Baddie Alina and slightly better Darkling?
What if Alina and stayed the night of the winter fete instead of running away? What if she had chosen the Darkling over Mal? What if the Malina ship sank fast and the Darklina ship sailed?
All these charact...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Walking through the streets of Ketterdam, I thought about the past week. It had been fairly easy crossing the Fold. The only difficult parts had been getting the horses to actually enter the Fold and hiding as we came out of the Fold. Then we traveled to Os Kervo and Mal had no trouble getting us a ship to Kerch. The only real problem was that the ship would leave in a week. I was nervous that the Darkling would find us and drag us back, but there had been no sign of him. Then, after the week had passed without incident, we boarded the ship. Mal made friends with all the sailors and I hung out by myself. Usually, I would be in the cargo hold practicing summoning, but sometimes I would stand on the deck with Mal.
We had finally made it to Kerch, and then to Ketterdam. I felt almost free walking through the city streets, with no one staring at me and judging everything I did. No one was telling me to hold my head high or wear a certain color or put my hair up a certain way. No one was telling me to eat this food or that food or sleep in this bed or with this person. I felt free.
Looking up at the sun and realizing I was almost late to where I was going to meet Mal, I sped up. Not looking where I was going, I ran into someone. Looking up, I saw a tall Zemeni boy about my age brushing himself off. "I'm sorry, cutie. Wasn't watching where I was going. Buy you a drink to make up for it?"
I looked at him. He was wearing plain clothes and had guns at his hips. The pearl handles looked expensive. He was admittedly sort of cute. You know what? I thought. Screw Mal. He can wait.
I smiled and nodded. "Sure. Although, it was kind of my fault. Not yours."
He offered me an arm and I took it gladly. He was maybe an inch or two taller than the Darkling, and I had to look way up to see his face. He caught me looking and smirked playfully. "Maybe I did bump into you on purpose. You never know. But if it was accidental, I sure am lucky that I bumped into you out of everyone on the street."
I laughed. He had an easy way of talking. He seemed like the kind of person to flirt with everyone he met. "Where are we going?"
"I don't actually know. I was really just hoping that I would get lucky enough for you to say yes. I didn't think much past that." He thought for a moment. "Actually, I do know a place. It's pretty good, but it's not in a great place in town. If you were alone, I would say to not go in there, but then again, you're with me."
"What's it called?"
"It's called the Crow Club. It doubles as a casino and a hotel, but that's alright. I wasn't planning on getting you to stay the night, although I am definitely open to it."
Laughing, I said, "I have places to go and people to meet. Although," I looked him up and down, "they aren't really that important."
He raised his eyebrows. "Alright, bet. Now I know why I woke up feeling lucky."
"In all honesty, though, I really can't. And not just because I don't even know your name yet. I do actually need to meet my brother somewhere."
He pouted his lip and looked down at me. "Pweeeeeeeeeeaaaase?"
