CHAPTER 2

That night I dreamed about the Shadow Fold, about Mal and Baghra. And I dreamed about the Darkling. I still could feel his breath on my neck, his hands on my hips. I went to the bathroom and cleaned my face, removing traces of his kisses. Pull yourself together, Alina!

When I put on my blue kefta, Genya's voice in my head said, "You looked better in black." And this time I couldn't argue with her.

The domed room was full of people talking about yesterday's fete. After Maria and Nadia understood that they won't get anything from me except yes and no, they left me with my food. I was moving the reminders around my plate, when the room became quite. I felt his eyes on me and, to my surprise, relaxed for the first time since I woke up.

The Darkling approached our table and said, "Alina, come with me."

I murmured "See you late" and followed him.

We walked in silence until we reached the lake.

"Did you sleep well?" he finally asked.

"Yeah… And you?"

He laughed and flashes of my dream appeared I'm my mind. "You are a terrible liar."

I didn't try to deny it. "I know."

Once we were in front of Baghra's door he looked at me and asked, "Ready?"

Without waiting for my answer he pushed the door and went inside. I took a deep breath and followed.

Baghra looked up from her teacup with a frown and murmured "Foolish girl!"

"Good morning" said the Darkling ignoring her.

"Morning" I mumbled.

Baghra stared at us in silence and the Darkling finally said, "You shouldn't have done it. If you have any problems with my plans for the future you can discuss them with me. There was no reason to drag Alina into it. Especially by telling lies."

"Lies? Who's talking! How many lies did you tell her? You just want her to be on your side when the war starts!" she snapped.

"The war?" I asked and they both looked at me.

"When she says war" the Darkling explained "she means the war that my father plans to start." He turned and looked at Baghra "but he won't. Because he is dead."

"Ha! Foolish boy" she snorted and looked at me. "Let me explain it to you, girl. Our power is part of us. It can't exist separately for a long time. You saw him doing boom!" she clapped her hands. "and everything goes dark?"

I nodded.

"What do you think will happen if he leaves the room? Do you think the darkness will stay there forever?"

I never thought about this before. Instead of answering, I looked at the Darkling.

"Don't look at him! Look at me" Baghra shouted and I flinched.

"Don't shout at her" the Darkling said quietly. "If I leave the room, Alina, the darkness will disappear in a few minutes."

"The power needs the source" interrupted Baghra. "No source, no power."

"Her point is" said the Darkling and I could see that he was running out of patience, "that the Fold has a source. But it's not my father. Until now it was impossible to find the source, but with your help we can do it."

"Your ambitions are gonna get all of us into trouble!" Baghra snapped at him. "What do you think, girl?"

"I don't mind trouble." I said quietly trying to hold her gaze.

"I'm glad that we have an agreement" the Darkling smiled.

Baghra was about to say something, but he put up his hand and said, "Enough!" in such a cold voice, that the tension in the room became almost unbearable. "I don't have time to discuss it. You will continue your lessons like before."

He looked at me "Do you have more questions, Alina?"

I had millions. What happened between you and Baghra that made your relationship so tense? Is it related to your father? Are you just using me?

But all I said was "No."

"Good. I'll see you later" and with that words he left the hut.

I didn't dare to look at Baghra until she finally said, "All this is a big mistake."

"Don't you think he is old enough to make his own mistakes?" I was getting tired of this discussion.

"I don't mind him making mistakes, but some mistakes can lead to death or even worse than death! Do you want him dead, girl? Do you?" she almost shouted the last words.

"No…" I whispered.

"Good" she said. "Now let's work."

This time she made me work on something different.

She wanted me to be able to make my light hot like burning sun and after one hour of struggling I finally managed to set a tree on fire. Another thing she wanted from me was to do like the Darkling, to learn how to separate my power and leave the light in the room. But every time I closed the door of the hut, I heard Baghra's annoyed voice.

Finally she let me go and I went back to the Little Palace, where I bumped into Genya.

"Hey!" she greeted me "Where have you been? I was told that you left with the Darkling. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. We went to talk with Baghra about… my progress. And then I just stayed there."

Finally the realization of all that happened filled me and I felt so tired, that I decided against going to the domed hall for lunch.

"Would you like to have lunch with me in my room?" I asked Genya.

"Sure, why not" she beamed, "there were some things I wanted to tell you anyway."

Genya ordered food and began to tell me about latest gossips that appeared after the fete. I didn't really listen to her.

I was thinking about Mal. I didn't want to admit that I lost him forever. Part of him was in still my heart, but the feeling of love that I had for so many years had disappeared completely. Maybe that wasn't love after all. What did I know about love? I was still a child.

I was thinking about the Darkling. Even though I decided to trust him, I felt that he wasn't completely honest with me. Did I do the right thing? Or I was so blinded by my desire to belong somewhere, that I made the biggest mistake of my life?

"And guess what!" Genya said suddenly. "I danced with David!"

"Oh… That's nice" I said, but my voice gave me away.

"What's bothering you?" she asked concerned.

Genya was treating me like a friend, telling me her problems and ready to listen to mines. I never had a real friend, but I knew that I wasn't behaving like one. One part of me wanted to tell her about the kiss with the Darkling, but another part still remembered her warning. No, I couldn't tell her about us. Fist of all, Alina, because there is no us! There is just you with you foolish feelings and there is him.

So I decided to talk about something else that bothered me.

"I saw Mal yesterday…Remember the tracker I told you about?" I told her.

"Oh really?" she said surprised. "And how did the happy reunion go?"

"Well, he saw me on the stage with the Darkling…"

"That was amazing, by the way!"

"Yeah, but he didn't think the same. He was… I don't know. Annoyed and angry."

"He was just jealous. And who wouldn't be? I mean, it's the Darkling we are talking about" she winked. "Well, serves him right. He had his chance and he lost it."

"But I don't have anybody else."

"Correction! You didn't have anybody. Now you do. You have me, first of all, and the Grishas. We are your family now. You just need I little bit more time to adjust."

I sighed.

"Talking about adjusting! In a few weeks there's going to be a fair nearby. I was thinking that we can go together, have fun. And you will take your mind off all the problems."

"Genya, you know I'm not allowed to leave the Palace."

"Yeah, but this kind of fair is a must-see. People from all around the world gonna be there. War is war, but business is business. So I thought, if you convince the Darkling to let you go…. With the guards of course."

"Convince? How do you see me doing that?"

"Well, Botkin is happy with you. So if you work hard and Baghra thinks the same… I mean, you are probably the strongest Grisha after the Darkling himself! You can protect yourself if something happens."

I laughed, "I don't know why people think of me like this. All I can do is be a lamp."

"Well, I think it's because there are many legends about the Sun Summoner. You should look it up in the library."

"Please, Genya. You were the only one here who treated me like a normal person. Don't change and I'll try to do my best with Baghra and Botkin."

"Agreed" she said with a smile.

I smiled back and Mal's question came back to my mind. "Are you happy here, Alina?" he said.

I will be.