The rest of the lesson was a total disaster.

Baghra wanted me to concentrate on the feeling that arose when she somehow helped me set my power free and she told me to call it once again but without her help. Of course, I had no idea how to do that so my every single attempt failed.

At the end Baghra literally kicked me out of her place as she shouted after me: "Do not come back here until you learn to embrace the Grisha within yourself!"

Well, bad news –I had no idea how to do that either.

I was clueless about everything, which left me feeling all alone and like a stranger once again. I thought that being aware of the fact that I was Grisha would be enough for my powers to start obeying my will but I was awfully wrong.

According to Baghra, I was forcefully keeping the power locked up inside me and I wasn't setting it free. It didn't have to be intentional, which was probably the case since I didn't really know why I wasn't able to set my power free. I had to discover what was keeping me from reaching my true potential and in order to do that, I needed to get in touch with my inner self.

But the problem was, I had never tried to reach my inner self before and I doubted its existence –if it really existed, then I'd have felt its presence at some point during my twenty-two-years life.

After leaving Baghra's place, I went straight to the library –Celina had shown me the way that morning. I was overmuch upset and the only thing I wanted was to lose myself between the yellow pages of the books.

I always had an appetite for learning new things, it was because my father rarely let me read something other than Fjerdan history and language books. One time, I wanted to read about the Grisha so badly that I spent the whole day crying to my father but it didn't work. Hence, knowledge about the Grisha had always been like some kind of a forbidden fruit for me.

And now, I was obliged to read about them, their theory and their history –which was probably the best thing that had happened to me in quite a while. Moreover, it helped me forget about how big of a failure I was, at least for a couple of hours.

When Celina came to inform me that it was lunch time, I had just finished reading about the Small Science and what Baghra had told me earlier: Like calls to like. She was trying to mean that a bloodline having a Shadow Summoner should also bear other powerful Grisha. However, when a bloodline of Otkazat'sya, which was a term used to refer to people without Grisha powers, bore a Shadow Summoner, it was not like calling to like.

It was odd and unexpected.

Celina told me that she had to be at the Grand Palace for the Queen was having guests, which made me understand that I was going to eat my meal alone. So I followed her into the kitchens, took my plate and went outside.

I ate my lunch by the lake –it was rather peaceful and I was glad that every other Grisha was eating in the dining hall. It provided me some time to relax and after finishing my meal, I lied onto the grass with closed eyes and hands under my head. It felt nice being able to absorb some sunlight during winter –in Fjerda we usually spent many days even without getting a glimpse of the sun.

"Why are you eating here, all alone?"

My eyes opened as his deep voice filled my ears. With slow movements, I straightened and sat on the grass –my empty plate was standing right next to me. "Being alone on my own is better than being alone in a crowd." I responded and watched the Darkling as he sat near me. As always, he was wearing his black kefta. "Celina had to deal with the Queen's guests."

"Do you like her?" he asked me and his tone made me think that he was asking this out of curiosity, not out of formality.

I nodded, "I think we are going to be good friends, Celina and I." I said and sent him a small smile. "Thank you for giving me that chance."

The sunrays were melting when they touched his raven hair, "So, how was your time with Baghra?"

"Am I allowed to be blunt?" I asked, which he nodded in return. "An absolute disaster."

I could swear my heart stopped beating for a moment when a soft giggle left the Darkling's lips. "If it'll help you feel better, I can tell you that most Grisha leave the place in tears after their first lesson with Baghra." he said but a frown appeared on his face when he saw that I wasn't laughing. "There's something else troubling you."

I hugged my knees as I spoke after making sure that we were alone. "I do not get my role in all this, Aleksander." The Darkling's slate-grey eyes shone for a brief moment when he heard his real name rolling of my tongue. "You treat me different, as if I am someone of great importance but I have no idea why I'm actually here."

The Darkling kept silent for a while, "What do you know about the Shadow Fold, Valkyrja?" he asked when he finally spoke, causing me to send him a confused look in return. I couldn't understand the connection between my place in this story and the Shadow Fold.

"Not much," I responded as I played with the grass. "It divides Ravka into east and west parts and consequently isolates East Ravka from the rest of the world. That's why the Fjerdans are rather fond of it."

"So you don't know anything about its history, do you?"

"I told you, my father never let me read about the Grisha or anything related to them."

"But the story of the Shadow Fold is quite famous, you should've at least heard about it in school."

I turned my eyes away when he mentioned school. Unlike last night, I didn't think twice when I began to tell him about my past. "I was home-schooled; my father didn't let me socialise much." I said with a low voice. "I never knew the reason behind it but he was intentionally keeping me away from everything about the Grisha. I would spend most of my time at home translating documents or working as a translator in governmental offices in Halmhend."

The soft look inside his grey eyes was spellbounding. "Now I understand why you never gave me the accusing look." he said, which only caused my confusion to grow. "The Shadow Fold was created many centuries ago by a Grisha known as the Black Heretic." The Darkling took a deep breath as sadness and regret fell on his face. "He was a Shadow Summoner."

My eyes widened with shock upon hearing his words. "Was he your… ancestor?" I asked timidly since I couldn't really predict how his reaction was going to be. He could laugh at my words, or shout angrily at me for asking such a question but what he did was giving a simple nod.

A simple head movement that contained the weight of a dozen generations, which was resting on his shoulders.

"All my life, people blamed me for what my ancestor created in his quest for more and more power. The knives have always been out for me –as far as I can recall, I've been the scapegoat for the Black Heretic's mistakes." I could feel his sadness in his voice and for the first time, he was not wearing the façade of a cold, merciless leader. He was letting me get a glimpse of the broken boy lying underneath his awfully beautiful face. "This is why it's so important for me to fix what the Black Heretic has done wrong –apart from the damage caused to Ravka by the Fold, I carry the responsibility of its creation, whether I want it or not."

I didn't know where I got the courage from but I found myself placing my right hand on top of his left one and I began to caress the back of his hand, just like he had done to me the previous night. The Darkling's grey eyes wandered on our hands for a few seconds before returning to my jade-green ones once again.

"Do you have control over the Fold?" I asked with a soft voice because I feared sounding a little too pushy with a topic that was very much sensitive for him.

He shook his head, "No, unfortunately I don't. When I go inside, the volcra in there –they are wicked creatures that live inside the Fold and feast on human flesh –see me as a human beacon." he responded. "They, too, are a creation of the Black Heretic."

The words almost automatically fell from my lips. "Like calls to like."

"Exactly –like calls to like." he repeated my words. "Only a Sun Summoner can destroy the Fold but there hasn't been any Grisha with the power of the light so far." Slowly, he withdrew his left hand from underneath my right one and moved it to my face. As he pushed a strand of raven hair behind my ear, he continued to speak. "Throughout history, the only bloodline of Shadow Summoners has been the one I belong to, which means that there must be something special about you, Valkyrja." The fingertips of his left hand traced my features and once again, his touch was causing me to shiver. "I do not know what it is yet but I believe that it can help us get rid of the Shadow Fold once and for all."

My eyes widened with shock upon hearing his words. He really thought that I was the key to the destruction of the Fold? Me –a twenty-two-year-old Fjerdan girl who had just learnt about the history of the Fold itself?

I began to shake my head, which caused the Darkling to pull his hand away from my face. "I'm not a Sun Summoner –how do you expect me to do something that you couldn't do in the first place?"

His voice was calm and soothing when he spoke. "A Sun Summoner can destroy the Fold from within but they cannot control the Fold itself. I can't do that on my own either, I've told you that." The Darkling stood up slowly and then he offered me his hand to help me stand. "But the essence of your shadows is different than of the Fold. You may have the power to control it. Together, we can achieve so many things, Valkyrja."

The excitement in his voice was impossible to miss and I'd except it to make me happy when I saw how much hope I was giving to him but instead I began to feel under pressure. He was expecting too much from me and I feared that I wouldn't be strong enough to help him. I mean, I couldn't even summon at will and he was talking about destroying the Fold.

I was afraid of disappointing him for I had seen how much of a burden the Black Heretic's creation was on the Darkling's shoulders. All his life, the Darkling had been blamed for something that wasn't his fault in the first place and I couldn't even imagine for how long he had been carrying this responsibility which wasn't his to bear.

It all broke my heart but I was also glad that he had shared such personal stuff with me –it showed that he trusted me with his deepest sorrows.

After I took my plate from the ground, we began to walk to the Little Palace. It seemed like the other Grisha were finished with their meals since we weren't alone in the grounds anymore –people wearing blue, red and purple kefta were everywhere.

"Once you began to summon at will, we will try and see whether my assumption is true." the Darkling said, which caused me to send him a terrified look. He let out an attractive laughter and again, my heart skipped a beat. He looked even more handsome when he laughed. "Don't worry, I will not throw you into the Fold –you'll work with my shadows."

I turned my eyes away in shame, I was such a moron –he was telling me about the burden he had been carrying for all his life a moment ago and I was thinking that he would send me to the Fold. I could feel heat rushing to my face. "Well, that makes sense." I muttered, hoping that he wouldn't hear.

Once we entered the Little Palace under the questioning looks of the Grisha passing by, the Darkling held me from my upper arm. I looked into his grey eyes as I stopped walking. "I think the reason why your father restricted you your whole life was that he has always known about the real you."

A frown appeared on my face. "What do you mean?"

He motioned my raven hair, "Your hair gives that away on the first sight –you are not an ordinary Fjerdan girl. Tell me, Valkyrja, how many of your ancestors have raven hair?" he asked and as he was expecting, he didn't get an answer from me. "Exactly –none."

Great, now there was another thing that was going to gnaw away at my mind all the time.

"Good luck with your training with Botkin –you're going to need that." the Darkling said, winked at me and climbed the stairs, leaving me drowning in an ocean of thoughts, worries and maybes.

Now he's showing the broken boy, Baghra would definitely do an exaggerated eye-roll if she saw the way Val fell for the Darkling's lies but I mean, who wouldn't?

I hope you've enjoyed the chapter, I really want to know your opinion about the story so far in the reviews!!

As always, thank you all for the huge interest in the story -I couldn't be happier!