Her Balance | Nikolai x Reader x Darkling

~ Chapter 15 ~

Hi all!

Another long overdue update! Enjoy!

Let's get into it

First Person - Y/n

Run girl but fight. Be the Eclipse Summoner.

Will you marry me?

Run girl but fight. Be the Eclipse Summoner.

Will you marry me?

Those two phrases echoed in my head until the Bittern shook so harshly I was forced out of my own thoughts.

I looked around and saw the aftermath of the chaos we had just escaped.

Adrik had lost his arm, we were all weakened, and I...I had no idea what I was.

"We need to set down," I said.

"Where are we?" Harshaw asked.

Tamar looked at her charts, and said, "Just past the permafrost. If we keep heading south, we'll be above more populated areas soon."

"We could try to find woods for cover," panted Nadia.

"We're too near Chernast," I replied.

Harshaw adjusted his grip and asked, "Does it matter? If we fly through the day, we're going to be spotted."

"We could go higher," suggested Genya.

"We can try," said Nadia, "but the air's thinner up there and we'll use a lot of power on a vertical move."

"Where are we headed, anyway?" asked Zoya.

Without thinking twice, I said, "To the copper mine at Murin. To the firebird."

There was a brief silence. Then Harshaw said what I knew a lot of them had to be thinking.

"We could run. Every time we face those monsters, more of us die. We could take this ship anywhere. Kerch. Novyi Zem."

"Like hell," muttered Mal.

"This is my home," said Zoya. "I won't be chased out of it."

"I've lost too much to this god damn fight with that bastard," I said with a new fury coursing through me, "I will get that firebird. I will get that power and I will go kill him."

"What about Adrik?" Nadia asked, her voice hoarse.

"He lost a lot of blood," said Tolya. "All I can do is keep his heart steady, try to give him time to recover."

"He needs a real Healer," said Nadia.

"If the Darkling finds us, a Healer won't do him any good," said Zoya.

I had to think. Adrik might be stable. Or he might slip more deeply into a coma and never come out of it. And if we set down somewhere and were spotted, we'd all be in for death or worse.

The Darkling must know we wouldn't land in Fjerda, deep in enemy territory. He might think we'd flee to West Ravka. He'd send scouts everywhere he could.

Would he stop to grieve for his mother?

Baghra. I couldn't think about her.

Not her. Not Nikolai.

Just saying their names in my head started to break me down and I forced myself out of it.

"We go to Murin," I said. "We'll figure out the rest from there. I won't force anyone to stay. Zoya, Nadia, can you get us there?"