She woke in the rosy glow of dawn light, the aching in her bones from last night gone.
A few worried faces peered over her. One of them was Anna, the Inferni she'd been making the kefta pockets for last night, and one of her best friends. The other, Ania. Her immaculately dressed friend broke out into a grin, the dark hair framing her olive skin glimmering. Anna, the Inferni, squealed and leaned in to hug Carinya, who gladly accepted it.
The young Fabrikator sat up, spewing the dumbest and most cliché question anyone had ever asked. "What happened?"
"Someone burned down the Fabrikator training grounds. And they found a note at the scene." Ania replied seriously.
"From who?"
"She didn't tell us."
"What did it say?"
Anna and Ania looked uncomfortable. "We don't know. Nina just shut up after that and left.
"Then let's go find her, numbheads." Carinya urged, sitting up in her bed and hopping to her bare feet.
The three girls exited Carinya's room, wandering down the hallway towards Nina's quarters. The hallway hummed with early morning activity, trainers and a couple of rise-and-shine attitude students on their way to something that was probably important and grand and boring to Carinya, who despite being someone who received good grades, had never been a morning perosn. On the way they passed Alexei and his friends. The brunet boy turned his head in Carinya's direction as they walked by, raising an eyebrow. Only then did Carinya realize she was wearing only a nightdress and an almost see-through silk shawl.
"I think he likes what he sees," Anna said, nudging her in the arm.
"Don't be ridiculous." Carinya reprimanded, although she felt the back of her neck get warm.
"She's not being ridiculous," Ania said smugly. "I fully agree with her."
"Well, that's a first." mumbled Carinya, smiling impishly at the scrutinizing looks her friends gave her. "you guys haggle and baggle and barter like little goblin tradesmen."
It was true, and they all knew it. Anna was the sunshine, a bright, bubbly light to cheer up anyone's day. Everyone either wanted to have her or be her. Carinya had to admit she sometimes got jealous of her friend's beauty, of all the sneaky glances people stole at her in the hallways. She walked like a sprite, chin held high and a smile on her freckle-dappled face, a girl with stars in her eyes and birdsong in her lungs. On the other hand, if Anna was birdsong, Ania was a war anthem, her piercing green eyes sharper than any of the blades in the Little Palace. Her dark hair, olive skin and forever immaculately kept red kefta made her look like an eagle, slender fingers always prepared to break hearts and crush lungs.
They rounded a corner, and ran directly into Almus Devin. The sixteen-year-old boy broke out in a grin, wrapping his older half-sister in the tightest hug Carinya had ever seen anyone give.
"Hello." Carinya said, gasping for air.
Almus grinned. Even though they shared the same mother, they looked vastly different. The only thing they had in common was their hair, wavy and the color of a star-speckled night sky. Almus's eyes were the green of field daisy stems, speckled with gold and mischief. Carinya constantly looked in the mirror and thought of her eyes as the unflattering color of mud. Almus had freckles, dotting the bridge of his nose and cheeks, adding a a sprinkle of spice to his skin, which was otherwise pale like his older sister's. And, while only a year younger than Carinya, was still catching up in height. The sixteen year old drew back, a bright, boyish smile on your lips.
YOU ARE READING
SHARDS - grishaverse
Fanfiction- "and i just took him by the hand, sobbing, and everything- and told him he was gonna be okay, and i was gonna hold on, and-" "and what did he say?" she looked up. "he told me to let him die." - in which seventeen year old carinya devin has her lif...
