made, the experience was very different from the previous times. Through the pulses of energy emanating from his fingertips Katya felt his rage and frustration, and somewhere underneath also a deep bitterness.

Her fire grew so large she had to push it further away, and on Kirigan's desk papers sizzled and turned brown. But still the darkness remained, surrounding them like a black, velvety cloak.

"Put it out." His voice was calm and controlled; this time the summoning had not drained his strength. When Katya quenched the fire she realized she was not tired either.

She turned around to face him, and to her surprise she saw he was smiling. Not happily like in the woods the other day, more of a satisfied smirk.

"You're furious, aren't you?"

She shrugged noncommittally. Not furious, perhaps, but certainly annoyed with him and his secrecy.

"Keep those emotions," he said. "They make you stronger."

Something in the way he looked at her made Katya's irritation disappear as suddenly as it had appeared. His gaze was so intense, his brown eyes sparkling dangerously, and she wanted him.

Maybe she somehow conveyed that nonverbally, for his expression slowly changed into something else. He leaned closer, and she turned up her face, and–

"Oh no, we're not doing that. Training. Nothing else. Training." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than her.

"Why not?" she breathed, taking his hands to stop him from backing away. Even now she felt his strength through them.

"We shouldn't."

"Do you want me to believe you never kissed anyone? A man with your looks, living in a palace full of his devout followers; many of them Heartrenders, at that… I'm sure you've done a lot more than kissing."

"That's different."

"Different, how? We're both adults."

The last of his anger dissolved and his tense shoulders relaxed. Cupping her cheek, he murmured: "It wouldn't be just physical, and you know that too. You're so much like Luda, and just like with her, my enemies would use you to get at me. I can't let that happen again."

"You talk of me as if I'm weak. As if I need protection. Didn't you say before I'm nearly your equal?" Katya's irritation was back. "Have you seen me on the sparring grounds lately? I can take care of myself." She did not give him time to reply before she continued. "Haven't you ever wondered… if our hands do this, what would it feel like… with other parts touching?"

He stared at her, looking so baffled she could not hold back a smirk. "Oh, apparently you hadn't." But she could see that he certainly thought about it now.

"Here I believed I was corrupting you," he murmured.

"I'm an uncomplicated person. Perhaps that's what you get with villagers." Katya chuckled. "If I want something, I try to get it. Simple as that."

"Even if I'm not at all who you think? You are indeed simple if you believe this would work." Despite his words, it sounded like he was seriously considering it.

"Who are you then? Tell me the truth."

He hesitated.

"You did something to that king, didn't you? Do you worry I would fear you if I knew what it was?" She took a step closer. "For, I wouldn't. People hurt you, and you made them pay. That's how it works in the villages too."

"I don't worry you would fear me; I know you would." His eyes hardened. "Get out."

"No." Katya locked her gaze in his, refusing to back down.

"I'm your superior," he reminded her.

"So, punish me then."

Again a certain gleam appeared in his eyes. "Are you sure you're a Summoner and not a Heartrender?"

"I'm sure I can think of a way to warm your blood without using any extended powers…" She licked her lower lip.

"The Saints have mercy on me!" He pulled her into his arms, and finally she felt his lips claim her own.

His kiss was surprisingly gentle. No tongue, just a soft caress that left her aching for more when he pulled back far too soon.

"Why did you stop?" she breathed.

"Because if I go further I'm not sure I can stop."

"Sounds good to me."

He sighed. "You asked me about Luda. Let me tell you what happened." He sounded resigned.

"Finally."

"Back then, the king had an issue with me. I had helped him, but instead of being grateful he feared my power and tried to capture me. His soldiers found me hiding in Luda's cottage and demanded I gave myself up. I obeyed, coming out unarmed, but on the king's orders they started to shoot me, one arrow after the other." He struck his clenched fist against his chest several times. "Luda saved my life by healing those wounds, and was discovered – and murdered. They slaughtered her like an animal."

His eyes were so black Katya could not discern his pupils. "Being a Shadow Summoner, I can concentrate the darkness and use it as a weapon – the Cut, if you heard of it. This I did, and I killed them all."

Katya calmly looked back at him. She had already suspected killing had been involved, and so far nothing he had said had surprised her. He was a Grisha in the Second Army; of course he had killed people.

"I fled and found a new hideout, but again the king's men surrounded me. This time I was prepared for them. I had discovered how I could convert them into my own."

"Convert them?" She suddenly had a horrible suspicion she knew how his story would end. But that was impossible!

"It looked like I had succeeded at first, but then they began to change. They grew and turned into monsters. Around us the darkness grew too, expanding all the way to the mountains."

"The Fold…" she whispered, staring at him in disbelief.

"Yes." His gaze was hard as flint, and unwavering as the night.

"You're the Black Heretic."

A/N:

If you have seen the series, this probably didn't come as a surprise. :) But how will Katya react to the information? Will it be a turn-off, or the opposite: increase her desire?