Sea and Stars - a Nikolai Lantsov x OC fan fiction

6

THE NEXT MORNING, I SAT on a coil of ropes in my fabrikator kefta reading the book I brought with me. I needed to get the Darkling's words to me out of my system. They affected me more than I'd like to admit.

He had a presence at the Little Palace that went far from unnoticed. The other girls weren't shy about their desires. About talking about them with other women, that is.

I would be a fool to ignore his beauty, of course, but I would be a bigger fool still to act on it.

He didn't want me. I wasn't special to him, and the sooner I forced myself to believe it, the better.

"Moya Sveta." A man's voice in my vicinity had me tearing my gaze from my book. (Little Light)

"Captain." I stood up abruptly, discarding my book onto the coil of ropes. That's when I took in the way he addressed me and furrowed my brows. "It's Eryn, sir."

He gave me what could only be described as a smirk, and I wondered at what I did wrong. "We need you."

I nodded a bit too forcefully. "Yes, sir."

"We're approaching Rusalye. We'll need all the help we can get."

I nodded, still curious about the way he addressed me.

But I had an obligation to fulfill, and I wouldn't disappoint.

***

WE FOUND THE SEA SERPENT. Alina's otkazat'sya tracker friend tracked her down, and the Darkling commanded his and Sturmhond's combined crew to pull the beastly thing on deck.

The creature called Rusalye was a terrifying sight to behold, and yet I couldn't stop myself from shedding more than a few tears for her. She didn't deserve this, and I felt powerless looking at her.

Why couldn't I save everyone?

First Ava, now her. I was cursed with a useless power that let me do nothing but barely impress the dark general. A power I could only use in the dark.

"Eryn," the Darkling called to me, his voice wrapping around me like a blanket, "fashion a blade from starlight."

My stomach plummeted. "Sir, I've never been able to create."

"You can, and you will." He stepped close to me. "Trust yourself."

"Sir, with all due respect," the fox-haired captain approached us, "we don't have time to play around with the small science."

The Darkling's eyes snapped to Sturmhond's in an instant. My stomach lurched. "Worry about your own crew, pirate."

"Okay, first of all, I am a privateer, and one that demands respect, at that," he said. I made a mental note to ask someone what a privateer was later. I didn't know how it differed from a pirate. "And second of all, this is my ship and thus everyone on it is my crew. Those were my conditions."

I watched Sturmhond in awe. It took a stupid level of audacity to stand up to the Darkling, even I knew that. And I knew the pirate—privateer, I corrected—was confident.

I didn't know he was cocky.

The Darkling trailed his gaze back to mine. "I want to see what happens when you use your own power to extract the creature's scales."

"If you need me to be able to access my abilities," I voiced, Sturmhond's confidence igniting something within me, "why don't you get me an amplifier?"

The Darkling snapped his lethal stare to me, and I instantly regretted opening my mouth. I shot my gaze to the ground to hide my shame.

"Is that what you want, little one?"

I shook my head.

"You would be mindful what you ask for."

"She was asking a question," Sturmhond snapped. I couldn't help but wonder why he cared enough to come to my defense. "Now are you going to deal with the serpent or shall I release it back into the sea?"

The Darkling ignored the privateer. "Eryn," he called, reaching out his hand. "Take my hand, and use your starlight to extract the scales from Rusalye."

I did as he asked.

I took his hand, and immediately I felt his power rush through me. I felt invincible. I felt impossible.

With the Darkling's help, it didn't matter that we were standing in broad daylight. It didn't matter that there were no stars to be seen in the clear blue sky. I called upon my connection to the earth with ease.

And imagined an ornate silver blade made of my own light.

"What are you doing?" Sturmhond says from somewhere behind us. He was talking to the general.

I used my fabricated dagger to slice a few scales from Rusalye's heartbreaking corpse, the scene making it hard to feel accomplished or proud of what I did.

And when the Darkling let go of my hand, emptiness crashed down over me, reminding me that I was nothing without him. I was powerless without the general's touch.

"Forging a new connection," the Darkling said, answering the captain's question. "The sun, the moon, and the stars. One, as we were always meant to be."

My stomach plummeted to my feet.

What did I just do?

***

Author's Note: HELP. What is happening. Just kidding, I love it. Let me know what you want to see as the plot thickens. Maybe I'll listen.

Also, I realized while writing this chapter that I had changed the sister's name halfway through the series. I felt so stupid. 😭 But I went back and changed them to the correct version. So in case you were confused, Eryn's sister is Ava.

My bad.