With you, I'd go anywhere || Nikolai Lantsov x Male Reader

5

"How can you say that after what happened at Novokrbirsk?". The darkling used the power of the unsea to destroy an entire town, a show of strength meant to cow his enemies and mark his rule. And she'd made it possible. "I know there was. . .an incident".

"An incident? He killed hundreds of people, maybe thousands, Genya". "And what about the people on the skiff?" she asked, Alina laid back in her bunk and studded the wooden planks above. She itched for an answer to a question she hated. A question she almost didn't want answered. "Were there. . .were there other survivors?"

"Besides y/n, Ivan, and the darkling?", Alina nodded. "Two inferni who helped them escape" she answered "a few soldiers of the first army made it back, and a squaller named Nathaila got out but she died of her injuries". Alina closed her eyes, she imagined how many people must have been aboard on the sandskiff. Thirty?

Maybe even forty. She could hear the screams, the howl of the volcra. The smell of gunpowder and blood. She had sacrificed those people for Mal's life, for her freedom, but in the end, they'd died for nothing. They had fallen right back into the darkling grasp, and he was more powerful than ever. Genya laid her hand over Alinas, you did what you had, Alina".

Alina let out a laugh and yanked her hand away. "Is that what the darkling tells you, Genya? Does that make it easier? And don't you feel sorry for not stopping him, y/n? Any sort of guilt?". "I do feel guilty, but it's something that I'll carry with me" you replied. "He freed me Alina" Genya said "what am I supposed to do? Run back to the palace? Back to the king?", she shook her head.

"What about the other grisha?" Alina asked "they cant all have sided with darkling. How many stayed in Ravka?". "I dont think I'm supposed to talk about that information with you" she replied, "genya-". "Eat, Alina. Try to rest, we'll be in the ice soon" you said walking to the door.

Genya stood up and brushed off the dust of her red kefta. She did joke about the color but it meant a lot to her, it proved she was really a grisha- protected, favored, and servant no more. She was her own person. Alina knew of Genyas position with the king, and how his illness fell shortly after their return from fleeing the little palace. Genya had used that to earn the right to wear red. "Genya" said Alina as she reached the door, "one more question".

You and genya paused, you both turned around to face her. To Alina it was a silly question, something that wouldn't be so important for an answer now, but she wanted one. "The letters I wrote to Mal back the little palace. He said he never got them". Genya turned back around and her shoulders sagged. "They were never sent" she whispered, "the darling said you needed to leave your old life behind" you added.

The blot clicked behind you as you and Genya exited the cabin and shut the door. All of those hours spent talking and laughing with Geyna and y/n, drinking tea and trying on dresses. They'd been lying to her the whole time, and the worst part about it was that the darkling was right.

If she kept clinging to Mal and the memory of love she felt for him, she would have never mastered her power. But they didn't know that, well maybe a little. But they just followed orders.

Time skip-

Less than a week later, the first ice floes were spotted. The ship was far north, where the sea darkened and lice bloomed for its depths in perilous spikes. It was still early summer but the wind was still bitter. Alina spent hours in her cabin, pacing back and forth, staring out of the small glass window.

Each morning she was brought above deck to stretch her legs, and to see Mal from afar. The darkling and you always stood by the railing, scanning the horizon, searching for something. The darkling that is, he just wanted you by his side. Sturmhond and his crew however, kept their distance.

On the seventh day you passed by two slate stone islands. You had finally entered the Bone Road, the long stretch of black water where countless ships had wrecked on the nameless islands that appeared and disappeared in its mists. On maps it was marked by a sailors skull, wide mouthed monsters, mermaids with ice white hair, and deep black eyes of seals.

Only the most experienced Fjerdan hunters ventured this far, seeking skins and furs, chancing death to claim rich prizes. Sturmhond ordered the sails trimmed, and the pace of ship slowed as you drifted through the mist. The whalers longboats, the racks of harpoons tipped with grisha steel. It wasnt hard to guess what they were for, the darkling was after some kind of Amplifier.

The next day the darkling ordered Alina be brought to him, "who is it for?" she asked as Ivan left her by the railing. The darkling just stared out into the waves, Alina considered throwing him over the railing. Yes, he was hundreds of years old, but could he swim?.

Besides you would have just summoned the waves to bring him back up. "Tell me you're not contemplating what I think you are" said Alina "tell me the amplifier is for some other girl". "Someone less stubborn? Less selfish? Less hungry for the life of a mouse? Believe me" he said "I wish I could".

"A grisha can only have one amplifier. You told me that yourself". "Morozovas amplifiers are different," he said. Alina froze, "there's another like the stag?" she asked, "they were meant to be used together, Alina. They are unique, just as we are". "I don't think y/n likes the idea of our connection" she said "in time, the jealousy will fade" he chuckled. "Either way I don't want this" she protested "I want-". " you want" the darkling mocked.

"I want to watch your tracker die slowly with y/ns knife in his heart. I want to let the sea swallow you both. But our fates are entwined now, Alina, and there's nothing either of us can do about it".

"You're mad". "I know it pleases you to think so" he said "but the amplifiers must be brought together. If we have any hope of controlling the fold-". "You can't control the fold. It has to be destroyed" Alina said, "careful, Alina' he said with a slight smile. "I've had the same thought about you. He gestured to Ivan who was waiting a respectful distance away.

Alinas heart jumped in her throat. "Wait" she said. "You told me you wouldn't hurt him". He ignored her. Sturmjond stood by the wheel, watching them, his face impassive. She snatched the darklings sleeve, "we had a deal. I haven't done anything. You said-". The darkling looked at her with his quartz eyes but did not answer her.

Ivan appeared with Mal in two and steered him over to the rail. He stood before Alina and the darkling, squinting as the sunlight hit his face, hands bound. This was the closest they'd been in weeks. Mal looked tired and pale, but he appeared unharmed. "All right tracker" said the darkling "track". Mal looked from the darkling to Alina and back again, "track what? We're in the middle of the ocean". "Aline once told me you can make rabbits out of rocks.

I questioned the crew of verrhder myself, and they claim that you're just as capable at sea. They seemed to think you could make some lucky captain very rich with your expertise". Mal frowned, "you want me to hunt whales?" he asked. "No" said the darkling, "I want you to hunt the sea whip". Alina and Mal stared at the darkling, she almost let out a laugh.

"You're looking for a dragon?" Mal said, "the ice dragon" said the darkling. "Rusalye" you added, walking up the steps. "There you are," said the darkling, holding his hand out. You glanced at Mal who was glaring at you, you took his hand and stared out at the ocean. Rusalye, in the stories, the sea whip was a cursed prince, forced to take the form of a sea serpent and guard the frigid waters of the Bone Road.

That was Morozovas second amplifier. "It's a fairy tale" Mal said "a children's story. It doesn't actually exist". "There have been sightings of the sea whip in these waters for years," said the darkling. "Along with mermaids and white selkies. It's a myth".