Sea and Stars - a Nikolai Lantsov x OC fan fiction

1

I COULD NOT STOP myself from shaking. The red-haired girl in a white and gold kefta held up a cup of water, and so I drank. "You're safe now," she said. "I promise."

I didn't like promises. Promises were made to be broken.

"My sister--" I wiped the tear that fell down my cheek. "They took my sister."

The red-haired girl looked speechless, unsure of what to say. "I am truly sorry, Eryn. We will do our best to find her, but for now--"

"Is this her?" A deep voice interrupted the quiet of the infirmary. My heart skipped a beat.

I snapped my head towards the entryway to meet the slate-gray gaze known infamously across nations. My breath caught, rendering myself speechless now, too. The Darkling.

He stood at the opposite end of the room, approaching my little bed ever so slowly. "Is this the girl who fled from a group of Fjerdan drüskelle?"

I nodded, but the girl whose been tending to me responded with a verbal, "Yes, moi soverenyi. This is Eryn Raye."

"Thank you, Genya. Now leave us."

Genya swiftly got up and left the room, leaving me alone with the most powerful man in all of Ravka. You're safe now, Genya had promised. Saints, I hoped that was true.

"You are Grisha?"

"I didn't know." I have never been as thankful to my Ravkan mother as I was now. I didn't know what I would do if I had to be stuck alone with this man without the ability to understand him.

"You didn't know?"

"My sister's Grisha. The drüskelle tracked us down while we were trying to get to Ravka. To here. And--"

"Your sister is Grisha?"

"A Healer, sir."

The Darkling looked as though he was processing something. "Do you know who I am?"

I gave him a frantic nod. It wasn't just his power that intimidated me.

"Tell me," he began again, "how did you get away?"

"I'm sorry?"

He raised a brow and walked closer. "I would like to know how a small girl like you got away from highly trained Fjerdan witch-hunters, Miss Raye."

I hesitated. Would it hurt to tell him the truth? Of course, he must already know. He was part of the company that saved me, wasn't he?

Still, when I spoke, my simple truth came out no louder than a whisper. "I blinded them."

I could tell by his expression that this was the answer he had been waiting for, the one he expected from me. I had been right; he'd already known. "You blinded them."

"I don't know how. I'm--I didn't know I could do that."

"Of course not. And all the better for it."

"I don't understand."

"Well, Miss Raye, it has allowed you to live in your country without being found out. You do know how the Fjerdans treat us Grisha, don't you?"

I nodded. The way he talked about Grisha, about him being one too, about an entire country wanting him dead as well, he started to feel less threatening and more...human.

"Good."

I didn't want to say what was bothering me, but I figured if I couldn't ask him now, I wouldn't ever know. I wouldn't ever get my answer.

The Darkling seemed to see that too, because he tilted his head and looked right at me. "What's troubling you?"

"It's...my light. It was almost like--"

"Yes, it is peculiar," he began, seeming to know precisely what I was trying to say, "that after so many years, Ravka is not only blessed with the Sun Summoner but perhaps two Sun Summoners."

"I don't think I was summoning it," I blurted with the strongest bit of certainty I have felt in my entire life.

It seemed to surprise the Darkling as well. He was taken off guard by my comment, when up until then he seemed to have anticipated everything. "Oh?"

"I don't know how, but I think...I think I was changing it. Um--" I had to think, search for the right word. "Manipulating it?"

The Darkling said nothing, but I could tell by his face that he was considering everything I said, taking it in and fitting it together in his mind.

"A Starlight Fabrikator."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I stayed silent. I wanted to know what was happening to me, but mostly I wanted to be back home, with my father and Ava. Safe and sound.

And yet...it did have a nice ring to it.

The Darkling shifted the conversation, signaling the end of the discussion. "Very well. We'll have you fitted for a kefta as soon as possible, but for now I will show you to your chambers."

"Sir," I rushed because if I didn't, I would regret it forever. "Mr... Darkling, I..."

"Yes?"

"My sister. She was taken by the drüskelle. I--"

"If your sister was taken by the Fjerdans, she is long gone, Miss Raye."

"No," I choked.

"I'm sorry."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. My sister was not gone; she was not dead.

"But if you would just--"

"There is nothing I nor anyone can do. Your sister is gone." He must have seen my broken, twisted, tearstained face, because he continued on as if to fix things. "But you are not, Eryn. You are in Ravka. You are with me." He held out a hand for me. A gesture of condolence. "You are safe."

His words calmed me a little, if only slightly. I took his hand, feeling a surge of sureness and certainty flow through me. The candlelights flickered, and I felt them wanting to take shape. To follow me. Perhaps they did. My focus was on the young man before me and nothing else. "You are an amplifier?"

"I am. I trust, however, that you are wise enough not to try to kill me in my sleep."

"Of course." I couldn't help but let out a sharp giggle at that, but I didn't think the Darkling minded.

With that, I let the Shadow Summoner lead me through the Little Palace. Through a place both foreign and home, but a temporary home.

Because, for now, I was in Ravka. I was at the Little Palace, the place of refuge for Grisha. I was under the most powerful Grisha's protection and care.

For now, I was safe.

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