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...
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Walking to my room, past the sleeping clerk with terrible taste in clothes and a bad haircut, up creaking stairs, and through drab hallways, I tried to figure out what I would say to get Mal to go to the docks with me. Should I ask? Pretend I left something there and ask him to go with me to get it? Beg? Wait for a bit and then ask? I had no idea.
By the time I reached the door, I still had no idea. Ugh. Maybe I should merely ask. Opening the door and flinching when it squeaked loud enough to raise the dead, I stepped in and found Mal already asleep on the bed. The jerk hadn't even been worried enough to wait up for me. He was sprawled out, snoring face-first into the one pillow we had.
Tip-toeing over, I started to gently shake his shoulder. I didn't want him angry, no matter how mad it made me. Shaking him harder, I whispered, "Mal? Mal, wake up!"
Grunting, he finally rolled over and opened his eyes. "What? What's wrong?"
"I..." Struck with a sudden burst of brilliant improvisation, I sat down and put a sleepy look on my face. "I can't sleep. Can we talk for a bit? We haven't had a chance to talk yet today, and I miss talking to you." My gut churned, but my face remained the perfect picture of innocence. When he sat up but still looked hesitant, I slid closer, brushing a brown lock of hair off his forehead. His hair had grown out from the buzz it had been in when he was in the First Army.
Sighing, he put an arm around my waist, a little lower than he needed to, and pulled me closer to him. Even though everything in me told me to move away, I knew what would happen if I did, so I put my head on his shoulder. A rolling wave of nausea washed through me.
Closing my eyes, I was about to say something when I felt someone sit down on my other side. Jolting upright, I stood as my eyes flew open to see the Darkling sitting next to where I had been. Mal reached for me. "Alina, what's wrong?"
Panicked, I looked between the two men and suddenly had a flashback to my dream on the boat. "The Darkling-"
Mal cut me off. "I don't want to talk about the Darkling."
"What-" I began to say, but the Darkling stood, cupped my face, and put a finger to my lips. "Shh, love. He can't hear or see me." Seeing my expression, he added, "Yes, I'm actually here. This is real, and so was the other night." My eyes widened in shock, realizing what I had done, but I quickly controlled my expression when I saw the flash of hurt dart across his face. His dark eyes were sad as they flicked to Mal. "I came again to see if you were still okay, but..." His voice trailed off. He began to blur, but I caught his arm.
"Wait!" He came back into focus. Speaking to Mal but with my eyes on the Darkling, I said, "Mal, I know this looks bad, but it isn't what it looks like. I'm not crazy, and I'm not stupid. We're going to talk about this soon, don't worry." The Darkling and Mal were both hesitant. Then Mal said, "Do you want to go on a walk? You look like you could use some fresh air."
