DARK WATERS | Nikolai Lantsov x Fem!Reader

-Chapter 6-

Disclaimer; i haven't read the books in a while so sorry if i get the time between events wrong.

(A/n: Sorry I lied, there is not Nikolai in this chapter, but definitely the next one.)

-Two months later-

"For the last time. You will all stay here until further notice, or I will personally pluck each strand of hair off your annoying little heads, proceed to shove it down your throats and watch you as you try to cough it out only to find that I fused it to your pharynxs. Then if you still won't corporate, I'll suck the moisture out of your eyes, leave the shriveled up balls of eye gunk to rot in your eye sockets, and ship you all off to a little vacation at the center of the fold as a wheezing, sightless mess that's about to be eaten for dinner,"

At those morbid statements, the group of grisha surrounding my office tent turned silent, stuned almost. The passing by soldiers picked up their pace as they walked past me, trying their hardest to avoid eye contact.

"The Darkling will contact me when or even if he wants any of you to join him on the crossing. And that is final."

After my grotesque speech the crowd started to disperse and I let out a relieved sigh.

Things weren't the best right now. As per usual, Ravka was in debt, the clouds looked just about ready to rain, and our Sun Summoner had been missing for the past week. 

Well that's what I think at least. No one had seen Alina for a week, and The Darkling declares that she's in seclusion, preparing for the crossing of the fold. It's preposterous. And so that's why I believe there are bigger things going on, things that The Darkling is hiding from everyone. But it's also strange really, why would she leave? It's probably an ignorant thing to say, but she really does have everything she could want at Little palace. And of course we need her. After all, she is the key to wiping off the dreaded scar on our country's map.

But because I didn't really have anything to do, this incident had me thinking, what happened at Little Palace that was bad enough to cause Alina to flee? And of course we would've gotten the news by now if something happened during the Winter fete.

Ravka may be broke, but if we could have a cent for each secret we slipped, each whisper we passed along, we might as well have been one of those merchants in Ketterdam.

I sighed as I walked back into my office. Plopping down into my chair behind my desk, I stared off into space as I tried to wrap my head around why she left.

Deciding to call it a day, I made my way out of my office, and towards Leylah's tent. The doctors say she made remarkable progress, and that they weren't expecting her to make it this far. Of course they only said that bit to me, I would certainly kill them if they said it to Leylah's face. But they also said her wounds weren't in a fatal condition any more, and that's all the hope I needed.

After arriving at her tent, I walked over to her. I was enough of a regular visitor that the nurses and doctors didn't need to double take when I strode into the tent.

"Hey Ley." I greeted, taking a seat beside her.

"Oh hey (N/n)." she replied, placing her book down.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, surveying her.

"I'm feeling so much better, now it only feels like a knife that's been stabbing me." she said happily, I gave her a puzzled look.

"And... that's better I presume?"

"Oh of course, it's a big improvement from feeling like it was a sword."