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.
Parts of this are taken (either verbatim or in amended form) from the short story 'The Tailor' that Leigh Bardugo wrote about Genya. However, this is AU so not all events happened as they did in canon.
Warnings for mentions of sexual assault (for what the King does to Genya).
Interlude: Genya
Genya was nine when the Darkling invited her to have tea with him.
It was an unheard-of honour for a student of her age, and her excitement and curiosity was tempered with plenty of nerves.
There were biscuits and pastries laid out on the table, as well as plenty of hot, sweet tea.
And there was an offer too, a chance to develop her skills in a way no other Grisha had in a long time.
She would be the first Tailor in nearly two and a half centuries.
That she would have to wear a kefta in servant colours did not seem to be a real issue to her. She was still Grisha, after all, and the Darkling explained he had a very important job for her.
She would train to be the Queen's personal Tailor and she would be the Darkling's eyes and ears in the Grand Palace.
"I have faith in you, Genya," he told her, "and I expect great things."
She looked at him, awestruck by the fact that the General of the Second Army thought she was worthy of such a vital job.
"Of course, it will be our secret," he said, "we wouldn't want the King and Queen to get the wrong idea. And you will report directly to me."
She nodded eagerly. The Darkling might be an otkazat'sya nightmare, but to the Grisha he was a saviour. To be given such a vital assignment was a distinction that was not to be ignored or refused.
His mouth twisted into a pleased, proud smile and in that moment Genya thought she would do anything he asked, if only to feel as important and seen as she did right then.
-x-x-x-
Genya was eleven when she starting working almost exclusively for the Queen, still training but far better than any of the otkazat'sya maids could ever hope to be.
It was fun at first, like a game.
"Pretty thing," the Queen would exclaim with a smile, "where shall we walk today? Shall we go to the gardens or take a trip into town?"
Though she wore a kefta in servant colours and was treated by most of the Grisha at the Little Palace with a disdain that dismayed and confused her, Genya was happy. The Queen cherished her, the court ladies doted on her, she had a wonderful new friend in Alina and the Darkling assured her she was fulfilling a key role.
Over time, though, things changed.
-x-x-x-
"Do my knuckles look swollen?" the Queen asked one evening, a few days after Genya's thirteenth birthday, "my rings feel tight."
"They look fine," she responded, for she could see absolutely nothing wrong.
The Queen frowned and Genya was quick to offer to fix the non-existent problem.
Still, the atmosphere was tense and for the first time she felt uneasy in the Queen's company.
Weeks later, the woman complained about the faint furrows on her forehead, "I still see a line."
"It won't look right if I keep going," Genya explained, "we could just –"
The Queen cut her off by rapping her hard across the hand with the golden handle of her hairbrush, "you're not fooling anyone. I won't let you make me look like a hag."
Genya drew her hand back, baffled, but pushed away her confusion and her tears, hoping the break between them could be repaired.
However, it seemed like some things could not be fixed.
Genya had only just turned fourteen the first time the King came to her room, the smell of wine on his breath and his hands pawing at her kefta.
She didn't shout or ask for assistance. She knew enough to be sure that help would not come.
She endured.
(inside her mind she screamed and screamed and screamed).
Perhaps she should have seen it coming … in the way the Queen's voice now flared with anger when she called Genya pretty, in the way the King's eyes would linger on her when he saw her, in the way the court ladies began to look at her like she was dirt, while the servants watched her with pity.
Genya was clever, but she hadn't ever predicted this.
-x-x-x-
The next day her daily walk took her to the Little Palace. She wanted to avoid the Grisha in the main hall, and especially Alina (poor, innocent Alina, who wouldn't understand why Genya's hands were trembling so much).
She used the entrance that led directly to the War Room and was surprised when the oprichnik standing guard went to take her request for an audience to the Darkling without any hesitation.
Was she doing the right thing? The Darkling has given her to the Queen and could easily turn her away, or punish her for making a complaint.
The oprichnik returned and gestured for her to follow him down the hall. She entered the War Room just as Ivan, Fedyor and a number of other high-ranking Grisha were leaving, and she turned her face away so they wouldn't see her nervous distress.
Her plan to be dignified and rational went out of the window as soon as the door closed behind her.
She burst into tears.
The Darkling did not chastise her, only sat her down, gave her a glass of water and waited for her to be calm.
"The King," she stuttered, "he came to my room."
His eyes darkened and she knew she didn't need to say anymore. The Darkling knew what the King was like … everyone knew.
She let out another sob and he wiped away the tears with his own kefta.
"If you tell me you cannot bear this, then I will send you from here and you need never wear servant colours or walk the halls of the Grand Palace again. You will be safe, I promise you that."
Genya looked up at him, not quite believing, "safe?"
He nodded, "yes, safe. But I can promise you this, too: you are a soldier. You could be my greatest soldier. And if you stay, if you can endure this, one day all will know it."
Stay, she thought to herself, could I really bear it?
He lifted her chin with his finger then and it felt like his gaze pierced straight into her soul, "do you know the King once cut himself on his own sword?"
A small laugh escaped her, the mood a little lighter, "he did?"
The Darkling nodded, the whisper of a grin on his lips, "he wears it constantly – just for show, mind you. He forgets it is not a toy by his side, but a weapon."
A weapon masquerading as a pretty little doll. Genya knew what he was telling her.
His face grew serious, "I can promise you safety, or I can promise to see your suffering repaid a thousandfold."
With the pad of his thumb, he brushed a stray tear from beneath her eye, "you decide, Genya."
The choice was the hardest she had ever had to make.
(in the back of her mind she briefly wondered if it even was a choice, or just the illusion of one).
"I am a soldier," she told him later that day, after hours of agonising deliberation.
The Darkling smiled.
"Those earrings are pretty," Alina said, "where did you get them?"
"Oh, they're nothing special," Genya told her with a breezy smile that she hoped didn't seem too forced, "something I found at a market stall last week, though I admit they do look very realistic."
(she wished she could have an Inferni burn them, dreamt of tossing them in the lake where she would never have to see them again, but the King liked his pretty things to wear his baubles and she would remain in place on her own personal battlefield, however different it looked to everyone else's).
"Now," she said to Alina, letting her long auburn hair fall so it would cover the earrings, "what are we going to do about this mess you call a braid?"
Genya was giving her report on the goings-on in the Grand Palace when Ivan came in with news from the city.
"Stay," the Darkling told her.
Once, she would have been delighted to be invited into the Darkling's confidence in this way. Now, though, she was starting to realise that there was always a price, always a hidden cost.
"One of our informants has reported a group of Shu visitors staying just outside the city. They're keeping a low profile but they've been heard muttering about how they might acquire the Sun Summoner."
The Darkling's eyes hardened, "deal with them," he ordered tersely, "I won't have threats against my Sun Summoner. Be quiet about it, though, I don't want any evidence of Grisha involvement."
Genya shuddered to think of what experiments Shu Han might subject Alina to if they got hold of her. The only known Sun Summoner would have been a great prize for the Shu scientists, who probably wouldn't have batted an eye at the idea of carving up a twelve-year-old girl. After all, they'd done worse to children even younger.
"And Ivan," the Darkling added, "see if we can get a spy placed near one of the Shu labs. I want to know what other plans they might have."
Genya knew the Shu visitors would not have easy deaths. Ivan's team would ensure every scrap of information was wrung from them before they killed them.
She didn't care.
Genya loved Alina fiercely. The younger girl never asked about the colour of Genya's kefta or listened to the rumours that were spread about the Tailor. No, Alina laughed and gossiped with Genya, whispered secrets and shot nasty looks at anyone who acted like the Tailor was lesser than the other Grisha.
There was no mercy in Genya for those who would seek to harm her best friend.
When Ivan left to carry out the Darkling's orders, Genya finished her report.
The King had decided the Grand Palace needed yet another (probably hideous) addition and was planning to tax the peasants to pay for it. The Queen had entertained a Fjerdan merchant in her private rooms for a suspiciously long time. Crown Prince Vasily had purchased an expensive racehorse (his third in the last year) and the King had needed to pay off another noble family who claimed Vasily had dishonoured their fifteen-year-old daughter.
She made to leave once she was finished, but the Darkling had other plans, requesting that she visit the Fabrikator Workshop with him.
Genya was thrilled at the chance to see David, but she kept her expression strictly neutral – the news about the Shu threat had clearly irritated the Darkling and when he was in such a mood it was best to avoid catching his attention.
They entered the Workshop, ignoring the others at work as they headed straight for the corner of the room that David had made his own.
She paused for a moment to admire him at work. Awkward as he was in social settings, David looked entirely at home in the Workshop (she was, in fact, fairly sure that he often went days without bothering to return to his room). There were plenty of handsomer Grisha to be found, but there was something about tall, pale David with his floppy brown hair falling into his eyes that made Genya's heart pound just a little bit faster.
The Darkling didn't bother with pleasantries, just demanded a piece of jewellery that was distinct enough that David would be able to track it.
The Durast appeared to see nothing odd in his instructions. All the Fabrikators, Genya was sure, often got strange requests.
It took just a few minutes of rummaging around in various boxes beforeDavid presented the Darkling with a ring. It was beautiful work – a mix of metals embedded with flecks of gold that made it look like a shimmering night sky.
"From the selection the King had us create two years ago," he explained.
Genya rolled her eyes at the memory. The King had kept the Durasts busy for a full week making pieces of jewellery for the Queen to choose from as a Birthday gift, as if the woman didn't already have enough.
"It's a unique blend of metals," David continued, "I'd be able to sense it, definitely within a mile, maybe two if we were in a rural area."
The Darkling looked pleased, "well done, David. Proving once again the many uses of a Durast."
He turned to her then, "Genya, I trust you can find a way to ensure our Sun Summoner keeps this ring on at all times."
Of course, she thought. The news about the would-be kidnappers would naturally have driven the Darkling to increase the already formidable protective measures that were in place to ensure Alina remained safe at the Little Palace.
She nodded quickly in agreement, knowing the Darkling wouldn't accept anything but a positive answer.
"And Genya," he added quietly, "no need to tell her about the tracking aspect. We wouldn't want to alarm her."
Genya nodded again, more warily this time. Alina would probably have no issues with the safety precaution, but if the time came when she tried to leave under her own power, the Darkling would not want her discarding the best way he would have to find her.
She felt the guilt rise inside her. This seemed like a betrayal of her friendship with Alina. And yet … the Darkling was the reason that Grisha were relatively safe in Ravka, the one who would continue to ensure their security – she owed him her allegiance for what he was doing to ensure the future of the Grisha.
Where else is safer for the Sun Summoner than the Little Palace? she thought to herself, and who could protect her better than the Darkling, the Grisha and her oprichniki?
She didn't even realise that the Darkling had left until there was a cough next to her.
"Sorry, I'll leave you to your work," she gave David a dazzling smile, although it was probably entirely pointless as he didn't seem to notice at all.
"You can take that," David gestured towards the bracelet she had been fiddling with while David showed the Darkling the ring, "I don't need it anymore.
He turned back to his work without another word and Genya sighed. No matter how hard she tried, she only ever managed to grab his attention for fleeting moments.
Still, as she looked more closely at the bracelet, she realised it was made of beads the same shade of amber that she saw in the mirror every day.
The exact shade of her eyes.
She started smiling. It seemed like there was hope yet.
-x-x-x-
Genya gave the ring to Alina the next morning.
"I bought it when I went into the city earlier this week. The flecks of gold made me think of you."
Her friend beamed, immediately putting it on and admiring the way it looked in the sunlight, "it's beautiful."
Genya felt like the world's worst friend as she spun a story to persuade Alina to keep the ring close.
"The woman who made it said it would bring luck to the light," Genya added, "so I knew it was meant for you. It's just a silly bit of superstition, but I'll feel better if you're always wearing it."
"I'll never take it off," Alina promised, "you're such a good friend, Genya."
Am I? Genya wondered, it's all to keep you safe, but am I really doing the right thing?
She wished she knew for sure.
Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.
The next chapter should be out on Friday.