Element [The Darkling]

Chapter Fifteen

My footsteps echoed through the tunnels around me, the sound of my spurs clicking against the stone floor ringing like a warning bell.

Darkness was growing in me. My rage had only been growing since I let go of Astrid. I'd left her with Genya, Feydor, Nadia, and more than half a dozen Grisha guards I knew I could trust.

It took everything to tear myself away from her, but Genya had to observe her, make sure that she was alright.

In truth, I was afraid. Afraid of how she would see me if she learned what I did to bring her back. I was afraid of how the merzost would affect me. I could feel it joining my darkness. Fueling my rage.

Ivan was waiting for me with the man responsible for killing Marie, who had been disguised as Alina.

I had a good feeling of who that man was.

Alina was missing, and this man was responsible for it. I just knew it.

"Has he talked?" I asked Zoya, who was walking behind me, her hands clasped behind her back.

"A lot of lies. Ivan's with him." She replied.

Sure enough, the man was bound to a chair, my trusted Heartrender standing behind him. This man was shorter, stocky, with short jet black hair, brown skin and dark eyes.

I came to a stop in front of the beaten man, who was panting, ready with his lies. "I've been swindled." He said the moment my feet stopped moving. "Hoodwinked." He exclaimed.

"My guards tell me they caught you fleeing the scene of the crime." I replied calmly.

"Yes! I followed them." He lied eagerly.

"Followed whom?"

"They come from the other side of the Fold." He told me. "From the start, they seemed... just a bit off to me, so when they left our stage, at the fete, I followed them to see what they were up to. And at the time that I walked into that room," His voice choked up as he faked tears. "They were gone and... saints, it was... unspeakable."

I lowered my head, picturing how Astrid would be if that had really been Alina. Seeing the look on her face when she saw Nadia's tears. I thought about the way she would react once I told her Alina was missing.

And then I thought about her... dying... in my arms.

I really wanted to kill this man.

"So I ran."

"How much of that is true?" I asked Ivan.

"He did cross the Fold with the others. The rest were lies." Ivan replied.

"What? That's... no..." The man spluttered.

"Your heart gives you away." Ivan told him, annoyed with him wasting our time.