Her Balance | Nikolai x Reader x Darkling

~ Chapter 20 ~

You asked, and you shall receive!

Let's get into it.

First Person - Y/n

Mal and Alina had taken the night watches and let me sleep it through. In the morning, Mal handed me a strip of dried meat and said simply, "Talk."

"The Darkling plans to use the Shadow Fold as a weapon."

Alina nearly dropped the canteen she was holding, and asked, "How?"

"He'll expand it, spread it through Ravka and Fjerda and anywhere else he meets resistance. But he can't do it without me to keep the volcra at bay. How much do you know about Morozova's stag?"

"Not much. Just that it's valuable. And that it was intended for you. We were supposed to locate the herd and capture or corner the stag, but not harm it."

I nodded and tried to explain the little bit I knew about the way amplifiers worked, how Ivan had to slay the Sherborn bear, and Marie had to kill the northern seal.

"A Grisha has to earn an amplifier," I finished. "The same thing is true for the stag, but it was never meant for me."

"Let's walk," Mal said abruptly. "You can tell us the rest while we're moving. I want to get us deeper into the mountains."

He shoved the blanket into his pack and did his best to hide any signs that we'd ever made camp there. Then he led us up a steep and rocky trail. His bow was tied to his pack, but he kept his rifle at the ready.

I told them everything that Baghra had told me, about the origins of the Fold, how old I supposedly was, my history, about the collar that the Darkling intended to fashion so that he could use my power, and finally about the ship waiting in Os Kervo.

"You're five hundred years old?!" asked Alina shocked once I had finished. "And your the granddaughter and daughter of two really powerful saints that the world has never heard of?"

"Yeah," I said nodding. "That's not even the craziest part."

"This necklace," I continued pulling out the silver emblem, "is apparently what keeps me young."

"Yeah, I would like to borrow that in twenty years, when my looks start to age," said Alina, and I laughed, "I mean it makes sense, you could pass as twenty-seven, but you really look the same from when you left Keramzin, which was eighteen."

I smiled at her, and turned towards Mal who hadn't said anything once I finished. 

He must've heard my thoughts because he turned to me and asked, "Is Baghra telling the truth about your...mother? She's really a Volcra?"

"Not like I have anything to verify it with but...I believe her."

"Can we get her back?"

"I don't know...Maybe if we kill the Darkling, but I doubt that's a possibility right now."

"We'll figure out a way to get her back...I promise."

I nodded and he turned on his heel and marched up the trail, leaving me standing, dazed, behind him. Alina pushed a little behind me and I made my legs move and hurried to catch up.

We walked in silence for a long time, moving up the mountain in slow switchbacks. In some spots, the trail was so narrow that I could do little more than cling to the mountainside, take tiny, shuffling steps, and hope the Saints were kind.

Once, Alina had almost fallen, and I had reached out to catch her, but lost the money pouch in the process.

"Sorry," said Alina as the coins rattled down the mountain. "I just grabbed something, I didn't know it was the pouch."