{BOOK 3/3 of The Triumvariate Trilogy}
What it darkness was a place? A place where creatures that ruled nightmares flew about. And what if it was created out of spite and greed by a dangerous man with a purpose?
It has been almost two centuries sinc...
The first thing that the Darkling did the next morning was call Genya and explain the details of the situation to her. She was going to win Miss Alina Starov's trust and get her to trust him.
"Is it true," Genya started. "That she is a mapmaker?"
The Darkling crossed his hands across his chest. "Yes. It is true."
As much as he wanted to make a snarky remark, Genya was his most valuable Grisha. She was going to get him to victory by being who she was. He trusted her enough to let her get close to Alina just like she had gotten close to the King.
Genya Safin would always be the Darkling's spy and nothing more. He would never see her as a Grisha who was worthy of recognition because how important could a Tailor really be?
He was wrong.
The Darkling instructed her to intercept any letter that Alina would write to anyone from her life outside the Little Palace. He had given that freedom to Adaline and that had brought him to his current situation. He wasn't going to do the same with Alina. She would rebuild like he did. She would learn to fight the world and everyone that would hurt her.
Because he needed her to.
"Take her to Baghra's hut today." The Darkling said as he leant against the table in the war room. "I think it is time for her to meet her real trainer here."
Genya nodded. "Certainly, moi soverenyi."
That should be interesting, he thought.
When Adaline had first come to the Little Palace, he let his personal guard and the highest ranking Grisha Heartrender train her. Botkin was the trainer during the present time, but Alina was a one-of-a-kind Summoner. Because of that, she could only be helped by one person - his madraya.
He had made a mistake with Adaline by not taking her to Baghra earlier because they weren't on talking terms. But times had changed since then and the two of them had come to a compromise. And after what went down with the Morana's Chosen, it was for the best.
Genya would follow his orders even if it hurt her because he had got her out of her miserable life. She had figured out that she was not an ordinary human when she was three. She would work her Tailoring abilities on her in very little ways - changing her hair colour or adding rouge to her cheeks by touching rose petals.
That may have not made her important to the goal of freeing Grisha from the tyrant rule of humans, but the Darkling gifted her to the Queen when she was five and she had been staying at the Grand Palace since then. She had never even worn the colours that she actually belonged to.
Everyone resented her and gave her long looks because of the special treatment that she got. But only she and the Darkling knew what she was really going through. She might be pretty in front of the King's eyes, but that would only lead to his downfall.
And Genya was waiting for that day.
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That night, the Darkling asked Ivan to call Alina into the war room. It was clear that the Heartrender did not approve of the supposed Sun Summoner. He had lost many to the Fold and every time his anger was shown, the Darkling needed to be one step closer to weaponizing the Fold.
The Morana's Chosen were so close to it, but in a completely different way. If they could do it, so could he.
Coward, he scolded himself. He couldn't even go to meet her because of the coincidences in the situation. He was a coward, he agreed. But that would only make him one step closer because whatever he was doing, it was necessary. And he was going to do things differently this time.
Alina Starkov walked into the room and saw the Darkling reading a paper in his hand. What she didn't know was that he was only distracting himself with the news from the spies that he had sent out.
The Darkling asked Alina to sit and gestured to the chair beside him. "The log is long enough for the both of us." He was so sure that she would choose to sit in the chair in front of him instead, but he was proven wrong.
That was another point on the con side.
"How was your first day?" It was time to get their first interaction over with.
"Fine." She managed to get out.
"Really?" He smiled slightly. "Even Baghra? She can be a bit of a trial." He remembered her look the first time he took Adaline to her. Gosh, it seemed centuries ago.
"Just a bit."
She was lying. "Homesick?" He tried instead.
"A little, I guess."
There it was. That was what had caused Adaline to leave. He really needed to stop her communication with the outside world. Alina had to accept that the Little Palace was her new home if they were to enter the Fold together.
"It will be harder for you," he tried. "An Etherealnik rarely works alone. Inferni pair us. Squallers often pair up with Tidemakers. But you're the only one of your kind."
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She did not want to hear that.
When the Darkling suggested that Alina leave through the narrow passageway that he used to travel in, she stared at him. "That's it? You just wanted to ask me about my day?"
The Darkling's head cocked to one side. "What were you expecting?" He needed to know what she was thinking. He needed to know whether he was being paranoid or not.
"You're the Darkling."
There was a relief in his chest. There it was. There it finally was.
And seeing her eyes when she said it, he could only think about Adaline. Damn, he missed her more than all the stars in the universe combined together.
He frowned slightly. "I'm not a monster, Alina. Despite what you may have heard."
You seem very insistent on making me the villain.
"I didn't mean that," She said hurriedly. "I just....I didn't know what to expect."
And once Alina left, the Darkling watched her turn the corner. He wanted to see if she would look back at him. Maybe he would see those familiar eyes staring back at him. But she kept her pace swift and disappeared into the shadows. He closed the door and leant against it. He was going to take this step by step because no matter who got in his way, he was going to get Alina prepared to enter the Fold.
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