Blood and Water - The Darkling

Chapter 30: The Lies that Bind

*Unedited

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𝕴 take a few steps forward and turn around to look sadly at every person behind me. At last, my gaze meets my sister's. I send all of my love to her, hoping that she will let me do this last thing for her. No. This one thing for myself. For the part of me that still clings to all that is good. To make up for the fact that I was a big reason for the blood spilled today.

Then, I turn back towards the Darkling. Once Genya makes her way into David's arms, I send up a shield of swirling starlight and black night to separate me from the rest of my friends.

I hear Alina shouting at me, but I pay it no mind.

My feet carry me towards the dark man who haunts me. When I reach him he holds out his hand, and I step into his arms.

He cups the back of my neck, feeling the silken brush of my hair on his fingertips.

"You betrayed me," he whispers.

"And you I," I mumble, referring to all the innocents he has slaughtered. "Yet, I am still yours, and you mine."

Aleksander growls. I see anger swirl in his eyes, but there is also elation and triumph there. Then he lowers his mouth to mine. Our lips meet, and the connection between us opens.

But then, we sense someone else there too.

No.

Alina.

He rears back, "What is she doing?"

Mine.

I feel as my twin reaches across the bond forged by Morozova's collar and grabs hold of the Darkling's power.

Darkness spills from him, black ink from his palms, billowing and skittering, blooming into the shape of a nichevo'ya, forming hands, head, claws, winds.

Aleksander tries to fight it, but Alina keeps calling his power, calling the darkness as he had once done to summon her light.

Another creature bursts forth, and then another. The Darkling cries out as it is wrenched from him. I feel it too. My heart constricts as each shadow soldier tears a little bit of my twin away, exacting the price of its creation.

"Stop," the Darkling rasps.

The nichevo'ya whirr nervously around us, clicking and humming, faster and faster. One after another, Alina's army rises up around us.

"You'll kill us both!" he cries.

"Yes," Alina says.

The Darkling's legs buckle, and we collapse to our knees. My shield disappears into whisps.

This is not the Small Science. This is magic, something ancient, the making at the heart of the world. It is terrifying, limitless. No wonder Aleksander hungers for more.

The darkness buzzes and clatters, a thousand locusts, beetles, hungry flies, clicking their legs, beating their wings. The nichevo'ya wavers and re-form, whirring in a frenzy, driven on by his rage and Alina's exultation.

Another monster. Another. Blood is pouring from the Darkling's nose. My twin starts convulsing. She is dying, bit by bit, with every monster that wrenches itself free.

Though I can feel their pain through our bond, I am not affected by it.

Our bond.

I will not allow Aleksander or my sister to die. I am stronger.