fₒᵣ ᵢ ₐₘ bₑcₒₘₑ dₑₐₜₕ, dₑₛₜᵣₒyₑᵣ ₒf wₒᵣₗdₛ
Anastasia Morozova is a kinslayer. Anya Varamyr is a murderer. Anastasia is a decorated soldier. Anya is a backstreet cutthroat. Anastasia would die for her country. Anya would die for her friends.
Anastasi...
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DESPITE THE DIRE CIRCUMSTANCES, ANASTASIA HADN'T FELT THIS FREE IN A LONG TIME.
Sure, her arms had been shackled behind her back - Aleksander had told her the metal was cast in such a way that she was incapable of performing the Small Science - but here she was: leaning against a railing, wind blowing through her hair and cheeks red with delight.
Her brother was busy conversing with a rather peculiar looking man she assumed was the privateer Aleksander had been raging on about to pursue his frantic search for the Sun Summoner.
The past weeks had been interesting to say the least. She'd learned more about herself than ever before. She'd learned she was stupid - stupid and gullible and weak. In a way, it wasn't her fault - she'd been kept that way - conditioned into naivety. She should have known better than to believe Aleksander when he'd come to her, pleading repentance, saying that a young Grisha girl had brought so much light into his life that he'd decided to repent. He was going to close the rift, he'd said. He'd said the only protection they needed now was that of the Sun Summoner once her power had been amplified enough to suffice.
"What about me?" She'd asked as he took her to meet the pretty young girl. "Will I get my amplifier too? I've been getting better with my shadows, Aleksander, I-"
"Don't call me that," he'd snapped, briefly pausing to push her hair behind her ear as a tender sign of affection. "You know all about the power of a name, sweet Anastasia - and don't be silly. You don't need an amplifier - as long as we're together I will be your amplifier."
Anastasia had smiled prettily and taken her brother's hand.
She'd played nice with the Starkov girl - she did like her , she really did. Alina was a breath of fresh air from the simpering young Grisha who tried to obtain her favour in order to be closer to the the Darkling. They'd danced together, trained together, laughed together, drank together - the only activities Anastasia had been able to participate in over the last couple of centuries. She noticed the girl managed to make Aleksander happy in a way Anastasia hadn't seen since they were children.
That was until Alina Starkov had vanished in the dead of night, without a word or a whisper.
Anastasia had spent the night pounding at her barricaded chamber door as she heard her mother's screams echoing throughout the Little Palace. She hadn't seen her mother in years - she lived vicariously through the little snippets of stories Alina had told her about her private lessons with Baghra.
