CHAPTER TWENTY
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MORANA'S FIRST KISS HAD HAPPENED when she was around thirteen years old and still living in Ketterdam.

She'd been running away from stadwatch after stealing a watch off some tourist's wrist. She'd only been caught because she'd stumbled as a costume-wearing entertainer had bumped against her and the watch had fallen to the ground.

She ran all the way to the part of the city where the Barrel began and saw a boy around her age walking down the street. Without a second thought, Morana had grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him closer to her, hiding herself from the view of the guards as she pressed her lips to his.

The guards had been fooled by a couple of kids in love. And when Morana pulled away she grinned sheepishly at the boy, whose mouth was hanging open as he looked at her.

"I'm sorry, that was so inappropriate but the stadwatch was... Nevermind. I'm sorry." She finished with a grimacing smile and the boy snapped back to reality chuckling.

"Do it again and I'll forgive you," he said with a grin and Morana rolled her eyes. "I'm liking Ketterdam better and better."

"You're a tourist?"

"Newly arrived resident actually."

Morana frowned, looking around. "Where are your parents? It's dangerous to be here alone."

"Where are yours?" he retorted. Without giving her time to answer he asked another question, "What's your name?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"A random girl just kissed me in the street. I'd love to know her name."

"I'm Morana," she answered with a laugh.

"I'm Jordie," he'd replied.

And Morana hadn't seen him again after that day.

Jordie Rietveld, as he'd informed her as they sat by the edge of a street, had moved to Ketterdam with his younger brother Kaz after his father passed away. Apart from that she knew nothing of him. And a couple of weeks later she'd fled from Ketterdam.

That had been her first kiss. As chaotic as every moment from her time in Ketterdam; but clearly lacking any passion, any love, any actual spark. If she'd stayed perhaps she would've come to care for Jordie. But she hadn't and she wouldn't know. What she did know was that even though that had been her first kiss, everything with Nikolai felt like the first time.

Because it was the first time she'd been in love. Morana Zoreslava was in love.

And she had no fear of admitting it anymore, she was unapologetically intoxicated by the King of Ravka and she wasn't scared to poison him. Not anymore. Not when they were going to end her father once and for all. Not when Nikolai was falling right beside her and they'd drown together in each other.

She watched with a smile, clutching his compass in her hand as he stood on the deck of his second flying ship, talking to the crowd before him like a true king would.

He winked at her as he finished his speech and Morana watch them fly away before following Alina, Mal, David, and Genya to the chapel.

However, something felt unsettling.

Morana watched nervously as David fumbled to gain the courage to cut off Mal's finger to the point she was one moment away from offering her services as a butcher.

And yet, it wasn't Mal's soon-to-be lack of finger that was making Morana glance around them. She felt the shadows close by, even if faintly being that they were so close to the Fold. But she felt them.

Just as David raised the shears again, Morana raised a hand stopping him, "Something's not right—"

The window broke and their heads snapped to the broken stained glass as shadows spilled onto the ground gathering into the form of a nichevo'ya.

"Run!" said Morana, shoving David aside as she settled in front of the creature.

Raising her hands as she heard their footsteps she slashed a rope of light through the air, dissipating the shadows; she took off after the others as soon as she saw it disappear.

Morana's breathing grew heavier as she ran, hitting any shadow she saw moving with her magic. She ran after Mal and Alina, following her bond to Mal, and saw them just as the ground rumbled and a scream tore out of her throat. And suddenly acid was running through her veins, burning her from the inside out, it was merzost being intensified.

The Fold was moving.

Morana stumbled through the ground and nearly fell to the ground if it wasn't for Mal and Alina catching her. "The Fold," she muttered through gritted teeth as she forced herself to walk fast with them, "it's..."

"We know," said Alina, looking around as they moved through the darkening hallways of the fort, night descending upon them unwanted.

Morana summoned as much of her light as she could, making it fight against the shadows in her blood, so she could lessen the pain as they walked outside into a world that seemed to have turned upside down, submerged in her father's night, his creatures roaming the sky.

And if merzost wanted to corrupt her; Morana would make sure she could kill with it.

She shoved Mal and Alina off her and with a pained scream let all of it out, the shadows and light. She answered the call of merzost and a burst of magic left her body like an explosion, light, and shadows mixed in the shape of a blooming rose. Poisonous. Beautiful. Deathly.

Volcra began falling from the sky. Like rain.

Morana turned back and saw Alina's hands raised in the air, a shield of light protecting her and Mal and the few survivors outside.

Panting as she caught her breathing, Morana smiled, looking down at her hands, hands that had just created an explosion out of dawn. She looked back at Alina and Mal—

"Get down, Mora!" Alina and Mal shouted and Morana only had the time to turn back, seeing a nichevo'ya right in her face, faceless head tilted her way, in shadowy curiosity.

Morana glared back at it, light and shadows twirling around her fingertips, even as she felt the shadows winning, even as she felt the balance being off, even as she felt acid in her veins like poison.

"Morana, run!" shouted Mal.

"I can call them to me," said Morana as an idea formed in her mind, "It's not hurting me. I can call them all—"

"Get away from it, Mora!"

"Mal, I can save everyone—" Morana's words died down as her knees buckled, another nichevo'ya appearing beside her, more shadows beckoning her.

"Mal, we have to get her away from them," she heard Alina say as another nichevo'ya appeared, called upon by her, in an attempt to bargain for her place between the shadows so the others could go.

The nichevo'ya around her grew bigger in size as she felt a hand on her shoulder and Morana's legs gave out, the unbalanced merzost too much to keep her standing. She fell back, hitting Mal's chest as he'd come to try and get her away.

But Mal was more unbalanced merzost.

Morana felt a tear leave her eye, but she wasn't crying. Weakly, and still summoning the nichevo'ya to her, another one appearing beside her, Morana reached to wipe her tear away and as she looked down at her hand she found it to be dark, bloody.

"Mora, stop calling them!" Alina pleaded.

"They stopped attacking," mumbled Morana as her head fell against Mal's chest, looking up at the nichevo'ya gathering around them, standing there as shadows come to life as if they were waiting for her to collapse into the shadows and wake up as one of them.

Another one appeared, and Morana could feel the darkness gathering in her mind. The last thing she saw was a nichevo'ya disappearing between golden light and the sound of a sword slashing through the air.

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It had been an ambush. And Nikolai had fallen straight down the trap, leading a group of people with him to their doom. The Hummingbird had crashed, Nikolai was hurt, and everything seemed to be going to ashes.

"This was their plan all along. Not the orphanage, but to attack us here. Catch us off guard," said Nikolai with a grunt as he clutched his leg while walking up the hill to the fort, roots, and stones made the path uneven, making him walk slower, and having to have Dominik help him walk.

"We should stop, check your leg," the latter said as Nikolai leaned against a tree.

"No, we have to go back and find Alina," said Nikolai, as he moved, ignoring the stubborn pain in his leg. I have to find Morana, he thought to himself. If the Darkling was targeting the fort then Morana and everyone inside were in danger. He turned around, from the path where they'd come from, "Have they seen us?"

"There's too much tree cover," said Dominik, as Nikolai spotted the group of crazy Grisha at the bottom of the hill. "No clear line of sight to us. We should be fine to get to the fort."

Then a row of trees far from them lit up in flames, burnt to ashes, and the fire was gone with the wind, and the Grisha had a safe passage without trees to impede them. Nadia gasped, "How are they so powerful?"

"Come on," said Dominik, as he helped Nikolai to walk faster up the hill.

He limped up the hill but he couldn't even focus on his legs when all he could think of was the Darkling's chance at winning, the possibility that Ravka could cease to exist as he knew it, and Morana on the fort, where he didn't know whether she was safe or not.

"Keep Nikolai in front," said Dominik as they walked faster, getting onto more leveled terrain, "Protect the King."

"If we can get in through the moats and front gate before they catch us, we might stand a chance," said Nikolai but he stopped in his steps as the ground rumbled from beneath them.

A siren started wailing in the distance and Nikolai looked up, his lips parting in horror, his heart stopping as he saw the Fold moving, swallowing the Fort like a tsunami of shadows. Mora.

"Saints help us," said Dominik.

"Morana," Nikolai muttered as he looked at the shadows, and without another thought, without caring for the pain in his leg, or how badly injured it might be, he began running, everyone following behind.

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"You're a lot like your mother."

Morana frowned, blinking as she found herself standing in the middle of a desert, in the middle of the night but as she heard the growls around her she realized she was still inside the Fold.

And she found him, standing there. Decked in a black kefta, face scarred by volcra, taunting cruel smile.

Morana glared at her father. "I'm nothing like her."

"You didn't know her before you poisoned her, Morana."

"Fortunately," said Morana through clenched teeth, looking around her surroundings. Trying, for the life of her, to figure out where she was. Her head felt light, and as she reached for her cheeks she felt no bloody tears staining them. Was she dead?

"Yelena was a strong soldier. Smart." He tilted his head at her and Morana could only glare in return, her jaw clenched. "She was special. And I now know why."

"Enlighten me," said Morana, sarcasm dripping from her lips as she looked pointedly at the shadows around them. His lips twitched ever so slightly.

"She brought you to me," he said. "All I could ever ask for in a daughter. And she hid you from me all these years."

"I hid myself from you," said Morana.

"The Crimson Mirage. Yes, I know." He hummed in thought, observing her in scrutiny as if assessing an investment. "You're powerful, daughter, too powerful to be confined to try and save Ravka."

"So I should destroy it instead?"

"You slaughtered the volcra like it was child's play," he said, "I saw the explosion from miles away. And yet, you'll settle for a mere king when you could be an empress."

"I have no dreams of power."

"Then what do you dream of? Love?" he asked, lips curled in distaste. "Love only leads to heartbreak. To wanting. And the problem with wanting is it makes you weak."

"You're a hypocrite. You want more than anyone. You want the whole world, for what?" Morana stepped closer to him, pursing her lips as she looked at him coldly. "The merzost is killing you. And you will die. Having conquered the world or not."

"But I'll have a legacy," he said, his eyes void of light, "I'll leave it all to you."

"Am I supposed to be grateful?"

"Our family can rule the world. Baghra couldn't see it—"

"We are not family. And I'll gladly see you die. And make Ravka a better place. Fix your mess. Because you were never actually a king nor an emperor. You're a pathetic man who in centuries of life convinced himself destruction was the way to rule—"

Morana gasped when she felt his hand wrap around her throat, as he lifted her in the air, nostrils flaring as he glared at her. "Tell me then, how would you have gone about it? Marrying a Lantsov? Becoming some queen sitting idly by in court?"

He threw her to the ground and Morana fell to the ground. She clenched her jaw as she stood up, glaring at him. "I already went about conquering one world. The True Sea is at my mercy. Pirates on my side. I'm already a Queen in their world. And I do not sit idly by."

"Ravka isn't the True Sea. You can't snap your fingers and make foolish pirates beg at your feet. The population will have you hanged for who you are. For what you are. A Grisha using merzost. An abomination in their eyes."

Morana rolled her eyes, her fists clenching tightly, "Of course, Ravka isn't the True Sea. The True Sea is untouched by your darkness. And Ravka has been stained by it. Just like me. If I can try and fight your poison. I can do the same for Ravka."

His lips curled into a sneer, his eyebrow raising patronizingly, "You won't be queen, Morana. You'll be married to the king and there's a big difference. The king doesn't have to bow to you. Doesn't have to listen to you."

He took a step forward, looking down at her, "You're my daughter, powerful as a Morozova should be, and when you realize your mistake I'll be here. For no king will kneel for a monster."

Morana gasped, her eyes opening as she sat up, headbutting a girl hovering over her, and groaning as she saw the girl standing up and clutching her forehead. The stranger had auburn hair and even in the darkness of the Fold Morana could see her light eyes.

"Saints!" said the girl cursed, "Is that how you say thank you to a healer?"

"Who are you?" Morana frowned.

"That's Nina Zenik," said a familiar voice and Morana snapped her head to the side, seeing Zoya standing in the middle of the deck of the Hummingbird, hands raised as she kept them up in the sky. "Nice nap?"

"Fuck off, Zoya," grumbled Morana as she stood up.

Looking around to see them flying through the Fold, Alina created a dome of light around the Hummingbird keeping the volcra away. She turned to Nina again who was now sitting on a bench next to a Suli girl, holding a sword, she figured was the Neshenyer.

"Thank you for healing me. I'm guessing you're part of the crows? I'm Morana."

Nina smiled, "Any enemy of Zoya is my friend. And yes, this is Inej."

Inej nodded with a smile just as Alina spoke up to Mal, who was veering the ship, "Keep on in this direction. We're close."

"Mora," Mal called and Morana turned to him, he scowled at her, "What happened back there?"

"I saved you," said Morana with a roll of her eyes, "The nichevo'ya don't hurt me."

"Yes, they do!" Mal argued.

Morana pursed her lips and touched her cheeks to find her bloody tears had been wiped away. "Stop worrying, Oretsev, I'm fine," she told him.

"When we saw you fall you were crying blood," said Zoya pointedly and Morana scowled.

"Was I speaking to you?"

"I'm worried for my future queen," said Zoya with a smirk, "I'm nothing but a patriot."

"Future queen?" asked Nina, both brows raising in question and Inej was looking at Morana curiously.

Morana clutched Nikolai's compass with her hand and sighed. "Saving Ravka is a priority. If we can't, there won't even be a monarchy to talk about. So focus on the task at hand."

"Very regal of you," said Zoya with a smirk and Morana glared at her.

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author's note:

not my favorite, but whatever
hope you guys like it

also, there's only a couple
more chapters left of this fanfic,
and then we'll have to wait for season 3;
i'm really gonna miss morana and nikolai