If Looks Could Kill (A Shadow & Bone Fanfiction)

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

I woke up the next morning to Genya barging into my room and throwing the curtains open wide.

According to her, I looked like I had never seen sunlight before. I’d simply rolled my eyes and attempted to go back to sleep, but to no avail.

Now, I was heading out to train with Botkin.

Most of my morning was spent running around the grounds of the Little Palace.

“Faster!” Botkin shouted. I clenched my fists and tried to run faster. I was sweating profusely and it felt like my heart was about to explode.

Finally, I reached the makeshift finish line. Just as I was about to collapse on the neatly trimmed grass, Botkin shouted, “Now, Botkin will teach little girl to fight!”

I looked at him wide-eyed, too exhausted to make much more of a reaction.

Finally, when I caught my breath, I said, “You can’t be serious! I just about died!”

He just laughed, and walked over to the training area. Reluctantly, I followed. He took an odd stance, and I just stared at him. What is he doing?

“Get in fighting stance!” he ordered. I sloppily copied the way he was standing. He let out a sharp breath, his face screwed up into a grimace. “Effort!”

I groaned, feeling too sore and exhausted to stand. Finally, I found what strength I had left and tried my hardest to get into a good stance.

Right when I looked back at him, a fist collided with my gut. I gasped, the breath knocked out of me. I didn’t have the strength to react when the same fist came and caught me in the side of the head.

I felt myself falling as the world around me faded to black.

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When I woke up, I was in a strange room. I felt extremely disoriented, sore, and exhausted.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and I turned my head to see a thin woman dressed in a red kefta. I looked closely, and noticed her cuffs where embroidered in gray. A healer.

She turned around and met my eyes. She looked surprised for a moment before she collected herself and walked to my bedside with a small smile.

“You’re awake,” she remarked. “I didn’t hear you.”

I simply nodded.

“I’m Mariya.”

“Zeya,” I croaked out. She smiled sympathetically at me.

“I know,” she said. “The . . . Moon Summoner.”

I didn’t miss the hesitation in her voice. Was she afraid of me?

“There’s no need to be afraid,” I murmured. I couldn’t raise my voice above a whisper.

Her eyes widened. “I – I’m not afraid, it’s just . . . with what happened last time there was someone this powerful . . . .”

I understood instantly where she was coming from. The Alina Incident, as it was called by a few, had shaken the whole nation of Ravka. Even parts of other nations felt the loss of the great Sun Summoner.

And I had to follow in her footsteps.

“I understand,” I said softly. “But I don’t have some crazy man that’s going to come kidnap me and kill me. Not like Alina.”

She looked slightly relieved when I said that.

I ended up becoming quite good friends with Mariya. We chatted away for what was probably hours.

Finally, I asked, “Why am I in here anyway?”

She looked surprised. “You don’t remember?”

I shook my head.

“Well,” she said, “You were training with Botkin, and you ended up blacking out. He got a few blows to your head, but it seems like you’re almost back to normal. I recommend you stay the night here.”

He punched me in the head? I thought angrily. I was certainly going to give Botkin a piece of my mind whenever I got back to training.

Mariya glanced at the clock. “Oh! I better get going. It’s time for dinner. I’ll have a servant bring you a tray, but I must be going. I’ll check up on you later, Zeya.”

I smiled after her in response, and she was out the door before I could blink.

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I ate my dinner alone. I didn’t really taste it, I just mindlessly ate while I watched the wall, lost in my thoughts.

I thought about Alina. Why had that man killed her? – aside from his mental disorder, anyway. What was she like? What was her relationship with the Dar –

Hold up, I stopped my wild thoughts. Where did that come from?

I sighed, long and loud. Why did I care about that?

The sudden sound of the door creaking open jarred me out of my self-interrogation.

I looked up at the door to the room to find the Darkling standing there. I couldn’t help my surprise.

“Zeya,” he greeted softly. “How are you feeling?”

“Um, okay, I guess?”

An amused twinkle alighted in his eyes. “I spoke with Botkin. He says you blacked out during training today.”

I snorted in a very unprofessional way, “Actually, Botkin made me black out. Mariya said I took a few blows to the head.”

The Darkling frowned. “Botkin didn’t tell me of this. You’ve only started training today, why would he go so hard on you?”

I didn’t have an answer for that.

We stayed in an awkward silence for a few moments before he spoke up.

“How are you liking things here at the palace?”

“They’re, uh, pretty okay. Everything here is so new to me.” I replied.

Awkward silence.

“I needed to see you were alright. With my own eyes.” He blurted.

My eyes widened. Did he really just say that?

“Well, I’m fine,” I said quietly.

“Good,” he murmured. We looked at each other in silence for a while before he said, “I must be off. You need to rest.”

I nodded mutely, and watched as he turned and left the room.

That was the strangest conversation of my life. I could feel the awkward, I thought.

I spent most of my night thinking over that conversation. Maybe I overanalyse things, but that short talk with him was packed with awkward.  

Before I fell asleep, my thoughts drifted to my powers. Since it was dark out now, I could clearly see the silver aura I was giving off.

I wonder if I’ll ever be able to control it.

I tried to see if I could replicate the same call the Darkling had on my power, but I couldn’t. With a frustrated sigh, I gave up.

What use am I as the saviour of Ravka if I can only summon this little amount of light?

A/N: Okay, so this was kind of an all over the place chapter. Sorry it's so short, I promise it will get much more interesting (and a lot longer proabably) soon. Hope you enjoyed, vote and comment, and I’ll see you all on my next update. **By the way, this is NOT edited!*