Memoriam ➳ The Darkling

[22]

Soundtrack: Delain - Frozen

The next morning, I found Leon waiting in front of my chambers as I was going to the dining hall for breakfast. I was going to meet Baghra and probably the Darkling after breakfast to rehearse what I was going to do during the Winter Fete celebrations, then the rest of the day was going to be spent getting ready.

I raised an eyebrow at the blonde-haired Heartrender, "Were you waiting for me?" I asked him.

Leon sent me one of his charming smiles as he offered me his arm. "Good morning to you, too, sunshine." he said, then he stopped for a moment. "Wait, sunshine is not a proper name for you –you are not a Sun Summoner."

I giggled at his words as I took his arm. "Only you'd call a Shadow Summoner sunshine, Leon."

He waved his free hand in the air, "Whatever, I'll stick with darling." he muttered, then the charming smile appeared on his lips once again. "Well, darling, I was waiting for you since we never got the chance to talk after your fight with Shura."

As we walked downstairs, I rolled my eyes. "If you're planning to defend your friend, please, don't bother. You'll simply waste your breath." I spoke with a weary tone.

Leon shook his head, he was leading us to the grounds. "Shura's actions cannot be defended, and she knows that as well." he said and I took a breath of relief. "I simply wanted to talk to you –what have you been up to lately?"

We walked with slow steps, I was holding Leon from his right upper arm. "Well, I'll be taking part in today's celebrations and I've been mainly working on that." I began to explain and judging by the look on Leon's face, Iwona and Radoslaw had probably told him about me participating in the celebrations. "It's simply a waste of time but you know the King."

Leon nodded with slow movements. Surprisingly, the weather outside was a lot warmer than it was supposed to be –even though February had ended, it was still too early for the warm, spring weather to arrive in Ravka. "Of course, we all know how much of a show-off he really is." he spoke with a low voice. I realised that after last night, I didn't feel surprised or disturbed when I heard the Grisha insulting the King. "Speaking of which, I heard you were dining with the Lantsov family yesterday."

The blonde-haired Heartrender let out an attractive burst of laugh when he saw the grimace spreading on my face. "Was it that bad?" he asked and I nodded.

"If the Darkling hadn't been there to calm me down, I'd definitely have either scratched the King's eyes out or thrown my glass at Vasily."

Leon laughed once again, "Now, this definitely sounds like a fun night." he teased me and I hit his shoulder playfully. "But I bet my night was more fun."

I raised an eyebrow at him as I asked scoffingly. "Did you finally tumble one of those Etherealki girls?" My eyes widened when I saw him nodding. "Are you serious? Which one?"

There was a group of Etherealki girls a year younger than Leon and the others –if I recalled correctly, there were five of them. Each of these girls was very pretty, though they still couldn't compete with Shura, and Leon had been constantly flirting with every one of them for the past few weeks.

"Tanya and Sabina."

This time my jaw literally dropped. "You tumbled two of them?"

Leon gently held my chin and closed my mouth. "Why are you so shocked, Val, did you doubt my irresistibility?" he asked with a conceited tone and I hit his shoulder once again. "Oh, now I get it –you're jealous because you couldn't join us."