✧ ♥ ✧

After leaving the Little Palace, Katya furiously strode home. Did Aleksander really believe she would patiently wait while he wooed another girl right in front of her eyes? How dared he think she would accept that? He must greatly overestimate his influence.

No, leaving had been the right thing to do, even if a tiny, treacherous voice begged her to return and let him finish the intended kiss.

Calling Laika to her, Katya went to the glade in the woods where she usually practiced. So annoyed she even forgot to light a fire first she started to summon, adding her voice for impact: "Burn!"

To her surprise a flame appeared, slightly different than usual. It hung mid-air, ruby red with a nearly black core, pulsing like a charred heart. As if her jealousy had somehow taken physical form.

The black flame shone brightly for several seconds before it faded.

What had she just summoned?

She excitedly tried again. "Burn!"

Nothing happened. How had she done it before? Did she need to speak louder?

"BURN!"

Still nothing. Frustrated, she lit a fire to have something to start with, but now she only produced her usual beam, orange and bright. Where had the black flame come from, and what had made it start without a spark?

She tried again and again but to no avail. Had she just imagined the whole thing?

No. It had been real. She was certain.

The following days Katya struggled from morning to late evening, hardly bothering to eat and sleep. Her practicing area grew black and scorched like the wasteland after a forest fire, with lingering embers as sprinkles of blood. Why was it not working?

There was more to discover, a power within her yet to be released – she knew it. If only she had still been on terms with Aleksander; an additional amplifier might be just what she needed to summon that elusive, black flame again! But she had not seen him since their argument, and besides, she had decided to be strong without him. She must do this on her own.

✧ ♥ ✧

Katya was so occupied with her summoning that she almost forgot the Winter Fete was coming up, the most extravagant feast of the year. Only when she one day found the whole courtyard full of peddlers and entertainers did she finally wake up from her frenzy.

Standing there among the colorful tents, acrobats and jugglers and drawing in the many lovely smells, she decided that perhaps she could allow herself a short break today.

She ambled slowly from stall to stall. This reminded her of village festivals in her youth, before anyone knew she was a Grisha, back when her life had been simple and untroubled. For once she let herself be that child again, if only this one last time. She watched the performers, swayed along to the music, ate too many sweets and drank hot, spiced wine until her head spun. Just a normal girl having fun on a day out.

All afternoon she spent there, even ignoring the summons to the more elegant festivities in the Grand Palace with the other Grisha and the royal family. As if she had wanted to watch Aleksander flirt with the Sun Summoner anyway.

It was already dark when she returned to her cabin, tired and not a little tipsy. She was halfway there when she suddenly heard footsteps and a man came running, bumping into her hard.

"Ow! Watch where you're going!" she chided, rubbing her smarting shoulder.

The man moaned something incomprehensible in reply, bending forward with a hand pressed against his side.

She peered at him through the darkness. "Are you alright?"

"Katya!" he gasped, sounding surprised.

Now she recognized him. "Mal? What are you doing here?" Then she saw blood seeping between his fingers. "You're hurt! Let me help you find a Healer."

"No," he grunted. "Not... safe. The guards..."

"A guard attacked you?" she asked incredulously.

He nodded.

"Well then. Come to my cabin and I'll see what I can do."

Laika met them at the door, baring her teeth at Mal. Perhaps she remembered he had tried to shoot her that time.

"Stay back," Katya commanded, and the wolf reluctantly obeyed.

Mal lay down on her bed, stretching out his tall frame with a sigh of relief. When Katya helped him remove the coat and soiled shirt underneath he grimaced.

The blood came from a cut in his side, just above his thigh, but he had an older injury as well. Someone must have shot him straight through the shoulder.

She went to fetch a bottle from a cupboard. "Here, drink this. It will ease the pain."

He sniffed it. "Kvas?"

She nodded. "It's strong, so be careful."

Despite her warning he took several deep pulls. "Thank you."

Wetting a soft cloth, she began to carefully clean the fresh wound. It was a long gash but thankfully not very deep, and it bled profusely. As she had nothing to bind it with she settled for pressing the cloth against his side to at least stop the bleeding.

He winced but remained silent, stoically enduring her ministrations. Perhaps the alcohol was beginning to work.

After a while, Katya started to feel rather awkward sitting there with a shirtless man on her bed. One who happened to have rather nice build, at that, with bulging biceps and defined abs. And there was something else, too, a certain tingle of power in her hand that held the cloth, almost like when she touched Aleksander. It made no sense; Mal was no Grisha. She probably just had had one cup of wine too many earlier, making her imagine things.

"What happened to you?" she asked, trying to steer her gaze away from his torso.

He seemed a bit uncomfortable as well, with a slightly heightened color in his face. "I was ambushed." His voice was less strained, the worst pain presumably easing. "By a woman guard. She..." He set his jaw. "She killed my companion. And then I killed her."

"How awful! Why would anyone attack you here?"

"I have no idea. I had never seen her before."

"What about the gunshot, was that the same person too?"

"No, that happened a couple of days back. We were out searching for... uh... something. And had to cross the border into Fjerda. We were attacked by the enemy."

Katya narrowed her eyes, remembering his skill as a tracker and Aleksander's words the other day. "Searching for... the stag?"

He nodded. "There was this drawing they sent out to all the companies, and I recognized the style immediately. I knew Alina Starkov had made it. So I took the job to get a reason to come here." He looked at her pleadingly. "She is in the Little Palace, isn't she? I have to find her."

"Starkov." Katya tried not to show her annoyance. What was it about that girl that made everybody want her? "Yes, she lives there. Why?"

"We grew up together. We're friends." His eyes darkened. "Or... At least we were. Now, I'm not so sure anymore... I was told she's become quite friendly with General Kirigan." He met Katya's gaze accusatively. "Or should I say... Leonid?"

"Oh, that." She smiled sheepishly. "We traveled incognito when we searched for the wolf, to avoid unwanted attention."

"He kept up the pretense when I met him earlier today, and acted like we hadn't met before. He wanted me to point on the map where I last saw the stag but I refused, not until he let me see Alina. Is she a prisoner here? Is that it? I wrote her so many letters but she never replied."

"No, she's fine," Katya assured him. "Kirigan probably hid your letters. He's making her feel lonely so she will trust him, and then he'll use her for his plans. I know his tactics," she added bitterly.

"Use her? The bastard! I'll–"

"You can't," she interrupted. "He's the Shadow Summoner. He'd swat you like an annoying fly if you went after him."

"I'm not leaving Alina in his claws!" Sitting up so abruptly Katya dropped the cloth, he grabbed her arms. "You have to take me to her."

Mutely staring back at him, Katya felt a moment of indecision. If Mal took Starkov away, then maybe things would return to how they were... She would have Aleksander to herself without a rival. On the other hand, he'd lose his chance to control the Fold. And if he found out Katya was behind it he would never forgive her.

"Well?" Mal shook her lightly.

"Alright. I'll take you there."

He quickly pulled his clothes back on, ignoring the wounds. "Good. Let's go!"

✧ ♥ ✧

While walking to the Palace, where the festivities were still not over, Katya tried to push down her guilt. This was the right thing to do. Aleksander was wrong to control someone against her will; if he wanted Starkov's help he should at least be honest with her like he had been with Katya. Mal coming to see Alina would allow her to choose whose side to take.

"When we get there you wait outside and I'll try to bring her to you," Katya instructed. "I don't think they'll let an ordinary corporal in."

"Fine."

At the grand building an unwelcome sight met them: Zoya storming down the stairs, looking absolutely furious.

Mal swiftly disappeared into the shadows while Katya braced herself for whatever the witch was up to this time.

Upon noticing Katya, Zoya suddenly smiled, a wicked, hateful smirk that looked like a grimace. "Well, well. Right in time to witness your former lover bang his new plaything."

"What?" Katya stared at her, gobsmacked. "You're lying."

"Go see for yourself," she sneered. "Kirigan and his beloved Sun Summoner were snogging like glued together, groping all over each other. I didn't stay to see the rest, but perhaps if you ask nicely you get to watch."

"You bitch!" Katya pushed her hard enough to stumble, white-hot rage nearly consuming her. She wanted to murder someone. Zoya. Starkov. And then Aleksander.

How could he? After everything he had said, all his reassurances...

Zoya laughed evilly. "So jealous! Poor little former favorite, replaced and unwanted."

"Not unwanted." Mal emerged from his hiding place, cheeks flaming with anger. He took Katya's hand, pulling her to him. "Apparently I'm replaced too. We might as well make the best of the situation, right?" His gaze fell on her lips.

For some reason strong emotions in a man always made Katya weak at the knees, and Mal was no exception. "Yeah," she mumbled. "Screw them." She pulled his head down and kissed him.

Something strange happened. A flash of raw power surged from Mal through their lips, straight into Katya, making her nearly burst with energy.

Her eyes popped wide open. So that was why touching him had felt strange earlier. He was an amplifier! A strong one too, a lot stronger than Laika and not far from Aleksander's strength either. She didn't understand how that could be, but it didn't matter, she must use the opportunity. Breaking the kiss, she grabbed his arm instead to keep body contact.

"Burn, witch!" she yelled, summoning a flame straight in front of Zoya's stunned face. It was dark red with a black core.

She had succeeded at last!

This time she almost instinctively knew how to maintain the fire and make it grow. Channeling her anger and jealousy into the midst of the blaze, she found that she needed no other fuel; the fury within her was enough to sustain a huge, burning sphere of darkness.

Screaming in fear, Zoya turned on her heel and dashed away, brushing soot and embers from her hair.

"What is that?" gasped Mal, staring at the onyx inferno as if entranced.

"I don't know, but I love it," breathed Katya. "It's a new force. And it's mine."

A/N:

Sorry about the infidelity in this chapter, but soon Katya and Aleksander will repent and think better, promise! And just like in the show, it won't go further than a kiss.