A Darker Shade of Gold

Chapter Two: Pieces and Power

Alina

Lazy sunshine drifted in through the window. Its warm glow settled on my face and warmed the skin. It called to me with a familiarity similar to that of a parent and child.
Faintly, I could hear the morning birds singing outside. As I made my move to sit up, I found that I couldn't. Two arms kept me firmly pressed down into a wrinkled black kefta.
The Darkling looked oddly boyish in his sleep. He didn't look like a general or the immortal he was. Just a boy clinging to comfort like a child holding its toy.
I should go. I shouldn't have stayed with him like this. We are to be equals. I couldn't fall into his romantic net. I wouldn't be reduced to a lovesick puppy. But yet it felt so right. His skin on mine. His hand in my hair and mine in his. It felt as though fate decided for us to collide in body, soul, and power.
My thoughts were halted by a rumble of the chest beneath me. I looked up to find his fluttering eyelids that locked with mine. Those two dark irises were all I could see.
"You're still here," he whispered as if he had expected me to vanish along with his dreams as he came back to the land of the living. As if it had all been a dream and I had truly left him last night.
"I told you that I wouldn't leave."
The Darkling sat up beneath me and took me into his lap. The cover lolled back, revealing our worn clothes from the day before.
Somehow my hand found itself rising to his face and resting against his bearded cheek. Slowly, as if in uncertainty, he leaned into my touch. He released a shaky exhale as my skin was set ablaze. Faintly, it began to glow as my power was amplified with his touch.
"Beautiful." The Darkling's voice was hushed and distant. "I have waited centuries for this, for you, Alina."
Centuries. The truth of his long immortality always slipped from my mind. He must have been more than four hundred years old. Saints. I could hardly wait near twenty years for Mal's affection, but hundreds. I would never truly understand his solitude.
I opened my mouth to respond but was cut off by the rapt knocking of the door.
"Moi soverennyi," called the voice of Ivan.
"Just a minute." The Darkling practically growled out. Gently, he placed me onto the bed beside him and stood up. Immediately I missed the warmth of his touch.
In a fluid motion, he took his wrinkled kefta from his shoulders and tossed it onto a table before proceeding to the door. It was in the Darkling's way to keep up his image.
"What is it Ivan?" he bit out as he opened the door.
Ivan's beady eyes met mine as he surveyed the room. The Heartrender did not say a word but instead spoke to his superior in a hushed voice.
They fell into a quiet conversation. I counted the minutes in my head, the small ticking of a clock in the background filling my ears. The exchange seemed to last forever.
Finally, he left with a curt bow, leaving.
"I thought there would be no more secrets between us, Darkling," I hissed as he shut the door.
He turned slowly as if stalling to collect his thoughts or even his composure.
"We are to be equals in the future once our plan is set into motion, Miss Starkov."
"And why not now? Why should I not be regarded with the same power?"
The Darkling took a few steps towards me, soon standing before the bed. His knees stood on opposite sides of mine from where I sat. Long, pale hands closed around mine, bringing them up.
"Alina," he started. My name on his tongue sent sparks down my spine. "You are my equal, my balance. But as much as I want you to be an equal player, this game of chess is of politics and time. I must appease my duties as general of the second army. We all have a role to play. Too many questions would be asked if you were upgraded to a higher piece."
"So I am to remain a pawn in your game, Darkling?"
"No," his voice was eerily still. He brought my hands towards his lips as he leaned down, planting the rosebud petals gently on them. As he pulled away he whispered: "You are but a queen in disguise."
"So when can I shed this mask?" I breathed shakily.
Obsidian eyes locked with mine.
"When we have the stag."
Then, he swept from the room like a bird taking flight. As he disappeared the room grew lighter as if he had taken all of the shadows with him. Perhaps he did. But despite the amount of light that flooded the room, it felt cold and hollow. And I realized with a new sense of dread that I missed him.