"I… I don't know how to respond to that." I said, I was trying so damn hard not to turn my eyes away. His slate-grey eyes were piercing a hole in my soul and his scent was intoxicating me. He wasn't like any other men I had met before, the aura surrounding him was unique and it made me feel both uneasy and excited at the same time.

"Let me be a little more specific, then," he said, his eyes were studying my face. "It's not usual for a Grisha to discover her powers at the age of twenty-two. There's certainly something special about you, Valkyrja and I want you to tell me about it."

This time I couldn't help myself but turn my eyes away, "I wish I could but I do not know what's so special about me either." I muttered, I was playing with my fingers. "All of this is so… New to me. It doesn't feel like my powers actually belong to me at all."

I raised my head to meet his grey eyes once again upon feeling him placing his right hand on my left shoulder. "What happened that night?" he asked with question marks in his eyes. "The night you discovered your powers, I also felt the awakening within you."

"How is this possible?"

"You're underestimating your strength, Valkyrja."

I took a deep breath, "The rage I felt that night is indescribable –I have never felt something so strong in my life." I began to tell. "It was because of my father, he told me that he… He…"

The Darkling could easily see that I doubted whether I could trust him and, let's be real, I had every right to doubt him –I didn't even know him! Everything had happened so fast and now he was expecting me to share some real personal stuff with him.

"You can trust me," he spoke with a silky voice and gently squeezed my shoulder. "I see your doubt but there's no need for that."

I bit my lower lip, "I don't even know you," I spoke with a low voice. "I… I don't even know what to call you. Everybody talks about you as The Darkling but I have no idea what to say when I need to address you with a name."

The edge of his lip curled upwards upon hearing my words, "Let's make a deal, then." he said and slowly moved his hand, which was resting on my shoulder, to my raven hair. "I'll tell you something about myself that no other soul knows and you're going put aside your doubts." I nodded as he began to wrap a strand of my hair around his index finger. "People address me directly, or call me sir, or Darkling –I hear them all. Because I prefer not to share my given name."

My heart skipped a beat when he leaned into my ear and his breath licked my skin. I was breathing heavily because he was standing too close to me but deep down I also knew that I was enjoying this eerie tension between us.

"You can call me Aleksander, if you like." he whispered in my ear. "When it's just the two of us."

I took a deep breath the moment his lips left the side of my ear but still, the skin where his breath had touched was burning. After clearing my throat, I casted a quick look at him. "Alright, it's my part of the deal." I said and closed my eyes. Giving voice to that horrible thing created a heavy feeling on my chest, which was trying to crush my ribcage. "My father forced me to marry an old man and in return he was going to receive money. He literally sold me."

My heart melted the moment I saw the sorrow falling onto the Darkling's grey eyes. He placed his right hand on top of my left one, which was resting on the stone wall of the well behind us. With slow movements, he began to caress the back of my hand –his touch was sending electric signals to my body.

"I… I am so sorry, Valkyrja." he spoke with a soft voice. "I cannot imagine how hard it was for you."

"He never loved me," I found myself pouring my heart out to the man, whom I met less than a day ago. "My father –he always blamed me for my mother's death. She died giving birth to me, so I never knew her. It has always been my father and me."

The Darkling didn't want to interrupt, so he listened to me with a sympathetic look inside his eyes and kept on caressing the back of my hand. Little I knew that with every single touch, I was getting used to feeling his skin against mine and once we parted our ways, I was going to miss his touch.

He had a frightening effect on me. Despite the fact that we didn't exactly know each other –I mean, I still knew nothing about him except for his real name –he made me feel as if we had known each other for a long time. His sincere behaviour played a huge part in this, he was treating me rather friendly instead of like someone superior to me.

He has been the only Shadow Summoner for all his life but now he found out that he is not alone. Maybe this is the reason behind his sincerity –perhaps the Darkling, too, has a heart after all. Perhaps he wants to feel understood by someone like him.

I pushed back a strand of hair falling in front of my eyes. "So when he told me that he was selling me, all hell broke loose. I still cannot understand what really happened there, everything went black but when I came back to my senses, I heard my father calling me a Drüsje."

The Darkling nodded, "Then the Drüskelle came after you." he finished the story. "But before that incident you had absolutely no idea that you were Grisha, right?"

This time I was the one nodding. "Yes, the possibility hasn't crossed my mind before."

Slowly, he held my hand –which he had been gently caressing the whole time –and brought it to his lips. I couldn't help myself but shiver the moment his soft lips met my skin. "You are full of mysteries, Valkyrja Nørgaard." he said. "Thank you for sharing your story with me. Don't worry –my lips are sealed."

After he let go of my hand, we stood in silence for a while but this time it was not awkward or disturbing. I had become rather fond of feeling his presence next to me. An urge to laugh rose within me when I recalled how we had met the first time earlier that day.

"I have heard what you have done to the Drüskelle," the Darkling broke the silence between us, he was talking about the attack. "Your instincts are surprisingly strong and they manage to control your power in an incredible way. However, it is important for you to learn to do all that by yourself. You must learn to summon at will."

He raised his left arm into the air and shadows began to flow towards it, I was watching him with fascinated eyes. "Will I be able to do that?" I asked curiously, which caused the Darkling to chuckle softly.

"This? This is nothing compared to everything you can learn here in the Little Palace." he responded and put down his arm, causing the shadows to disappear. "Do you know what the different kefta colours stand for?"

I shook my head, "I don't know much about the Grisha either. I was mainly educated in different languages –father didn't want me messing with the Grisha stuff."

The Darkling ran his left hand through his raven hair before speaking. "Red is for the Corporalki, blue is for the Etherealki and purple is for the Materialki. Do you know what they are?" he asked, only to earn a small nod from me. "Good, you'll read a lot about the Grisha soon enough."

"Am I also considered an Etherealki?"

"Technically, yes. The Etherealki is the Order of the Summoners and you summon shadows." he responded, then the edge of his lip curled upwards. "You're wondering why I am wearing a black kefta, aren't you?"

I quickly shook my head but he was right, I did wonder why he didn't wear blue if he was technically an Etherealki. "No, I don't intend to question anything around here, at least not when I am still quite new to everything." I said. "Plus, black is your colour. Even I know that. Everyone knows that."

"Yes, you're right, black is my colour." the Darkling spoke while he sent me one of his dazzling looks. "But it doesn't have to be mine alone."

[Time Skip]

I thought that I'd not be able to sleep much that night since I had slept throughout the day but surprisingly I fell asleep as soon as I got under the covers.

After returning to my room, I had sat in front of the window and I had thought about the Darkling all night. He had made me forget all my worries about being a Fjerdan in the Little Palace, about my new life and about Evan, who carried a piece of my heart.

He was mysterious, which made it exciting to spend time with him but he was also magnetic. I could feel myself being drawn to him as soon as he laid his grey eyes on me even though we didn't exactly know each other.

And I still had no idea why.

Maybe it could have been his sincere behaviour towards me since it was something I didn't come across quite often. In fact, Evan had been the very first soul in my life to show me compassion so one could say that I was, in a way, hungry for love.

Which made it quite easy for someone to gain my trust and grow close to me but it didn't really bother me at that moment. It was scary how willing I was to welcome someone showing me the slightest bit of affection into my life but, well, daddy issues.

The next morning, I was already awake when I heard the knock on my door. Listening to Celina's caution, I had locked my door before going to sleep. As I got off the bed and wore my soft slippers, a yawn escaped my lips.

"Good morning, Fjerdan beauty." Celina sang out when I opened the door. She closed it behind herself and sent me a big smile. "Did you sleep well?"

I nodded as I stretched my arms. "It was probably the comfiest sleep I've had in my entire life." I responded. This time I was not naked –I had a light grey, satin nightgown on me.

Celina walked to the white wardrobe and took out the same grey shirt and black trousers as the previous night. My blue kefta was lying on one of the armchairs. "So today you'll begin your training as a Grisha." she began to explain as she handed me the clothes and watched me wear them. "First you'll meet Baghra –she'll be teaching you how to control your Grisha powers. Then you'll go to the library and read about the Grisha, the Small Science and all that stuff –as you see, I'm no expert on this. And after the lunch break you'll join the combat training of Botkin Yul-Erdene with the others."

"So I'll be with the other Grisha during the combat training?" I asked while I was wearing my black boots. Celina nodded. "Time for socialising, then."

"This will be your regular daily schedule during the weekdays, at least that's what the Darkling told me. At the weekends you'll probably continue seeing Baghra and reading in the library but other than that, you'll be free to do whatever you want inside the Little Palace." Celina said and then clapped her hands. "So –the breakfast. Do you want to join the others in the dining hall or do you want me to bring it here?"

"Will you be by my side if I join the others?"

Celina shook her head with a bitter expression on her beautiful face. "I'm sorry, Valkyrja but I'm not allowed there. I'm not Grisha, don't forget."

I sat on my bed with a small smile on my lips, "Then, in that case, I'll eat here."

The breakfast was pleasant and I realised that I really liked spending time with Celina. Because of the strictness of my father, I had never had a real friend –he had never allowed me to properly socialise back in Halmhend. Hence, having Celina around me felt like heaven and for once, I wasn't alone.

After showing me the way to Baghra's place, which actually looked like a cave, Celina went back to the Grand Palace. I took a deep breath, tidied my blue kefta and entered what I assumed to be a cave.

Celina had warned me that Baghra was a hard teacher but despite her hard methods, she'd always help her students reach the true power within them. Of course, that didn't change the fact this period was going to be difficult and I didn't even have the slightest idea about how summoning at will worked.

"Hello?" I asked and my voice echoed inside the cave, which was adorned with various plants. I wondered how they managed to grow so much even though the cave didn't have the slightest bit of sunshine. Inside was being illuminated by a single oil lamp.

A middle-aged woman with long, dark hair stepped out of the shadows. Her light blue eyes wandered on me for a while before she spoke. "So you're the new Shadow Summoner?" she said and motioned a chair with her head. "Sit."

I didn't know what got a hold of my but the moment I sat in front of Baghra, I found myself saying: "I don't know how to reach my powers."

A condescending look appeared on her face, "At least she knows what she can't do," she muttered under her breath. "How old are you, girl?"

"Twenty-two."

"And you haven't been tested before?"

I was surprised to see that there was someone who didn't know about my nationality. "I'm Fjerdan," I said, which caused Baghra to frown. "If I had been tested before, I wouldn't be sitting right in front of you at the moment."

"Are there any other Shadow Summoners in your family?" Baghra asked with an arched brow. I shook my head. "Strange, normally like calls to like but your case is clearly an exception."

This time I was the one with a frown, "What does that mean? Like calls to like?" I asked.

Baghra waved her hand in the air. "I'm not the one to lecture you about the Grisha theory, that's what the library is for." she said and took a deep breath. "Now, let's see how you summon the shadows."

As Baghra was reaching for my wrist, I shook my head. "I told you that I cannot summon…" I began to protest but I wasn't able to finish my words. My mouth opened wide the moment I saw what was happening around me.

When Baghra got a hold of my wrist, I felt something within me that was trying to break free but it was absolutely different than the time I got mad at my father or I was attacked by the Drüskelle. This time, it felt natural –not forced by survival instincts. Moreover, the feeling was not trying to crush me –it simply wanted to be free.

So I let it.

The moment I set that thing free, the moment I stopped trying to suppress it, shadows began to surround us. They were flowing towards me from the darkest corners of the cave, from beneath the furniture, from between the leaves of the plants –from everywhere!

Unlike the other times, in which my power was free, there was no havoc this time and I didn't feel drained either. It was natural, it was beautiful and most importantly, it made me feel like I had finally reached for that piece that had been hidden deep within myself for all my life.

I was a Grisha.

An Etherealki.

A Shadow Summoner.

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I hope you've liked this new chapter, how did you find the dynamic between Val and the Darkling? Let me know in the reviews :)