✧ ♥ ✧

The Black Heretic. The Darkling himself! But the Fold had been created ages ago. How could Aleksander be that man?

"The power has kept me alive. I can't age. I just have to fake my death every once in a while and return as a new 'descendant of the Black Heretic' offering my service to the king." He smiled grimly. "I may not have intended for the Shadow Fold to be created, but it certainly served me well. As long as it exists, my power and influence over the king will remain unthreatened and my people safe. Without Grisha, nobody can cross it."

Katya felt weak, like her own power had seeped down through the floorboards. "So this talk of finding a Sun Summoner... It was all a lie?"

"No, I do want one. Even for me, crossing the Fold is dangerous, and I must resort to a Squaller and a sandskiff like everyone else. But with a Sun Summoner working for me, their light would make the passage completely safe. I could even expand the darkness further, making myself the only one able to cross." His face softened slightly. "All I ever wanted was to protect the Grisha. Even now, we are feared and hated in the world, and many either get murdered or sold into slavery. If I had control over the Fold, then I would use it as a leverage against those who threaten my people."

She nodded slowly. It did make sense, in a way. Remembering the look of hatred and fear on the faces of her loved ones when the truth about her came out, Katya shuddered. Instantly they had turned against her, despite having known her their entire lives. Was it wrong to try to end such injustice?

On the other hand, what Aleksander suggested would not likely make the people less inclined to fear their kind; rather the opposite.

"If you threaten them, they would hate us even more," she said.

"Maybe. Probably. But would you say our service to the people all these centuries has made them love us?"

She shook her head.

"There you go then." He shrugged.

"I need to think more about this," she said.

"Of course." His face was dispassionate.

On an impulse, Katya took a step closer and kissed his cheek. "You were wrong. I don't fear you."

When she left his office, she felt Aleksander's eyes on her back.

✧ ♥ ✧

That evening, Katya went to the palace library and read everything she could find about the Black Heretic. She tried to replace the descriptions of that man with the Aleksander she knew, but it was impossible. The history books had made him a monster.

Who had written these books, though? It was probably the king's scribes, and therefore this was only his version. And just as Aleksander might have embellished his version of the events when he told them to Katya, the king of that time probably had too. The truth, she suspected, lay somewhere in between.

The Darkling was no Saint, far from it, but was he evil?

Dangerous, yes, and certainly ambitious. But she refused to believe someone who protected the Grisha like he had, could be truly bad.

Where did that leave Katya? Supposing she could learn to summon a sun, would she work for him, or try to stop him?

If she really was the Sun Summoner, she could dispel the Shadow Fold, and Ravka would be united again. Was that not a good thing? The monsters in the darkness took many lives each year, because people needed to cross, and there was no way around unless one was a mountain goat.

But on the other hand, the Grisha would be less important without the Fold. The world was moving forward, and with new technologies and industries the kind of power Grisha practiced would soon be obsolete. Would the king close the Little Palace then, disbanding the Second Army?

If he did, Katya would have to return to her village and try to live among them despite their hatred – unless she was caught by the slavers first, or burned as a witch at a Drüskelle pyre. That option understandably did not appeal to her at all.

A/N:

What should she do? Let me know what you think. :)