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DROWNED IN THE DARKNESS

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"𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳, 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳."

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

━"𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐉𝐎𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆" Kaz scoffed in disbelief as Raina looked at him with confusion.

"Well do you" she urged.

"No Raina, I'm so sorry I forgot to carry a blanket with me during our mission for you to sleep with," Kaz sarcastically drawled out. "How can I ever apologize."

Inej and Jesper looked at each other with knowing glances as they suppressed their smiles.

Rolling her eyes, Raina looked away from him and stared upfront, muttering bitterly, "Aleks never forgets." Yes, but Aleksander doesn't care for you now, does he?

Clenching his jaw, Kaz squinted his eyes at Raina as his lips curled inwards, "What did you say,"

"What did you say," General Kirigan snarled at Ivan who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here, delivering the news...

"Raina is also missing General."

"Saints Kaz, can't you just give it a rest," Raina complained, groaning as he started to talk again.

"No. Go ahead, what were you saying," Kaz repeated with a determined look on his face. "Who is this 'Aleks' you're talking about."

"A friend alright. He was just a friend." Raina exasperatedly stated, emphasizing the word, 'friend'. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to get my beauty sleep."

Grumbling under his breath, Kaz kept his eyes on Raina's figure as her head unconsciously landed on the midsection of his left shoulder and arm, awkwardly.

"She looks uncomfortable," Jesper said, keeping his eyes ahead on the path they were going through.

"I'm aware" Kaz muttered, glancing at Inej for help, who shrugged and continued stroking Cooper's back.

Sighing, he shifted his position to the right while carefully placing his gloved hand on the side of her head. Sucking in a deep breath, fighting down the quivers and trembles, he gently laid her head on his chest.

Letting out a sound, Raina moved her head a bit causing Kaz to go completely still as he looked down at her, frightened that he had awakened her somehow.

□ □ □

"We have looked everywhere but there's no trace of her," Zoya voiced out.

"Well you have to try harder." Kirigan spat, pacing across the room.

He has sent a large number of guards to search within the palace and out but each time they came back to report, was just a reminder to confirm that Raina indeed was nowhere to be found.

"Don't you think it's suspicious, General," Zoya said, interrupting Aleksander's wild thoughts. "That the Sun Summoner appears out of nowhere then a few weeks later, both her and Raina vanish."

Slowly nodding as he thought over the truth hidden in Zoya's words. Alina appears and shows interest in him although secretly has feelings for Raina. She disappearing at the same time Raina does only verifies his thoughts.

"The Sun Summoner has kidnapped Raina," Kirigan confidently calls out before he walks out of his office to go visit Raina's room.

What he failed to notice was the sly smirk resting on Zoya's face. Oh, Alina Starkov better watch her back.

Aleksander clenched his fist as he surveyed the state of Raina's room. Her bedsheets looked tangled and her clothes strewn everywhere.

Why did she leave? How could he have let Alina fool him?

Someone clearing their throat brought his thoughts to a halt. Genya stood at the entrance of the door, looking around the empty room sorrowfully.

"Ivan has asked me to tell you that the guards have found someone fleeing the palace."

That got Aleksander's attention, "Did they say anything about Raina?"

"Unfortunately not," Genya meekly replied, entering the room. "You-you don't think that something..bad has happened to her, do you?"

"I will kill everyone before they even touch a strand of her hair, let alone harm her." Aleksander stonically responded.

"Has he talked?" General Kirigan asked Zoya as he entered one of the concealed rooms in the palace.

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

The man who had been caught was tied to a chair, face flushed as he nervously looked around. "I-I didn't do anything. You have to believe me."

"If you haven't done anything wrong then you wouldn't even be here." Kirigan retorted, gritting his teeth.

"I followed them," the man spat out.

"Followed whom?"

"They came from the other side of the fold," he tensely described. "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, they were gone and..."

Ivan furrowed his eyebrow as the man's heart started to beat louder.

"Saints, it was... unspeakable. So I ran. I--"

Ignoring the man's attempt to defend himself, Kirigan glanced at Ivan. "How much of that is true?"

"He did cross the fold with the others," Ivan harshly stated. "The rest were lies."

The man started trembling, spluttering out nonsense in hopes to stay alive, "What? That's..No-I'm Oskar, Oskar Krepkov."

"Lies," Kirigan growled. "You are the Conductor, Arken Visser, are you not? You smuggle Grisha out of my palace! You help them abandon the war effort."

Arken opened his mouth although was quickly silenced by Kirigan's harsh glare. "You struck a deal with these three thieves to kidnap Raina Hart."

Widening his eyes at the name, "Raina Hart? What does she have to do with this?" Arken confusedly asked.

General Kirigan raised his eyebrow, slowly making his way in front of Arken, softly tutting, "You're plan was never to kidnap Raina was it..."

"The prize to bring the Sun Summoner back to Ketterdam was a million, split four ways," Arken mumbled.

Kirigan shook his head, taking several steps back. If Alina was supposedly the one to be kidnapped and she had run away, whose plan was it to kidnap Raina? She wouldn't have run away willingly, would she?

Scoffing mentally at that absurd thought, Kirigan turned around to walk out of the room only to be stopped by the pleading voice of Arken. "I can help. Tell me how I can help."

Glancing over his shoulder, Kirigan locked eyes with Arken, "You already have." Leaving the room as Ivan and Zoya followed, the General called out the shadows. The sound of Arken choking to death quickly faded as the darkness of the room overpowered.

□ □ □

Meanwhile in Raina's room, sat a sobbing Genya and a tear-stained letter addressed to her in Raina's handwriting.

Will I ever see her again?

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞!

first off, can we please talk about how cute raina and kaz is 

second, i'm not sure if many people appreciates my story or the concept im trying to go with which is why my updates are slow since i'm still trying to figure out whether i should continue my story or not. comments and feedbacks are valued!

let me know your thoughts

xoxo NS