In The Name of Shadows - A Darklina Story

Chapter 15: A Heartbreak

Publishing date: 04/08/2022

Alina Oretsev was sitting inside the spacious carriage, playing with the sleeves of her black and white kefta. Aleksander had ordered the Tailors from Os Kervo to make her outfit look decent after the battle in the port, adding a few extra embellishments to it. Alina's kefta was now more tailored to her slim figure, hand-embroidered with black thread and kept the perfect balance between white and black. The white-haired girl was also wearing a black tiara with gold elements, additionally lined with huge shiny onyxes. Her milky hair had been tied up in a low bun which had been stabilized with golden pins to support it in a perfect position.

The Havoc Summoner looked just beautiful. Unfortunately, her external appearance did not reflect what was now happening inside of her.

Alina sighed heavily, trying to calm her scattered thoughts. The fact that the Darkling was sitting across from her and that he was literally eating her by his eyes did not help her come up with a plan for the next few days. Moreover, Aleksander's last confession couldn't leave the girl's mind, ringing there each time when her and the Shadow Summoner's gazes crossed briefly.

"I have loved you since our first meeting."

Alina sensed that the Darkling had said it on purpose. She was afraid that once again this dark man was trying to manipulate her, as he still needed her to stabilize the situation in Ravka. Aleksander loved to play with words, and he always used his ability to express himself wisely against his interlocutor, whether those interlocutors were his enemies, some Ravkan nobles, or Grisha being under his command.

The white-haired girl realized that the Shadow Summoner had an undeniable obsession with her, but she had always associated it with the powers she possessed, not with any deeper feeling on the part of the Darkling. Meanwhile, the strange palpitations showed that Alina was considering other scenarios as well.

What if Aleksander Morozova really felt something for her? How would this affect the girl's hatred? Would the Havoc Summoner be able to easily isolate herself from this man who knew how to sow the doubt in her and in whose proximity Alina's body lost all inhibitions, transforming into an unbridled ball of light and dark energy?

"In response to your lovely doubts, my little Alina, let me tell you that every deep love is always some kind of obsession." Aleksander Morozova rested the back of his head on the black satin wall of the carriage, looking at the white-haired girl a bit down from under the curtain of his thick black eyelashes. "When love stops being the obsession, it means that either it wasn't love at all, or that the relationship has just ended."

Alina felt her heart speed up.

The Darkling hadn't bothered her for a long time, which perhaps had lulled the vigilance of the Havoc Summoner. Meanwhile, now he had crept once more into the girl's most intimate thoughts, using them for his own benefit.

"Why are you doing this?" Alina was furious. She was fed up with being a prisoner of the Darkling in every aspect of her life. Not only that she had to travel with him to the capital, not only that she had had an active part in the restoration of the Fold, and not only that she had participated in the Os Kervo massacre, but now even the inside of her head could no longer be her silent asylum.

Alina Oretsev was fully enslaved. What if she was not seemingly locked up in any prison, but things she was just experiencing turned out to be much worse than any possible bars and dungeons?

"Why are you still messing with my head? What do you want from me, Aleksander Morozova?" Alina feared that the Darkling would delight in her subjection to him. That it would further influence his belief that he could control the Havoc Summoner in all possible ways.