Memoriam ➳ The Darkling

[14]

Soundtrack: Nouvelle Vague - In A Manner Of Speaking

I let out a frustrated breath as I leant against the wall behind me. Anita's dark eyes were on my face and she was combing her wet, brown hair with her fingers –we were in the banya. It was late at night, probably around eleven, and we had been talking about this and that for the past hour as we sat in the hot water.

"He is the one people should gossip about!" I snarled, I was complaining about Vasily the rack-faced prince. "You should have seen the expression on his face when he talked about the Shadow Summoners, Anita –he sees my power like some kind of an infection!"

That ugly rat. I wish I could let him have a glimpse of that power he despised. Maybe he would wet his royal pants and I'd laugh about that for the rest of my life.

"I understand why you're so angry at Vasily, Val." Anita said, she was giving me a sympathetic look. "But you have to bite your tongue around him, you have to act politically. That's how the Darkling became the Second in Command in Ravka. I'm sure he had to wear fake smiles a lot of times when people frankly insulted him for who he is."

Anita had a point –I could only imagine how hard it had been for him not to unleash all his power on the King or the others whenever he had been blamed for the Black Heretic's mistake. I remembered the sadness and tiredness falling in his grey eyes when he told me about the Black Heretic and the creation of the Shadow Fold.

Which made me realise how much I missed him and the realisation immediately brought anxiety –I didn't like missing him, it made me nervous.

I dived into the hot water to wet my hair since the hot steam inside the banya was causing it to dry right away. When I surfaced and wiped away the water from my face, I saw Anita drawing small circles on the surface of the water. She had a thoughtful look in her eyes.

I playfully splashed some water at her, "Hey, don't zone out –tell me what's bothering you."

She took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around her chest –well, we both were naked but since the water was reaching Anita's chin and my neck, it wasn't much of a problem. "People used to exclude me because of this," she said and pointed at her slanting eyes, which were the biggest proof about her Shu descendance. "Because I was part Shu. I was extremely lonely when we were at the school here, when we were kids."

I listened to her with a soft expression on my face, I didn't want to interrupt.

"Iwona was the first Grisha to approach me in a friendly way," Anita spoke with a small smile on her thin lips as she recalled her memories with Iwona. "She has always been a good friend; she never judges a soul based on the stuff that they don't have any control over. That's why she was your very first friend as well –the others were intimidated and prejudiced because you were both a Shadow Summoner and a Fjerdan."

Now, I was smiling as well –Iwona really was pure of heart. "What about Radoslaw, Leon and Shura? Were they like Iwona as well?" I asked.

Anita shook her head as she laughed. "Well, not exactly –Radoslaw never really cared about me being part Shu but Leon and Shura haven't always been that friendly towards me. Leon thought it'd stain his reputation if he was seen hanging around with a Shu girl."

"That bastard!" I muttered angrily, which made Anita laugh once again but I noted it down to punch Leon for his inconsiderate behaviour against Anita. Maybe I could also beat his ass with one of my boots. "What about Shura?"

"Well, it takes time for Shura to see someone as a friend and that period took longer with me since she was quite prejudiced against me but once we broke the ice, we became like sisters." Anita responded, then she nudged me with her elbow upon seeing the expression on my face –I didn't believe someone so nice like Anita could be close with a nightmare like Shura. "Hey, I know that look –don't you believe that Shura sees me as a sister?"