Memoriam ➳ The Darkling

[4]

Soundtrack: Epica - Sensorium

    "I... I don't know how to respond to that." I said, I was trying so damn hard not to turn my eyes away. His slate-grey eyes were piercing a hole in my soul and his scent was intoxicating me. He wasn't like any other men I had met before, the aura surrounding him was unique and it made me feel both uneasy and excited at the same time.

    "Let me be a little more specific, then," he said, his eyes were studying my face. "It's not usual for a Grisha to discover her powers at the age of twenty-two. There's certainly something special about you, Valkyrja and I want you to tell me about it."

    This time I couldn't help myself but turn my eyes away, "I wish I could but I do not know what's so special about me either." I muttered, I was playing with my fingers. "All of this is so... New to me. It doesn't feel like my powers actually belong to me at all."

    I raised my head to meet his grey eyes once again upon feeling him placing his right hand on my left shoulder. "What happened that night?" he asked with question marks in his eyes. "The night you discovered your powers, I also felt the awakening within you."

    "How is this possible?"

    "You're underestimating your strength, Valkyrja."

    I took a deep breath, "The rage I felt that night is indescribable –I have never felt something so strong in my life." I began to tell. "It was because of my father, he told me that he... He..."

    The Darkling could easily see that I doubted whether I could trust him and, let's be real, I had every right to doubt him –I didn't even know him! Everything had happened so fast and now he was expecting me to share some real personal stuff with him.

    "You can trust me," he spoke with a silky voice and gently squeezed my shoulder. "I see your doubt but there's no need for that."

    I bit my lower lip, "I don't even know you," I spoke with a low voice. "I... I don't even know what to call you. Everybody talks about you as The Darkling but I have no idea what to say when I need to address you with a name."

    The edge of his lip curled upwards upon hearing my words, "Let's make a deal, then." he said and slowly moved his hand, which was resting on my shoulder, to my raven hair. "I'll tell you something about myself that no other soul knows and you're going put aside your doubts." I nodded as he began to wrap a strand of my hair around his index finger. "People address me directly, or call me sir, or moi soverennyi, or the Darkling –I hear them all. Because I prefer not to share my given name."

    My heart skipped a beat when he leaned into my ear and his breath licked my skin. I was breathing heavily because he was standing too close to me but deep down I also knew that I was enjoying this eerie tension between us.

    "You can call me Aleksander, if you like." he whispered in my ear. "When it's just the two of us."

    I took a deep breath the moment his lips left the side of my ear but still, the skin where his breath had touched was burning. After clearing my throat, I casted a quick look at him. "Alright, it's my part of the deal." I said and closed my eyes. Giving voice to that horrible thing created a heavy feeling on my chest, which was trying to crush my ribcage. "My father forced me to marry an old man and in return he was going to receive money. He literally sold me."

    My heart melted the moment I saw the sorrow falling onto the Darkling's grey eyes. He placed his right hand on top of my left one, which was resting on the stone wall of the well behind us. With slow movements, he began to caress the back of my hand –his touch was sending electric signals to my body.