I was still laughing while the Darkling and I were getting dressed –the Darkling, too, had a smirk on his lips that he didn't wipe away. I knew Celina was going to literally bomb me with a thousand questions as soon as she found the opportunity and I was going to laugh for another round.

"So, you kept asking Celina about me while I was gone?" the Darkling asked. He had finished dressing up before I did, so he was watching me as he leant the dresser with his arms crossed over his chest.

I turned my eyes away while I buttoned my black kefta. "I might have," I muttered but I couldn't resist the urge to look at him –I felt his strong gaze on me. He was looking at me with an arched brow, which made me roll my eyes at him. "Fine, I did badger her to death because I grew impatient."

"You certainly missed me." the Darkling spoke with a cocky tone and I wanted to throw a glass at him to wipe that conceited smile from his lips.

I was aware that my feelings for him were dangerously imbalanced –one moment I wanted to kiss him until I fell asleep in his arms, and the next I wanted to smash a glass at his face.

I raised an eyebrow at him as I mimicked his tone. "You're a fine one to talk, moi soverennyi."

He laughed softly while he walked towards me. He cupped my face as he looked down at me and once again, I found myself desperately yearning to kiss him. I had never born such imbalanced feelings for anyone before and to be honest, it made me feel scared. His effect on me was frightening, yet it excited me to the core.

"Today, after your lesson with Baghra, we will go horse riding." he said and added upon seeing the look in my jade-green eyes. "I know you can't really ride a horse, that's why we're going together –I'll be there to instruct you myself."

"I thought you didn't have time to waste with simple things like teaching me to ride a horse." I spoke with a low voice. "You are the leader of the Second Army, after all."

The Darkling took a deep breath as he caressed my cheek, "The Winter Fete is approaching, the King has diverted all his focus to the upcoming celebrations." he muttered with an irritated tone. "This is all a waste of time but as I have told you before, the King is a child and he loves to show off with his wealth whenever he is to host a celebration."

I placed my hand on top of his, "Hence he doesn't drag you much from one meeting to another?" I suggested and he nodded slowly.

"You could say that," he said and leant into me, I could feel his warm breath licking my lips. "And I intend to spend this rather flexible time-span training you."

We shared a small kiss; however, all I could think about was the fact that he believed I was ready to be trained by him but in fact, I wasn't. Well, at least that was what Baghra would tell him the moment he brought up the subject. I, however, felt ready. I felt strong enough to move to the next level.

Apparently, the Darkling felt my disturbance simply from the way I kissed him. He parted our lips with a frown on his face. "There's something bothering you."

Taking a deep breath, I got out of his hold and walked towards the windows. My back was facing him. "Have you talked with Baghra?" I asked him but I already knew the answer, therefore I wasn't surprised when I heard him say no. "She… doesn't think I am ready. She doesn't think I am strong enough."

"What do you think?" the Darkling asked and I turned back to face him. I leant the wall behind me.

"I feel ready and I know that I am stronger than many others around here," I clenched my fists unwittingly. "But Baghra doesn't think so, she expects me to create a shadow cloud as wide as the lake and uphold it for a long time without an Amplifier!"

I got so carried away in my rage and I didn't realise that I brought up the Amplifiers to the Darkling as well. There was a different look inside his slate-grey eyes that I could not decipher but I could tell one thing for sure –right now, the man standing in front of me was not the same man that was kissing me a while ago.

A frown appeared on my face when I saw that he wasn't speaking. "Are you disappointed in me?" I asked and I was surprised that my voice neither shook nor sounded timid.

The Darkling shook his head, "No, I'm not," he spoke with his deep voice. "I know that you're trying your best, Valkyrja but I cannot give you some random Amplifier."

I let out an irritated laughter. "It's almost disturbing that Baghra also said the same thing." I said, which caused him to raise an eyebrow. "She told me that a regular Amplifier would not help me for I was already remarkably strong. I don't get what you two mean with… regular Amplifiers and believe me, I have read a lot about the Amplifiers while you were gone."

The Darkling opened his mouth to speak; however, he swallowed his words as his eyes found the clock in my bedroom. "We will talk about this later," he said, walked towards me to leave a quick kiss on my lips and then, without another word, he left me alone in my bedroom.

He was just imbalanced as my feelings for him –one moment he kissed me as if I was more important than his next breath, then the next he was distant and mysterious. Something within me was telling me that the thing between us –whatever that was in the first place, I had no idea –was not going to be easy.

And I couldn't tell whether he was the only problem for I had realised that I was beginning to chance. I was not the sweet, easy-going, naïve girl I used to be when I first arrived in the Little Palace.

The moment I overcame my fear of the dark, the moment I felt my own power within my hands, someone within me awakened from her deep slumber. She was hungry for power, she was impatient and she always wanted more: more power, more strength, more of the Darkling…

She was the reason why I had grown rather fond of the legacy of my ancestors, the Svartkonst and why I had been reading about the darkest of the rituals. Sometimes, whenever I felt vulnerable or weak, she would tell me to try those wicked things out.

She wanted to know about merzost, so I let her know. She wanted to ask Leon about his knowledge on merzost, so I let her ask. Whenever the Darkling's skin was against mine, she wanted more of him, so I wanted more. She stoked my already burning desire for him.

And the worst part –I liked it. I liked everything she did.

[Time Skip]

I thought I would have a good appetite during the breakfast since, well, the Darkling had returned and had spent the night with me but no, my hand still felt as heavy as a reindeer while I forced myself to eat something. I was anxious to meet Baghra, I was always anxious to meet her for I knew another horrible lesson awaited me each time.

At least she had given up on waking me up at sunrise.

Once again, she made me create a giant wall of shadows, spread it around the lake's surface and hold it like that as long as I could. I tried my best, I put in every single effort but the result was the same –it never changed. After the fifth minute my knees went weak, my head began to spin and if I dared to resist and try holding a little longer, blood came from my nose.

"Baghra, please, let me try something else!" I was literally begging her, I was on my knees. "We have tried this countless times and the result never changes."

Baghra rolled her eyes at me. "What do you expect me to teach you when you cannot even hold your shadows for longer than a few minutes? These are the first steps, girl, and you are incapable of taking them."

I felt rage rising within me as I rose to my feet. "You don't even give me a chance to prove myself!" I found myself shouting at Baghra. "Maybe this is what I'm bad at –holding many, many shadows around. Maybe I cannot carry their weight but there has to be something else I'm good at."

"Teach her the Cut."

I immediately turned back upon hearing his deep voice. The Darkling was standing behind Baghra and I with his arms crossed over his chest. I wondered for how long he had been there –had he seen the way I lost power and fell onto my knees every time I attempted to hold the shadows above the lake?

Baghra let out a condescending laughter. "She cannot hold the shadows, boy and you want me to teach her the Cut?" she spoke with a patronising tone and for the first time, I found myself wondering how in the world did the Darkling let Baghra address him as boy. "Do you want to see your hope failing once again? Wasn't the previous show enough for you?"

I could tell that the Darkling didn't like it when Baghra questioned him, his tone was hard when he spoke and it almost made me cower. "Do not question me, old woman."

Baghra muttered something under her breath that I couldn't catch, then she turned to me while pointing at a tree on my left. "Fine," she said. "Cut that tree in a half."

I blinked at her. How was I supposed to do that?

"Have gone deaf, girl?" Baghra was still pointing at the tree. I heard the Darkling heaving a sigh.

"Step aside," he told Baghra, who sent him a dangerous look in return. The two shared an eerie, twisted bond that I wasn't able to understand. I felt some kind of relief when the Darkling took Baghra's place next to me. "The Cut is a very powerful ability that only a few, strongest Grisha are capable of performing."

Great, I'll make an absolute fool of myself in front of him.

As I watched him carefully, the Darkling moved his right hand in a curve as if he was cutting the air. The shadows acted as blades and they cut the tree in a half. The upper half of the tree fell onto the grassy grounds with a loud thud. My eyes were wide with both amusement and shock.

Apparently, it was my turn to try for the Darkling was looking at me with expectation in his slate-grey eyes. I felt a huge weight falling on my chest, my stomach was in knots and my palms were sweating –I was afraid to disappoint him and prove Baghra right.

I took a deep breath and repeated his movement. Nothing happened.

"Do not control the shadows," the Darkling spoke with a silk-like voice, I could feel his eyes on me but I couldn't find the courage to meet his gaze. I keep looking at the half-cut tree in front of me. "Be one with them." Closing my eyes, I took deep breaths. "Imagine yourself being one with the darkness residing inside the cracks between the barks on the tree."

I followed his instructions and as I pictured myself one with the darkness between the barks, I actually felt myself being drawn there –being drawn inside the cracks. In fact, if I paid close attention to it, the little voice inside my head whispered to me what to do when the time was right. Hence I waited, I took deep breaths and waited for that voice to give me the signal.

I could feel both the Darkling and Baghra growing impatient as they waited.

When I heard the little voice whispering to me it was time, I made the slicing movement with my right hand. Then, I opened my eyes with the noise filling my ears –I had successfully cut the remaining half of the tree.

With a wide smile on my lips, I turned right to look at the Darkling. He had a small smile on his lips as his slate-grey eyes shone the same way they did when he saw me summoning the shadows on my own for the first time. If we weren't on the grounds in front of people's eyes, I'd throw my arms around his neck and pull him into a kiss –I felt so happy and at the same time so strong.

Baghra let out an unpleasant grunt, "If you kept me waiting any longer, I'd have started growing roots myself." she said and went straight to her hut. I couldn't help myself but roll my eyes at her words, which didn't escape the Darkling's attention.

"She is actually impressed," he winked at me. "She just doesn't like it when I do her job."

I knew my eyes were shining when I looked at him, "Thank you," I whispered. "I guess I needed to be reminded what I was capable of."

The Darkling pushed a strand of raven hair behind my ear and he intentionally let his fingertips brush my face, "I don't want you doubting your own power ever again, Valkyrja." his tone was soft but strict at the same time. I nodded at his words. "Baghra has her own way of doing things and she may go hard on you but never let this demoralise you."

Then, he held me from my hand and my eyes immediately began to wander between his face and our hands. "Aleksander," I whispered at him, I knew my cheeks carried the hints of pink. "There are people around us."

"In that case," he said and made me hold his upper arm with a small smirk on his lips. "Let's seem formal. Come now –I'll take you to the horses."

[Time Skip]

After taking the beautiful, black horses from the barn; I followed the Darkling to a riding area behind the Grand Palace and on our way, I told him about my encounter with the Queen. He took a deep breath when I mentioned to him that the Queen wanted me to be formally introduced to the King.

"I knew he would want to meet you sooner or later," the Darkling muttered as he ran his free hand through his black hair. We were walking with the horses, holding them from the reins. I had ridden a horse before but I was quite an inexperienced rider –Evan used to let me ride when his father allowed him to take the horses. "I will arrange a small dinner with the Lantsov family after the Winter Fete is over."

I rolled my eyes, "Great, I'll have to be extra careful not to cut Vasily in half." I spoke with a low voice but it was loud enough for the Darkling to hear. A soft laugh left his lips.

"An excellent experience to teach you how to be political."

"Not throwing my plate at the Crown Prince is being political?"

"Exactly."

"Then, I don't like being political."

The Darkling sent me a quick look, "Neither do I, Valkyrja but only the pawn with the perfect poker face reaches the end of the board and becomes a Queen." he smirked upon seeing the impressed look on my face. "I see you're fascinated by my analogy."

I quickly wiped that expression off my face. "Now I want to throw my plate at you, moi soverennyi."

We were inside the riding arena. The Darkling tied his horse to a wooden post, then he walked towards me. I stopped, my horse also stopped, and I set my wondering eyes on the Darkling as he approached me. I felt my heart beating faster when he looked down at me, his frame was towering over mine.

He pushed a strand of raven hair behind my ear, "You'd throw the plate at a wall," he spoke with a seductive voice. "Because you care too much about me to hurt me, moya lyubova." He cast a quick look around us to make sure we were alone, then he leant into me and planted a small kiss on my lips.

Once again, I found myself swaying between a burning desire, freshly awakening romantic feelings, and a violent hatred, a roaring rage. I didn't want him to let me go, I wanted him to kiss me until the end of the world; however, I also hated him for being able to see through me without an effort and I got so angry for he was right about everything he said.

Bearing all those strong feelings together within me was in fact poisoning me –it was slowly and painfully corroding me from the inside and I had no idea how to stop it. I wanted to pour the venom into our kiss, I wanted the Darkling to taste what he had done to me, what he was doing to me, and what he will be doing to me. But I couldn't.

Because I cared too much about him to hurt him.

Instead, I let myself drown in that venom, bit by bit.

I don't know if the slow change in Val's personality drew your attention before this chapter but now, it is pretty obvious, at least I believe so.

Yes, I'll corrupt her. This has been my plan all along (:

Of course, her relationship with the Darkling is not the main reason for this -it is the hunger for power that'll ruin her. This is all that I can say without spoiling anything.

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