𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬 | 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚

𝐁𝐀𝐃 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐒

[ AUTHORS NOTE ]
tw: sex.

"Checkmate"

The white queen groaned, tumbling down the endless corridors of black and white checkered squares. She fell merciless at the feet of the black king, her diamond jewelled crown slipping from her head. The queen sobbed as her head was severed from her body - her crown falling off the board.

The Darkling twirled the pearl crown between his fingers. "I win again," Aleksander Morozova smirked.

He tilted his feet to rest on the dark wooden table, watching his sun summoner bury her face in her palms. "It's not fair," Alina whined, picking up the broken pieces of the chess set. She was a sore loser, a large frown tilted down her lips. "You always win,"

She had been sitting in front of him for hours — her tongue poking out the corner of her mouth in the futile attempt to beat him.

Obviously, the man had been alive for centuries, probably before the game was first invented. But Alina was stubborn and Aleksander was patient.

They continued playing.

"You always play defence," Aleksander rearranged the pieces, the white queen's crown still around his finger.

He clicked his tongue, brows furrowed in concentration. The night was young and cold; they both wore their thick keftas.

Aleksander in Black. Alina in white.

"Sometimes you need to lure the cobra from its cave," He swapped her pieces, setting up the board. It was oddly attractive as Alina watched him ruffle his veiny hands through his hair, a single finger resting thoughtfully on the sharp of his jaw.

"This is called the Ruy Lopez - named after Ruy López de Segura, a 16th-century bishop,"

The Darkling demonstrated the move, before allowing Alina to copy. She was playing black, she moved her piece first.

"Oh Alina," Aleksander sighed. "You played the Jaenisch Gambit," He wasn't frustrated, he was disappointed. It made Alina's heart sink - all she wanted was to make Aleksander happy.

"Is that bad?"

Alina blinked. She held a white pawn between her forefinger, placing it neatly on the side of her board.

In her mind, winning chess was wiping her opponents pieces off the board, which left her equally vulnerable.

Aleksander had checkmated her in two moves one time. Alina refused to talk to him for fifteen minutes after that.

She was loosing.
Terribly.

In the time Alina had taken a single pawn off her board, her rook, bishop, and three of her pawns were stacked neatly beside him. Alina scowled as he slouched in his seat, arms behind his head.

He was playing leisurely, barely pretending to struggle over the match. "Closed variation," He hummed.

Aleksander placed his large hand over her small fingers guiding them across the checkered floor. "It leaves a complex game for the both of us, it was how Lantsov played,"

Nikolai's name with thick and heavy on his tongue. It was assumed that he had fled under the alias Sturmhond.

The Darkling had placed an international warrant for his arrest, but the bastard was to slippery.

Nikolai had crawled into a cave very far from Ravka. Internally, Alina was glad Nikolai Lantsov had managed to get away. She'd never admit it though.

"Don't look so glum, darling," Aleksander said. He shifted over the table, placing two fingers beneath her chin. He pushed Alina's head up, staring straight through her with eclipsed eyes. "I am playing with you, am I not?"