Her Balance | Nikolai x Reader x Darkling

~ Chapter 8 ~

Hello, loves! 

Hope you're having a great day, and hope this update makes it a little better.

Let's get into it.

First Person - Y/n

I was back in Keramzin, slipping through the darkened hallways on my feet, trying to find Alina. I could hear her calling to me, but her voice never seemed to get any closer. 

Another voice joined the echoing, and it was Mal. But just as Alina's I could hear it but I couldn't find it. 

Finally, I reached the top floor and the door to the old blue bedroom where we all liked to sit in the window seat and look out at the meadow. I heard Mal and Alina laughing. I forced open the door...and all I felt was terror. 

There was blood everywhere. The volcra was perched on the window seat and, as it turned on me and opened its horrible jaws, I saw that it had gray quartz eyes.

I looked down and my own hands were filled with blood, and Alina and Mal's voices were screaming, "Y/n, Y/n, Y/n!"

I bolted awake, my heart beating rapidly in my chest, and looked around in fear. For a moment I couldn't remember where I was and then the events of the last few days hit me. I groaned and flopped back onto the pillows relieved that my nightmare wasn't real, but everything else was.

I had just started to doze off again when someone began pounding on the door.

"Go away," I mumbled from beneath the covers. But the pounding only grew louder. I sat up, and nearly passed out as every inch of my body screamed pain. My head ached, and when I tried to stand, my legs did not want to cooperate.

"All right!" I shouted as the knocking grew louder. "I'm coming! A second if you please!" 

The knocking stopped. I stumbled over to the door and reached for the lock, but then I hesitated. 

"Who is it?"

"I don't have time for this," a female voice snapped from behind the door. "Open the door. Now!"

I had barely unlocked the door when it flew open and a tall girl pushed past me, surveying the room and then me with a critical eye. She was easily the most beautiful person I'd ever seen. 

Her wavy hair was the deepest red, her eyes large and golden, her skin was so smooth and flawless that she looked as if her perfect cheekbones had been carved from marble. She wore a cream-colored kefta embroidered in gold and lined in reddish fox fur.

"All Saints," she said, looking me over. "Have you even bathed? And what happened to your face?"

My hand flew to the bruise on my cheek. It had been nearly a week since I'd left camp, and I was covered in dirt and blood and the smell of horses. 

"I—"

But the girl was already shouting orders to the servants who had followed her into the room. 

"Draw a bath. A hot one. I'll need my kit, and get her out of those clothes."

The servants descended upon me, pulling at my buttons. 

"Hey!" I shouted, batting their hands away. "Watch it!"

The Grisha rolled her eyes and ordered, "Hold her down if you have to." 

The servants redoubled their efforts and grabbed my clothing trying to pull it off, but I shook their hands away my hands slightly raised. 

"Stop!" I shouted, backing away from them. They hesitated, looking from me to the girl.