Shadow and Light: A Darklina Romance

Chapter 4

Author's notes: Thanks so much for reading, voting and adding my story to your reading lists! <3 There will be a little break before I update again (a week or two) due to vacation, but I will continue it as long as people are reading it! Enjoy!

________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 4

Tonight was the night. Alina would finally find out why Kirigan had lied to her and what his true intentions were with the fold.

All day she had been fretting. She couldn't control her powers during her lesson, which got her a scolding from Valeriya. Genya had tried to soothe her nerves, but she couldn't help feeling antsy. Genya had also suggested she wear her black kefta as a show of good will, but Alina refused to give in. She would listen to what the general had to say, but she would not be used. She did allow Genya to apply some makeup and put her hair in a fancy sunbeam clip.

Alina started pacing back and forth on her blue carpet by the door. The general would be there any minute, but time was dragging by. She wanted to believe it was all a misunderstanding, but the fact that she was a prisoner in her room showed that some of what Baghra said had to be true. Was all of it true?

"Good evening Alina," a voice said from the doorway and she jumped. She spun and saw Kirigan standing in her doorway.

"You know, a gentleman would knock before entering a ladies room," Alina said, slightly annoyed at the man, partially for not knocking and partially for seeing her pacing.

"I did knock, but when you did not answer, I figured you must be distracted or had run off again," Kirigan said darkly. Alina blushed. She had been so caught up in her thoughts, she had not heard the knock.

"Good evening, lets get going. I don't want to be in this room any longer than I have to be," Alina tried to say lightly, but some of her bitterness crept in.

"Yes, I am eager to get these misunderstandings rectified. Follow me. I've had the servants set up a private room for us." Kirigan said. Those words sent a tingle up Alina's spine. Of course they would be in a private room for this conversation, but it had not sunk in until he said those words. She couldn't tell if she was just terrified or excited by the prospect. She had been imagining their conversation happening in the gardens, but honestly it was too cold to have a leisurely dinner there, plus their privacy couldn't be guaranteed.

"In here," Kirigan said, holding the door for her. She'd been in a daze the whole walk to the room. They had gone up two floors and down a long hallway, and that was all she had noted.

Entering the room, she noticed it was about the size of her bedroom, but instead of bedroom furniture it had a medium table in its center, with counters along its edges holding casks and bottles, and chandeliers giving it a romantic atmosphere. There were plates of food already laid out on the table, steam still coming off the freshly carved chicken and creamed corn. The servants must have just left.

Kirigin gestured to where she would be sitting along the side of the table facing the door. She sat and stared at her plate in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Kirigan grabbing two wine glasses filled with a rose colored wine from the counter, and he set them on the table. He then sat down next to her at the table's head.

He cleared his throat, and she directly looked at the general for the first time that evening. Somehow he looked more handsome than normal. His black hair framing his chiseled face. She had been avoiding his eyes, she realized, afraid of what she would find there. When she finally did meet his intense stare, she couldn't read them. He did have a slight smirk on his lips, probably amused at her for staring at her plate.