Sun Queen

♛ Thirty-Eight ♛

The roaring blended into screams and soon the crowd was either toppling over themselves to scramble back away from the ship or just standing in frozen horror, looking at us.

Either way, the sound is deafening. The Darkling keeps a bemused smirk and he raises his hand for silence, the crowd obeying and dropping to whispers like ripples in the sea of people.

"As many of you know, myself and the Sun Summoner were rumored to have died on the Shadow Fold." His voice booms out. "This is a lie."

My chest squeezes a little bit as I feel for these people. For most of them, like me, this is their worst nightmare. They remember the Darkling's reign all too well.

"We have come to put an end to those rumors and make peace with the king of Ravka. We hope the Second Army can help bring relief to the Fjerdan border."

But it won't be the Second Army helping at the border, it will be his hidden nichevo'ya army and his Fold.

The Darkling reaches for my hand and I shrink under the severe attention of the crowd. "To prove our identity, The Sun Summoner and I will provide a demonstration."

This gets the crowd nervous. I can tell many want to run, but they have a burning curiosity and need to see if we are truly who we say we are. The Darkling shifts slightly to face me, silently asking if I'm ready. I nod a little in response.

At the sight of my nod, the Darkling's hands shoot out and shadows spurt out into the blue-gray sky. They swim among the white clouds before descending upon the crowd. I can see the crowd start to stampede away, stumbling and running from the spiring shadows. I ache at the sight of their panic and wash the dark away with light. My hands push off the shadows of dark and the crowd holds its breath as my light shimmers just before their faces in a dome. I can even see a small child reach out to touch it, only to be pushed away by his mother.

The shadows double back again, this time nichevo'ya forms escape from the tendrils of black. I grit my teeth and raise my hands as a line of nichevo'ya touch ground on the dock. The crowd screams as I arc my hands down and across, slicing through the midsections of the nichevo'ya. They squeal and slither to the crowd, black goo slipping beneath the planks of the dock.

As the Darkling raises his arms again, to bring a larger wave of shadows I'm sure, I place a hand to his upper arm. "They've seen enough." I plead.

The sudden shadows recede a little and the Darkling looks down at me, his face molding into respect and he backs off. I'm shocked he actually listened to me.

Without addressing the disappearing crowd, the Darkling stalks off with his hand around my wrist and towards the center of the deck. He mutters orders to unload crew and cargo before helping me towards the lower decks so we can exit.

Once we leave the surface deck and the walls are back on me, I feel my heart start to beat faster. I know the Darkling can feel my quickening pulse because he looks at my wrist then back at me as we walk.

"Alina, I need to speak to you about what will happen once we arrive at the border."

I don't like this.

"There will be some rules you will follow to ensure your..... loyalty."

"And what might those be?"

The Darkling looks down to my wrists. "Don't worry, no shackles or chains will be needed if you do as I say."

He grips a little harder and we stop. "You will not speak with anyone alone but me. You will sleep in my tent without protest. You will not argue in public with what I have to say. You will use your summoning to do what I say." His jaws straightens. "Do not forget that you are still a prisoner and a criminal."