Dark of the Tide [Shadow and Bones]

Chapter 2

The King looked at me with a frown on his face, which wasn't unusual, but it was slightly disturbing.

    "You called for me, moi tsar?" Aleksander asked when he walked through the giant throne room doors, bowing respectfully.

    "I need you on an assignment, Darkling. You and Miss Oretsev are going to the First Army camp and bringing back a tracker."

    "May I ask who this tracker is, moi tsar?" I asked, glancing at Aleksander as he glanced at me.

    "It is Mal Oretsev. Your brother, I believe." The King replied.

    I looked back up at the King. "Why ask me? With all due respect, I am not the best person for for this assignment."

    "You are the tracker's sister, are you not?"

    "Yes, moi tsar." I said.

    "Then you will go. And the next time I assign you to anything, you will do as told. Do you understand?" The King looked me dead in the eye.

    "Yes, moi tsar." I nodded once.

    "Good. Hopefully the tracker can help me track down a more suitable servant. One that does not question me and does as they are told." The King said.

    From the corner of my eye, I saw Aleksander close his eyes and a muscle twitch in his jaw, darkness swirling from his arms.

    I gently smacked his arm and he opened his eyes, the shadows disappearing as he looked at me and nodded slightly.

    I looked back at the King and bowed. "Yes, moi tsar. I will be more accommodating in the future."

    "See to it that you are. You leave first thing tomorrow after the winter fete. You are dismissed." He waved us off.

    I turned around and we walked out of the throne room, closing the heavy doors behind us. I shut my eyes tightly and covered my face with my hands, my shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

    "Hey, hey, hey, don't worry." Aleksander said, taking my wrists and pulling them from my face so he could look at me. "The King is hard on everyone. Don't take it personally."

    "It's not that. I'm just . . . I don't want to see my brother." I replied.

    He looked up at the cameras and looked back at me. "Come on. Let's talk more outside."

    I followed him outside and into the stables, where he got out his horse and got up in the saddle, holding out a hand to help me up behind him; we rode to the little garden with the stone fountain where I found him the week before.

    He got off and helped me down, tying his horse up and sitting us down on the stone bench.

"Why don't you want to see your brother again?" He asked.

"We didn't get along well when we were kids. We were both orphans in Keramzin." I said, hesitating for a little while before running my hand down my face; a thick red scar running from right beneath my left eye down to my jaw appeared.

He gazed at me silently, waiting for me to continue.

"Mal, Alina, and I were playing in the meadow one day and we came across a snake. It wasn't poisonous, thankfully. Mal picked it up to show it to me, thinking it was asleep because it was curled up, but it wasn't. It bit me, and both he and Alina did nothing to help me with the bleeding." I said, touching the scar and dropping my hand back in my lap. "I still haven't forgiven him, and I don't think I want to. Neither does he."

He knelt in front of me on the dirt, taking my hand as I went to cover back up the scar, and held my face in his hands, rubbing his thumb over the scar.

"Why do you cover this up, Ara? You're beautiful even with the scar. You always will be." He said with a slight smile.

"I guess I am a little insecure about certain things." I mumbled, "I know I will never be as beautiful as Genya, as important at Alina, or as talented as Zoya."

"Listen to me, Arabella. You are all those things to me. The day I met you, I thought I had died because standing before me was an angel. Your talents are extraordinary, and you are the most important thing in the world to me. If anything happened to you, I would go insane." He said, wiping at the few tears that trickled down my face.

I wiped at my eyes and chuckled lightly. "Thanks, Aleksander."

He smiled. "Anything for you, Arabella."

———

I got dressed into my blue kefta and brushed my hair out so it fell in waves down my back.

"Are you ready, Arabella?" Genya asked, popping her head in. "I'm to escort you and Alina down to the ballroom."

"Oh. Yes, I just finished up." I got up and exited my rooms, closing my door and walking into the Grand Palace with them.

"You look lovely, Arabella." Alina said with a gentle smile at me as we ascended the steps.

"Thank you. So do you, Alina. You're going to steal the show away." I said, commenting on her beautiful blue kefta with the sun stitched into the fabric.

She beamed and we made our way into the ballroom, where everyone was waiting.

Aleksander turned his attention to us and he walked forward, looking at Alina. "You look lovely. Ready to show them who you are?"

"I'm never ready." She said.

"You'll be just fine, Alina. If you get nervous, I'll be in the front of the crowd. Find me, okay?" I said.

She smiled. "Okay. I will. Thanks, Arabella."

I nodded as the two went up onto the stage to demonstrate what they could do. Or more importantly, what Alina could do.

Genya stood next to me in the front. "How are you enjoying tonight so far?"

"It's just as bearable as the others, Genya. But at least the company is better this year." I said, gesturing to Alina.

Genya smiled. "Yes. We all are blessed to have her here."

The show ended and the crowd burst into applause, and Genya squeaked in excitement.

"The dancing will be up next! Oh, I'm so happy!" She said excitedly, leaving my side and going to tell Alina.

I chuckled and waited a little while as all the chairs were set to the sides of the large ballroom. Everyone was paired off and dancing with each other as I stood by the doors with Alina.

"Do you just dance with anyone? I thought you had to dance with only Grisha who weren't . . . like Genya." Alina said.

"Nope. You can dance with anyone you wish. Even Genya. It's just like those formals we had at the orphanage, remember?" I asked, nudging her.

She smiled. "I remember. I stepped on Mal's toes so many times that night."

"Yeah, he looked like a dancing chipmunk." I said with a light laugh.

"Miss Oretsev," a voice said.

I looked at the owner of the voice and was shocked to see Aleksander there, holding out his hand.

"May I have this dance?"