Disclaimer: I don't own the Grisha Trilogy and its characters – it belongs to Leigh Bardugo. I do not own the Shadow & Bone TV series, which was developed by Eric Heisserer for Netflix and based on Leigh Bardugo's books. Any recognisable dialogue is from the books or TV show – some lines may be included verbatim, others in an amended form.
This chapter features the Darkling's POV during chapters 1 and 2.
Interlude: The Darkling
Aleksander was in his War Room, going over troop movements with some of his Grisha, when the messenger was announced.
"Moi soverennyi," the man bowed his head, voice trembling.
"What is it?" he asked coldly.
"I bring a message from Katya Zaitseva."
He knew Katya. She was a talented Heartrender who had recently given birth to her first child and was spending some time working as an examiner, planning to return to the field when her child was a little older. She was sensible and clever, unlikely to have bothered him for a trifling matter.
"Go ahead."
The man looked nervously around at the room, full of a dozen Grisha and a handful of oprichniki. Clearly, he believed the message contained sensitive information – whether that was true or not remained to be seen.
"Ivan, Fedyor, stay. The rest of you – out."
The room cleared quickly and Aleksander focused his attention back on the messenger, "speak."
"The examiners were visiting an orphanage at Keramzin to test the children. They found a girl there."
"Katya is fully aware of the protocol when a Grisha child is discovered and does not need to send a messenger. What else?"
"The girl … the girl …"
The room darkened, the shadows creeping forward proof of Aleksander's irritation growing.
"The girl made light," the man exclaimed.
"What did you say?" he asked, voice barely a whisper but easy to hear in the silent room.
"They tested the girl and she lit up the room."
Something roared inside Aleksander. Finally, after so many years, a Sun Summoner.
"Where is the girl?"
"They're bringing her here. They weren't too far behind me, probably only six hours or so."
"Ivan, Fedyor, be there to greet them when they arrive and bring them to my receiving room. In the meantime, we will send some of the oprichniki out to meet them and help guard their coach for the last part of their journey – plain clothes, no uniforms, I don't want to draw any attention."
Ivan and Fedyor bowed their heads and left the room. The messenger remained, still shaking slightly, until Aleksander waved his hand in dismissal.
Mere hours and she would be here. The Sun Summoner he had been waiting for.
He allowed himself a satisfied smile as he looked over the map of Ravka on the table in front of him.
Everything was about to change. The plans he had made over years, decades, centuries were finally going to be able to come to fruition.
He moved to the desk at the side of the room and unlocked one of the drawers, taking out a small piece, made of pale birch and in the shape of a sun. He had commissioned it nearly seven decades ago, when this War Room had been completed, and it had gathered dust since as he waited and waited.
He placed the figure on top of the map at the spot marking the Little Palace, next to the ebony piece that represented himself.
Everything was falling into place. True, the Sun Summoner was a child and nothing could really be done yet but. to one as old as him, five or ten years meant very little.
Soon, he thought to himself, soon the Grisha will be safe. Soon Shu Han and Fjerda will learn to truly fear us, and Ravka will be victorious.
It was all starting to come together now.
His Sun Summoner was a small, sickly scrap of a girl, nothing like the mythical figure of light that the stories and legends spoke of.
He had no issues with her appearance, though. Proper meals and regular use of her gift would soon turn her into a more robust child, and she had plenty of time to grow – she was only eight years old after all.
In the hours before her arrival at the Little Palace he had thought carefully on how best to deal with her.
Children in general irritated him. They were unpredictable, prone to tantrums, unable to understand complex arguments and not capable of caring for themselves. This wasn't just any child, though, but the Sun Summoner – he had to tread carefully.
He was well aware of his reputation. His Grisha loved him, but they feared him too, as they should. However, this girl would be different. Of course, she should respect him, but she would one day be the closest thing to an equal that he could have and he did not particularly wish to frighten her.
In the end Aleksander struck a careful balance. He was imposing but polite, cool but allowing some calculated kindness to show.
He called her solnyshko to put her at ease. He did not get angry when she became overwrought and began weeping, only sent her off to bed to rest. He gave her a few of the answers she wanted to make it seem like he was confiding in her. He couched his assignment of guards in terms of her safety. When they visited the Grand Palace, he planted the seeds in her mind of the King's incompetence, although even a child hardly needed much encouragement to see the wasteful excess and ineptitude of the Lantsov Dynasty.
His duties as General of the Second Army would keep him away from the Little Palace for long stretches of time. What he wanted was to ensure that Alina Starkov trusted him implicitly and remained where he (or his men) could keep an eye on her while she trained.
It would be years until she had the strength to wear an amplifier and enter the Fold, but he didn't want her wandering off or getting kidnapped before then. When the time came, she needed to believe completely in his vision for the future.
Aleksander's larger current concern, though, was the attachment she had to her otkazat'sya friend back at the orphanage where she had been discovered.
The girl's request to write to her friend had been a problem he hadn't anticipated. At first, he had tried to put her off entirely, but her distress suggested that barring her from sending anything at all might cause more trouble in future. The last thing he needed was for her to spend years worried by a lack of closure.
She was still so young. There was clearly no use in him trying to explain to her the many reasons why correspondence with her old friend was a bad idea. For one, spies could easily intercept the letters, and he wanted to keep Alina Starkov under wraps for as long as possible. It would also be far easier in the long run for her to cut ties with any otkazat'sya friends – he suspected that she would live for just as long as him, and it wouldn't do for her to be distracted by a boy who would be dust soon enough, a brief interlude in her likely eternal life.
The compromise of allowing her to write one letter seemed to be the best route. She would be satisfied that she had done her duty by her friend, and then she would hopefully allow herself to fully embrace life at the Little Palace.
He checked the letter, of course, to ensure it contained nothing dangerous.
It was thankfully short, as requested, and seemed to consist mostly of Alina's repeated apologies.
He scoffed at the idea that she should feel the need to beg the boy's pardon for something she had no control over, for something that made her more special than any unimportant otkazat'sya would ever be.
This Malyen Oretsev was clearly a foolish boy that his little Sun Summoner would be far better off without.
"Keep her away from the Grand Palace," Aleksander said as his men finished packing around him, "if the King pushes for another meeting or the Apparat starts nosing around then stall them and send a messenger to me."
The six other men in the room nodded. He had gathered the oprichniki who would now guard Alina to give them instructions for his absence. He expected to be travelling to visit various army camps for at least four months, though it was more likely to be six, and he wanted to ensure they understood their duties.
"Miss Starkov is not to leave the palace grounds. If she asks, it is for her safety. If that does not satisfy her then you may tell her she can speak with me on my return. If for some reason she attempts to leave on her own then she is to be confined to her room with only Genya Safin allowed to visit, again, for her own safety."
He handed them all sheets of paper, "this is her schedule. If she encounters any serious difficulties then speak with Ivan or Fedyor, if they are here, or send a messenger to me."
"You can remain in the background for her regular lessons," he added, "but I want you to stay close whenever she goes to train with Baghra. If the old woman starts to say anything … dangerous then Alina isn't to see her until I've returned and spoken to her."
His mother was the one person he struggled to read. She was likely to be the biggest obstacle in his quest to ensure Alina developed her power but remained safely under his control. Baghra was often a law unto herself and she was frustratingly negative about his plans for the future.
His instincts told him that, if Baghra was going to interfere and try to persuade Alina to escape his grasp, she would wait until the girl was older and able to look after herself. Still, it didn't hurt to err on the side of caution in this matter.
"Above all," he concluded, "keep her safe and secure here."
"Yes, moi soverennyi," they all promised in unison.
He didn't waste his time with threats detailing what would happen to them if Alina was kidnapped or seriously harmed. All his oprichniki knew his power, and they were all well aware of the price he would extract for failure.
Not too far away, just down the corridor, he knew Alina Starkov would be preparing for her first day of classes.
Perhaps her mind would be preoccupied by the letter some of his men would take to Keramzin when they passed through the area in a few weeks.
Soon, though, she would be busy enough that she would think of little besides her lessons and learning to call her light.
A child's mind was malleable. With time and a little work the girl would soon forget her old life and embrace her new one.
He would ensure it.
Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter, about Alina's first day of lessons, should be out on Friday or Saturday.