Djerholm not what Alina had thought it would be. She wasn't sure quite what she had expected; a gloomy, hellish place with a Grisha pyre on every corner, perhaps, something that fitted her childhood nightmares. The orderly streets and brightly painted wooden buildings leading up from the bustling harbour were not it. Quite honestly, it looked like a charming place to live, so long as you fitted what everyone else considered normal. The market near the docks was lively, full of local fishing boats and trading ships from all over the world, the fast-flowing river remarkably clean, and the houses (even in this, the poorer part of the city) looked well-kept, if a little sparse. 

The city sprawled back from the sea, the houses becoming larger and more grand the further up the hillside you went. Warehouses and taverns turned to theatres and upmarket inns, the streets became wider, and foreign tongues and faces were far less common. Alina had not stood out at all near the docks, as there were plenty of Shu sailors at shore, but in those wealthier districts, it was rare to see anyone without blonde hair, pale skin, and the accent of the Fjerdan middle to upper class. 

And on top of the sheer cliff to the north, there it was, towering over Djerholm and the harbour. Every Grisha's worst nightmare. The Ice Court. Its tower bells could be heard from even the lowest point in the city, and its white marble walls - so smooth that they could only have been Fabrikator made, though of course the Fjerdans claimed it had been built by their God - reflected the light of the evening sun sinking to the west. Even from the city, the place could only be accessed from a road leading to a single bridge, unless a visitor wished to climb the vast cliff face. It was a long road, too, seven miles from the harbour. A tributary that fed into the city's main river ran from behind the castle.

That first evening she arrived in Djerholm, Alina observed the Ice Court from a distance, before riding back down to her cheap lodgings near the harbour. She had other business that needed seeing to prior to breaking into a place more dangerous than even Tomor Uul.

*

It was easy to find Nina. There was only one ship from Kerch in the harbour, and it had taken little effort to question the crew about the motley collection of passengers who had taken two rooms in another of the dingy taverns of the Lower City. Not wishing to alert Kaz Brekker to her presence - there was every chance he would turn on Nina for spilling the secret, and absolute certainty that he would attempt to hinder Alina in order to get the reward for bringing Bo Yul-Bayur back to Ketterdam - she entered the place invisible. The six of them were on a rooftop terrace; Brekker, Inej Ghafa, three other men she did not know, and Nina. Her heart leapt to see her friend, looking a little thinner than she had been when they last saw each other, but otherwise alive and well.

Nina did flinch when Alina grabbed her arm, though caught on quickly, having known her for so long. Making her excuses, she left the rooftop, heading down into the common area of the tavern and out into the street. Alina stuck to her like glue.

"My rooms are this way," She muttered in her friend's ear, taking her wrist and leading her through the streets to her own lodgings, not too far away. The moment the door shut behind them, Alina took off the invisibility.

"You don't know how I've missed you," Nina flung herself at her in a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, the amount of times I wished to see your stupid face coming to rescue me from the hold of that ship,"

"No one told me," Alina said, a lump in her own throat at how close she had come to losing one of her oldest friends. "I'd have turned the world upside down to find you, if I'd known you were in trouble,"

"I know," Nina said fondly. "It's not your fault. I will tell you everything that happened at some point, I promise, but time is of the essence now. Kaz is ridiculously observant, Alina, I can't be gone too long. He won't buy it if I claim to have spent an hour in the privy, and I don't want to be the one standing between that man and thirty million Kruge. What's the plan?"

"Turn myself invisible, walk into the Ice Court, Cut through any lock I come across, find Bo Yul-Bayur and his son, turn them invisible, and walk out the way I came in,"

"Short and simple, I suppose,"

Alina snorted. "Oh, and you'll be coming home with me of course. We ditch the Ketterdam lot and ride like hell for the border,"

Nina grimaced. 

"What?" She asked, wary.

"You're going to have to let me talk. No interruptions, no matter how unhappy you are with what I say. Promise?" 

"Fine," Alina waved a hand. 

"One of the Druskelle who captured me... Matthias, his name is. We were the only ones that survived the shipwreck, out of all the Grisha and the Fjerdans. We made it to shore, and had to travel through the wilderness to civilisation - it made sense to not kill each other, at least until we reached a town. But we... got close - "

"You fucked a Dru - !"

"What did I say, Alina!"

"Fine!" She scowled, shutting up. 

"We got close, and at the first opportunity, I sold him to a bunch of Kerch mercenaries, saying he was a slave trader,"

"Good for you," She relaxed slightly. "This story is taking a better turn,"

"No, it really isn't," Nina looked uneasy. "I felt terrible. It was my fault he ended up in the Hellgate prison, and I - I really care for him, Alina - don't make that face. He's a good man, they're all brainwashed so young into hating Grisha. Brekker agreed to break Matthias out, if we both helped him on this suicide mission. So, here we are,"

Alina blinked in incredulity.

"And you think he's not going to sell you all out the moment he gets close to his Druskelle kin?"

"He wants the pardon that Van Eck has promised to give him. He can't rejoin them without it,"

"Nina, this is ridiculous. What would Zoya say if she heard all of this? Stick with Brekker for now so he doesn't get suspicious, but then you're coming back to Ravka with me. There's plenty of big, blond men in Os Alta to amuse yourself with,"

Her friend said nothing for an uncomfortable moment.

"Sorry, Alina. I appreciate it, I really do, and I know it sounds insane. But I am going back to Ketterdam with Matthias, so he can get his pardon," 

"And then what? He becomes a Druskelle again, like he's dreamed of. He can't love you at the same time as brutally murdering your fellow Grisha for simply existing. Are you going to live here in Djerholm and waste away from not using your powers, pretending to be a good little housewife?" Her tone was thick with sarcasm.

"I don't know!" Nina exclaimed. "I - I don't know, Alina. I know it's stupid and I know it's unrealistic, but you don't know what it's like to feel like this for anyone - " She broke off, catching her mistake, but it was too late.

Alina's expression darkened. "Fine, then. I wish you the best of luck,"

"Lina, I didn't mean - "

"One last chance," She spoke over her. "Once I'm in the Ice Court, I'll be getting out as soon as possible and getting back to Ravka without waiting for anyone. There will be no way to arrange coming to get you. Are you coming, or are you staying with Brekker and the Druskelle who's almost certainly going to get you fucking killed?" 

Her voice broke on the last words. She would forget everything that had been said in an instant, if only her friend would agree to let her take her home. It wasn't a lie; once they were in, there was no way to contact each other. She had foolishly left the transmitters from Genya and David in the Little Palace in her haste to leave. They had to agree on a meeting place now, or not at all.

"I'm sorry," Nina said, looking as though she meant it. "I can't,"

Alina could have made her, if she wanted. She could have bound her friend in an unbreakable rope of light and forced her to return to Ravka, safe and alive. But if anyone had done such a thing to her, she would have loathed them for the rest of her life. She would be the biggest hypocrite in the world, taking her own friend's free will from her and forcing her to do what she wanted her to do. 

Instead, she cleared her throat and pretended as though the conversation up until this point had not happened. "Before you leave, tell me what he told you about the inside of the Ice Court,"

Nina, seeming a little unnerved by her cold efficiency, told her everything she knew, everything Brekker and his group had discussed. Far too soon, it was time to go. Alina hugged her as though it was the last time. 

"Be safe," She said, before letting go and walking over to the door to let her friend out.

"You'll see me soon," Nina said, attempting her usual cheer and falling short. "It's not like this is goodbye forever,"

"It could be," She wasn't going to mince her words. 

Nina's face fell. "Good luck, tomorrow. Don't blow up the Ice Court with me in it, please,"

And then she was gone, and Alina sank back onto her bed with her head in her hands, tempted to pull her own hair out at Nina's stubbornness. 

*

She was alone when she headed up the road to the hulking mass of marble on the cliff. Using invisibility for subterfuge like this always felt like cheating, in Shu Han and now. It was absurdly simple to lurk nearby and wait until a prison wagon was being allowed in through the gates of the outer walls, before slipping behind into supposedly the most secure place in Fjerda. The wolves the Druskelle tamed to hunt Grisha would be an issue, but there were no doubt Grisha in that wagon, so the guards thought nothing of the beasts' excitement.

The Second Army knew next to nothing about the layout of the Ice Court, just as the Fjerdans knew next to nothing about inside the Little Palace (the Grand Palace was a different story, its guards being far less competent than the oprichniki). All that Alina had to go off was Nina's recollection of what her pet Druskelle had told Brekker. The outer wall came first, then the outer circle containing the prison, the embassy and the Druskelle training facilities, followed by the moat, and finally the White Island, where the palace and the treasury lay. The treasury was the most secure location in the whole court. If Bo Yul-Bayur was not in the prison, then he was almost certainly there.

She would have been a fool if she had not first combed through the prison sector first, however, for any sign of him. Entering through a gate flanked by two wolf's head statues, it did not escape Alina's notice that this was the way that hundreds, if not thousands, of captured Grisha had been taken into the Ice Court. Immediately through the gate was a vast hall lit by an enormous iron lantern hanging from the ceiling. Just being there, even though it was currently empty, brought a chill to her spine. Old weapons lined the walls - axes, longbows, spears, many of them stained with blood - as well as a display of armoured tanks. Imagining the many people who had stood in the place she did now, in chains and terrified, knowing what was to come, knowing that there was no way out... How sweet it would be, to tear the whole place down and dance on the ashes.

Making her footsteps as quiet as possible, she did not linger long here, taking the nearest staircase. This lead her up to the cell blocks, which, if anything, was worse. Common criminals were housed on the lower of the five levels; thieves, deserters, tax dodgers, the like. The higher level cells were reserved for the more dangerous criminals, with Grisha at the very top. These cells were bright white, with no furniture - not even a basin or a cot, like the other cells were granted - only a drain in the centre. Worst of all, they were empty. Which begged the question, where had all the Grisha gone?

No sign of the Shu scientist or his son could be found anywhere in this sector. She even searched the basement levels - finding a laundry and, more unnervingly, an incinerator - as well as the offices of the guards. Of course, all the records were in Fjerdan, which she did not speak, so that was little use at all.

Next, invisible the whole time, she moved on to the Druskelle sector. Whilst in the prison, all she had to watch out for was running into the odd guard, and keeping her footfalls quiet. Here was a lot more crowded, making the risk of hitting someone much higher, not to mention those cursed wolves were trained to smell and hunt Grisha. Luckily it seemed they were all housed in kennels near the stables, so whilst her walking past caused a commotion inside, the kennelmaster just shouted them down. 

It was amusing, on some level, that the witchhunters had no idea that their most dangerous enemy walked amongst them, unseen. She saw how they laughed and joked with each other, unbothered by the pain and suffering they caused, and narrowed her eyes. It would be so easy, to send a Cut flying across the yard and kill at least a dozen of them in a second. 

There was little to search here, just the barracks, training rooms and the dining hall, none of which were fit to house an important prisoner. Though Alina did pause when she stuck her head into the dining room. There was huge patchwork banner hanging on the wall. Purple, red and blue, some of the colours faded, others like new. It took her too long to realise what it was. For a foolish moment, she wondered if the Druskelle knew they were decorating their hall with Grisha colours. Then it clicked in her mind. The thing really was made of the keftas of the Second Army. Centuries of murdered Ravkan Grisha. It was a physical effort, then, for Alina to not do to the Ice Court what she had done to Tomor Uul. Aleksander would not even know such a tapestry existed. No spy had ever made it out of here alive. His fury would no doubt exceed hers, if he saw it.

An alarm snapped her out of it, and a rush of Druskelle activity. Saints, was this Nina and the others getting themselves caught? She left quickly, to avoid doing something rash before she had found what she came for. 

The embassy sector was just as fruitless in terms of her search, but it did have the only visible entrance to the palace in the centre; a bridge over the moat lit with blue flame lanterns. By now, it was evening, and there was some sort of celebration going on, the rich and powerful of Djerholm all dressed up in finery and heading towards the palace. Bo Yul-Bayur was on the White Island somewhere, he had to be. Alina briefly wondered how on earth Nina and the Ketterdam lot would get over the bridge, seeing as it looked like the only way over the moat and they could not turn themselves invisible. Then she scowled, remembering who else was included in their company; if the young Druskelle did not betray them, perhaps he had a secret way in.

She avoided the crowded halls and ballroom like the plague, knowing that she would end up walking into someone, and the alarm would be raised further. Alina headed deep into the palace, aiming for the treasury. How she was going to get in, was a different story. There would no doubt be guards, and multiple locked doors. Killing the guards and melting the locks would be easy enough, but would alert the entire Ice Court to the fact that the Sun Summoner walked amongst them, which would make her way out challenging. Considering that Nina was somewhere in this building, she did not want to blow it sky high.

Behind the palace, and their sacred tree, there it was. A wide, white tower, that stood out for the rest of the buildings here in that it was plain, completely undecorated. And, to her surprise, the the heavy iron door had been left ajar. 

Alina's stomach dropped. She had been too slow, and had underestimated Kaz Brekker. He'd got there first, somehow, and if he had managed to get in and out with the prisoner without alerting any of the guards, it did not bear thinking about. Either that, or he was still in there.

Without hesitation, she pushed the door and went inside.

*

Having scammed her way onto the White Island with Inej, Nina had been in a state of forced calm the entire time. This was nothing like getting stuck in a dangerous situation with Alina on her side. There was no one who could save her with a miracle if things went wrong. Her friend was here somewhere, of course, but did not know where she was. 

That made catching the attention of Jarl Brum, the current head of the Druskelle unit, all the more terrifying. Not to mention that the man had been part of the group that had captured her, before she escaped months ago. He did not seem to recognise her; she'd been a filthy prisoner in chains then, not scrubbed clean and dressed in silks. Thinking that he would have the keys for wherever Bo Yul-Bayur was being held, she had flirted her way out of the palace and into a quieter area of the island. Feigning curiosity about wanting to see a 'real Grisha', he had lead her towards the treasury. Her instinct had been correct; the vault was no longer a vault at all, but a lab for the creation of jurda parem. Emaciated Grisha prisoners lined the halls in cells, making her blood boil. Alina is going to kill half the palace when she sees this. 

Her intention had been to get Brum alone, so she could use her powers to torture Yul-Bayur's location out of him, but he had known who she was the moment he approached her. He had locked her in a cell, and for a heartstopping second, she thought that Matthias had betrayed her when he appeared beside his old master. But he had been just as shocked and disgusted at what was going on here as Nina had. He'd knocked Brum unconscious and unlocked her cell, apparently all part of Kaz's new plan. The man had endless plans, it seemed, none of which he seemed willing to share.

Now, Nina eyed the cell that Brum had pointed out as belonging to Bo Yul-Bayur and his son, as Matthias took the key and unlocked it. She and Matthias had agreed, privately, away from the others, to kill him if they got the chance. For her part, she did not want the secret of parem being sold to the Kerch, or remaining with the Fjerdans, while he hated the idea of Grisha having a means to make themselves more powerful. But looking the man in the eye as he warily stepped out of his cell, his fifteen year old son close behind him, the idea became repulsive. She had killed before, of course, but never in cold blood like this.

The choice was soon taken out of her hands. As Jarl Brum's unconscious form lay on the ground, and perhaps the most wanted man in the world stared at them incredulously, she heard a familiar voice from the end of the corridor.

"Congratulations. You've done the hard work for me,"

Nina's stomach dropped like a stone. She turned to face Alina, whose eyes were cold and focused despite her casual tone. Saints, hearing her voice had been nothing but a relief in the past, but now she understood what it was like to be on the other side. Fucking terrifying. She knew her close friend of fourteen years wouldn't hurt her - obviously not! - but Matthias was another story. 

"Who are you?" Matthias demanded, on guard at once. 

Nina hastily manoeuvred herself between them. "Alina, please - "

Matthias' eyes widened for a moment at the name, but then settled into an even more defensive stance, jaw clenched. "Solhäxa," Sun witch. 

Alina didn't speak Fjerdan, but that word had been spat at her too many times for her to not recognise it.

"Shut up," Nina hissed, but it was no use.

Alina's smile sharpened. "Druskelle," When she summoned a ball of light to her hand, it hit Nina in full; now they were truly facing down the Sun Summoner. She had seen her friend in countless fights, with much worse odds. In battles, even, Cutting through scores of Fjerdans like butter. They didn't have a hope in hell. "Didn't Nina tell you, that in the past we've spent many enjoyable months hunting your kind like the dogs you are? You cry just the same as the murdered Grisha do, in the end,"

"Stop it," Nina said, before Matthias could do anything more than bristle in anger, making sure he was behind her despite his protests otherwise, and attempts to shove her out the way. She won't hurt me, and she can't hurt him without first going through me. "Alina, Kaz will gut me if I let his prize go,"

"Then come home with me," Her tone became ever-so-slightly softer, more imploring. "Come home, away from Kerch gangsters, Druskelle and saints knows what else,"

"I told you," Her voice shook. "I can't,"

Any trace of softness faded from her face, and for the first time Nina felt that Alina exuded the same menace as the Darkling did. Little trace remained of the girl she had laughed breathless with countless times, slept beside on the road, held as she cried.

"Take the boy," Alina said shortly, waving a careless hand at Kuwei. "Tell Brekker and the Mercher Council that Bo Yul-Bayur died in the crossfire when he was captured, but his son knows a little of his work,"

That wasn't a bad idea, actually. Ravka would get the antidote for jurda parem, Kaz would get his thirty million Kruge, and Fjerda would lose all round.

"Fine," Nina said with a sideways glance at Matthias. "But you've got to get out of here before Kaz gets here,"

"I am not leaving my son!" Bo Yul-Bayur spoke for the first time, in accented Ravkan; turns out he knew enough to get the gist of what they were saying. That was unfortunate.

"I'll arrange for someone to go and get him from Ketterdam," Alina said, impatient. "Breaking into the Mercher Council will be much easier than the Ice Court,"

"I'm not letting the secret of making Drusje stronger fall into Ravkan hands," Matthias said, stubborn as ever. 

"Try to stop me," Alina scoffed, disdainful as ever, striding forward. Bo Yul-Bayur and Kuwei backed away from her, but there was nowhere to go. "I'm not going to hurt you," She said to the man; her irritated tone made that less than convincing to a stranger, even if Nina knew she was being honest. "You'll be safer in the Little Palace than anywhere else. We don't want to make more parem, we want the antidote, so more Grisha don't have to suffer like these poor people," She waved a hand at the cells. 

A pause, as Yul-Bayur thought on her proposal.

Matthias chose that moment to throw himself at her, knife drawn, but Nina hardly had time to shriek a warning - to both of them - before Alina's hand was slashing up. For one horrible moment, Nina thought it was the Cut, but Matthias simply hit a solid wall of light with a thud, groaning as all six feet four inches of him fell to the floor. 

Alina had barely looked at him. "Tell your pet, Nina, that next time he tries that, I'll Cut off his hand,"

Nina was more annoyed with Matthias than with her. "What did you think was going to happen?" She helped him up. "She blew up a mountain and used the Fold to mow down a sizeable part of your army. You're not going to win with a knife. You're lucky not to be dead,"

"Have you got a notebook?" Alina was asking Yul-Bayur. "Go and fetch it, and anything else you can carry that will help make an antidote. I'm destroying the rest of the lab,"

That, he seemed to agree with, hurrying off. True to her word, Alina used a scorching hot flash of light to incinerate every room of the complex. Matthias looked halfway between ready to pass out and ready to take her out at the earliest opportunity. When it came to the Grisha in the cells, weak and begging for more parem, Alina hesitated.

"I don't know if I can do it," She said to Nina. "I can't look them in the eye and - "

Nina knew how the explosion of Tomor Uul had weighed upon her. "You don't have to be responsible for every hard decision, Alina,"

"Don't I?" She turned to her with a weak smile.

Nina was about to reply, when she heard the telltale thud of a cane could be heard coming around the corner. For saints sake. He really had the best timing. 

"Why are you loitering?" Kaz Brekker glowered at her and the Matthias. 

"Where have you been?" She shot back.

"Hiding, waiting for you two idiots," He snapped. "You took so long, I came looking. You seem to have found a Sun Summoner, who seems to be attempting to steal my prize,"

Nina glanced at Alina, who smiled sharply. "We agreed to go halves,"

"Excellent. Bo Yul-Bayur goes with us, and the boy with you," This was a blatant challenge to how Alina had drifted closer to the older man, whilst Matthias had made a grab for Kuwei. Nina could not see a situation where Alina versus Kas went well. It would be liked Alina versus the Darkling all over again, except Kaz had no inherent, desperate need for her to stay alive. And no powers to defend himself with.

"You are taking the boy," 

"I am taking Yul-Bayur, Starkova," Kaz said it like a promise, as the alarms of the black protocol wailed in the background. Despite the fact that he was an otkazat'sya Kerch criminal talking to one of the most powerful beings in the world, Nina almost believed him. If he was Grisha, he'd be unstoppable.

"How's the Merchant Council to know the father is still alive?" Alina pointed out. "The Second Army will hardly advertise his presence. It's all the same to you," 

She made to be on her way, dragging Yul-Bayur with her despite the man's protests, but a black cane stuck into her path stopped her dead. Nina winced at the look on Alina's face, as she turned to look at Kaz.

"Do you really want this to turn into a fight, Brekker?" 

Kaz was taller than Alina was, though that hardly stopped her glaring at him, eye-to-eye. Slowly so as not to draw attention, Nina pushed Matthias and Kuwei back from the pair of them. 

"Do you really want to alert every Druskelle here to the fact that the Sun Summoner is in the heart of their palace?" He countered. 

"No. But I will if I have to," A humourless smile from Alina. "What's a few hundred Fjerdans and three walls? Never mind a Kerch criminal, a Druskelle deserter and a Heartrender I know won't raise a hand against me?"

"Just let her go, Kaz," Nina said, wary. "You won't win - try and double cross her, and she'll Cut you in half without blinking. You'll get your money for Kuwei just the same,"

He did not move, nor say a word. 

Alina twitched a finger, and his cane - still blocking her path - was suddenly an inch shorter. Kaz, to his credit, did not flinch. Instead, he looked rather smug, which made Nina's heart sink. As powerful as her friend was, Kaz was cunning and forward-thinking in a way that Alina never had been. 

Though, in hindsight, there was nothing subtle about his next move. Kaz raised his voice, yelling at the top of his lungs. "Solhäxa! Solhäxa!" 

*

As soon as Brekker shouted, furious voices and pounding footsteps could be heard heading in their direction. 

Alina laughed at the nerve of that move. "You little bastard," 

She turned to face the oncoming guards and Druskelle rounding the corner, drawing her hands into the Cut and killing the first wave in one bloody moment. Kuwei yelped in alarm, Matthias cursed and made the sign of Djel, Nina was yelling at Brekker, but the man himself was making a grab for Yul-Bayur whilst Alina was occupied fighting.

Brekker had underestimated how fast she could dispatch a group of men. Alina burned his hand with a bright flash of light, hot enough that even he couldn't grit his teeth and bear it, before snatching Yul-Bayur's arm back and dragging the struggling man in the direction the guards had just come from. A wave of her hand put a shield between her and the others - not without a pang at separating herself from Nina - as Brekker swore colourfully, grabbing Kuwei and making a run for it in the opposite direction. Whilst his plan hadn't succeeded in getting him their target, it had set up an incredible distraction to escape under the cover of. Everyone in this city would jump at the chance to capture the Sun Summoner, which she had just revealed herself as, allowing the others a chance to stay unnoticed.

"I won't leave Kuwei," Yul-Bayur was shouting at her, even as she dragged him the other way. "Let go, I won't leave my son!"

"I told you," Alina gritted her teeth, forced to put him into an arm-lock to march him down the corridor. "We will send someone for him. I'd have brought him with us, if I didn't have to give that lot something," A wave of her hand made them both invisible, and shocked the man into complying with her for the next minute or so.

Their way out was extremely hampered by the fact that the rest of Brekker's little group had set off the black protocol, saints knew how. All of the gates out of the building would be sealed shut, not to be opened until they had found the source of the trouble - in their eyes, her - and the corridors were packed with rushing guards and Druskelle. She saw a few baying wolves with their handlers, and swore under her breath.

By some miracle, Alina made it to the outer walls without being detected, by slipping through the embassy as the bridge opened to let more guards through. It was slow progress, having to flatten them both against the wall as guards rushed past. Saints knew where the others had gone. To keep out of the way of all the rushing people, and assess how in hells she was going to be able to escape from this without blowing up half the building, she had them both climb up the stairwell onto the walls. 

Yul-Bayur would not stop fighting to get back to his son, even though Kuwei and Kaz were long gone, even though she had his arm twisted behind his back. Alina considered, for a moment, just killing him and having done with it. But the secret of parem would not stay lost forever, now they knew it was possible, even with the lab and its maker destroyed. They needed the antidote, and she would have to suffer him.

A sudden, tremendous crash of crumbling masonry echoed from the other side of the castle, making her jerk her head that way, startled. Memories of forming the Scar came unbidden to her mind, the crunch of the Grand Palace being split in half. She scrambled up onto the battlements of the wall itself to see better, Yul-Bayur not far behind her, concerned enough for his son to not run the moment she let him go. 

Saints. In a move worthy of Alina herself, the Ketterdam lot had blasted their way through the walls of the Ice Court in a tank. Nina was no doubt with them, along with Kuwei, Brekker and her pet Druskelle. It was a good idea. Even before they had made the most conspicuous exit they possibly could, the black protocol had been activated, and any other option was impossible, short of diving off the walls into the river tributary, impossibly far below, which would likely be as good as suicide. Alina would have to do the same, as whilst she could probably get herself out without making her presence any more known than it already was, she would not be able to get the overweight, middle-aged scientist out with her.

Unless...

"You're going to have to trust me," Alina turned to him.

His face blanched. "Trust you? You've taken me from my son, you've - "

She didn't let him get another word out, wrapping her arms around the man and dragging both of them off the castle walls, plunging towards the river below. Best to act, before he knew what was going on, before she had any second thoughts herself. Yul-Bayur screamed and thrashed, whilst Alina clung on tight, her heart beat madly in a mixture of sheer terror and exhilaration as the wind whistled around them. Before they slammed into the punishing waters below, she summoned a ball of protective light around them. There was still an impact that drove the air from her lungs, and they were both still soaked, but at least it didn't leave them with a broken spine; good to know, seeing as she hadn't tried that one out before. Whilst it was possible someone would have seen that, most attention would be on that tank and the hole in the wall; no doubt they thought she and Yul-Bayur were with the others. 

It was up to Alina to get herself together, hauling both herself and the shaking, muttering, terrified scientist to the river bank. She was no doubt as bedraggled as he was, hair hanging in rats tails around her face - the shield hadn't stopped them getting wet - but lay flat on her back for a moment, laughing to herself as the adrenaline pounded through her veins.

"You're mad, woman!" Yul-Bayur staggered to his feet, looking close to weeping in fright and anger. "If I didn't know what they're planing with jurda parem, I'd go right back to the Fjerdans rather than spend another minute with you!"

"Your son got away, at least," She pushed herself into a sitting position, waving off in the general direction of the tank; someone had had the smart idea to blown up the bridge whilst Alina was leaping off the walls, preventing others following them, as well as disguising the sound of them hitting the water and screaming. "If it helps, I've not done anything quite that stupid in years. That was a bit much even for me," 

Alina got to her feet, stretching out her limbs to make sure she truly was unharmed, then waving her hands again to dry both her and Yul-Bayur, who flinched as the light warmth washed over him. She then made them both invisible again. 

"Best get going. Brekker has provided an excellent diversion," She really couldn't have planned it better herself, though didn't think they put any kind of plan into it either. "So we've got time to get a head start before the Druskelle and their wolves come looking. My horse is on the other side of the river, so we're on foot, I'm afraid. How fast do you think you can run, Mr Yul-Bayur?"

*

They were running for two days. The first day was not so bad, albeit tiring, but thanks to the wolves - who could track them through invisibility - the Druskelle caught up with them on horseback on the second. Alina had been fending waves of them off ever since, cursing Kaz Brekker for derailing her semblence of a plan as she did so. Her powers were strong, but the lack of sleep, food and constantly being on-alert left her exhausted, while Bo Yul-Bayur looked minutes away from keeling over. The scientist had stopped fighting her to get back to Kuwei, at least, but he was in his fifties, overweight and unfit; in other words, a deadweight. 

"I - can't - go - any - further," He wheezed. 

Only because, for the first time all day, they weren't in any immediate danger of being shot, Alina stopped. Again, the tempting thought of leaving him behind crossed her mind, but she shot it down, waiting in silence. Silence that gave her time to think, rather than simply survive, and to properly pay attention to what was around them.

"It's too quiet," 

Now she thought of it, they hadn't come across anyone trying to capture or kill them in several hours, which put her on edge. Perhaps they had realised how easily she fought off their men, and were coming up with a new strategy? For there was no chance that they were letting her make off with their prize, the key to their only weapon that had a hope of standing against Ravka. 

"Thank the gods for that," Yul-Bayur said.

"It means they're plotting something," She said. "Come on. I won't make you run, but we need to keep walking,"

The man made no move to do so. "Did you hear that?" 

Alina wondered if he was trying to put off more movement for another minute or so, but when she stopped and listened, there was the unmistakable sound of horses. 

"Why can't they just fucking die," She groaned, turning to face the coming threat through the trees, shoving the scientist behind her and raising her weary arms. 

"A warm welcome as ever, Alina," A familiar voice called through the trees, and despite herself, she smiled, more out of relief than she'd like to admit.

"You took your time," She lowered her arms. "I thought you'd have bullied where I went out of Dasha the same day I left," 

Aleksander dismounted before the horse had stopped, riding ahead of the dozen Heartrenders he had brought with him. Whilst his initial words had been tinged with amusement, and relief at finding her alive, now he looked furious. When he spoke, his anger was barely restrained. "And you didn't think to tell anyone else that you were going to the most dangerous place in the world for people like us?"

"You didn't think to tell me that one of my closest friends had been captured by the Druskelle!"

"And why do you think that was?" He glowered down at her. "Everyone was concerned that you would do something incredibly stupid, like tearing off to Fjerda on your own with no plan, causing a diplomatic storm and risking your own life. You have hardly proved them wrong,"

"As if I care about any of that," She scoffed. "You're welcome, by the way. Bo Yul-Bayur, meet the Tsar of Ravka,"

Aleksander finally paid attention to the scientist, and his eyes widened a fraction. Yul-Bayur, for his part, looked suspicious but mostly too exhausted to react overmuch.

Alina wasn't done. "Once you have finished scolding me like a child, every single soldier in Djerholm is after us. Has been after us. They've backed off for now, which makes me more worried. Yul-Bayur is the priority - send him running for the border with your Heartrenders, whilst the two of us hold the line,"

He considered that, willing to set aside his anger at her for the matter at hand. To her surprise, he nodded, addressing one of the Heartrenders. "Take Mr Yul-Bayur to the Little Palace, Fedorov. As fast and direct as possible, and avoid towns and cities. Do what you have to to get him there alive. We will follow behind you,"

If the scientist had any protests, he was too tired to voice them as one of the Heartrenders dismounted and helped him onto one of the spare horses. 

"Give the man some food," Alina said. "We've barely eaten since we left. Or stopped for more than an hour,"

Yul-Bayur fixed her with a weary eye. "You promised, Starkova,"

"I did," She turned to the Heartrenders. "His son, Kuwei, is in the hands of the Kerch. Mr Yul-Bayur was... reluctant to leave him. I said we'd send people to Ketterdam to bring Kuwei to Ravka, once back at the Little Palace,"

Fedorov glanced at the Tsar, who nodded once. "Of course, Miss Starkova,"

And then they were gone, and Alina was alone with Aleksander.

"Your friend," He said. "Zenika, the reason you went tearing off in the first place. Where is she?"

"Alive and not here," She didn't want to talk about Nina, and only hoped that she had survived that day. And that she would see sense soon enough and come home. 

He made no reply to that. 

"There's a tapestry," Alina started. "On the wall of the dining hall in the Druskelle sector of the Ice Court. Blue, red and purple - an odd choice of colours, I thought at first. Then I looked closer, and saw it really was made of Second Army keftas. Stolen off the corpses of murdered Grisha,"

A pause.

"You understand, now, I think," Aleksander said, hate lacing his tone. "That what I am was born of a world such as that. It was not so long ago that Ravkan boyars would display a Grisha's bones like a hunting trophy. To this day, blood, bone and hair passed off as your own are sold in markets across the country. However secure we think we are on the throne," She blinked in surprise at the word 'we', said so casually, without intention, like she was King too. "We must never grow complacent. Never show any weakness. It would take but a spark to return Ravka to those days, and Fjerda would jump at the chance,"

He was not wrong. The people might adore Sankta Alina, but they would worship her even more in death. For most, the fears of their childhood were something to grow out of, something that, with age and experience, they realised were foolish and unfounded. For Alina, it was very much the opposite. 

For almost a day, they rode slowly in the direction the others would have fled, waiting for the Fjerdan attack. Alina was not sure what they would send after her. An army, now they were out of the shadow of the Fold? Heavy mutitions, fired from cannons? Worst of all would be parem-addled Grisha. Surely they had enough of a supply, somewhere, even though she had destroyed the lab. Realistically, that would be the only thing that had a chance against them, and even then... 

For this reason, when they came across a young woman, alone in their path with a vacant look on her face, they were both wary. When she spoke Ravkan, even more so. 

"Can you help me?" She asked. "Dismount, and come over here,"

Alina's body moved without her permission, and before she knew it, she was getting off her horse. To her left, even more shockingly, Aleksander was doing the same. The woman smiled, and Alina realised then what was happening. She fought to keep her legs from moving, but was powerless against the Heartrender's enhanced powers. 

Panic welled up within her, driving all reason and rational thinking from her mind. She wasn't sure what she had expected when she had heard that a Corporalki on parem could control minds. Perhaps, subconsciously, she had been arrogant enough to believe it wouldn't affect her. That because her powers were strong, it would, for whatever reason, give some level of protection. That was absolutely not the case, as both of them were finding out now. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. 

"Kneel,"

The Tsar of Ravka knelt alongside the Sun Saint, looking at her with a furious horror burning in his eyes. It hadn't taken an army to bring them to their knees, arms clamped behind their backs. Just a single Heartrender addicted to a drug. No wonder the Fjerdans and the Kerch were moving heaven and earth to get Bo Yul-Bayur back. For Alina, who had fought her entire life for the freedom to do as she wished, control of her own body being taken from her was a kind of terrifying that she had never experienced before.

Around them, Druskelle were emerging from the trees like the cowards they were, cautious, hardly daring to believe that their two greatest enemies were knelt like supplicants on the ground before them. They grew more smug as the seconds without a fight passed, however, sneering at the two of them in a way they would not have dared to in normal circumstances. Alina had not felt so helpless since she was kidnapped and tied up in a trunk aged twelve. The idea of Aleksander's black kefta becoming the centrepiece of that hateful tapestry was a thought so repulsive that nausea rose to her throat.

But wait. Her eyes were her own; she could look sideways at Aleksander. She could move her head. Her breathing, though fast and scared, was her own. In fact, all she could not do was not kneel, as she had been commanded. Did it work on verbal command, or intention? Either way, the woman clearly had not thought of everything, and Alina had never been very good at doing what she was told.

Her hands moved faster than they ever had before. The Heartrender saw the Cut coming, and Alina felt the compulsion suddenly bind her hands, freezing them in place, but she was not quick enough and died in a bloody spray. The Druskelle leapt into action, but so did Aleksander the moment he was free. More soldiers burst from the trees, orders were barked in Fjerdan as they scrambled to get themselves into a proper formation. Both of them were in the centre of the fighting, back to back, light and darkness wreathing this part of the forest, tearing men apart.

For a moment, Alina was jubilant. They had won, surely; nothing could stop the Darkling and the Sun Summoner from killing every single Fjerdan who tried to come against them. Bullets bounced off her shield. No one could get within six feet of them. Although... a strange, smoke-like gas was suddenly swirling in the air, through the trees and dying men.

"What is that?" She called to the man at her back.

"Do not breathe it in," Aleksander said, clearing a path with a sweep of his hands and tugging her with him, away from the centre. "It'll be toxic, and we haven't got a Healer,"

"Time to go, then?" She said, moving back faster whilst defending from those who shot after them, wary of the smoke which was getting thicker. Then her blood ran cold. "It smells like the lab, in the Ice Court,"

"Parem?" Aleksander was alert at once. "I thought it had to be injected,"

"So did I!"

"The scientist didn't think to mention that?" His tone was sharp enough to cut. "You didn't think to ask?"

The men had backed off as the smoke caught up with them now, thick and swirling, or perhaps it was coming from all directions? Should she try to breathe as little as possible? That wouldn't help, surely; it would get her all the same, unless she could outrun it, which she could not do without breathing.

"He could barely speak after all the running I'd made him do," Alina snapped. "And I was too busy fighting off every Druskelle in Djerholm to ask him about the finer points of his work,"

"It makes sense," He was barely paying attention to her. "It's much more useful on a battlefield as a gas,"

Alina had brought down a mountain in less than a minute, and he had torn Ravka in half for four centuries, but how could they fight something in the air, that ravaged their bodies with addiction and withdrawal?

"Aleksander, what do we do?" Alina was not expecting an answer, her tone slightly hysterical. "On jurda parem, the average Corporalki can control minds and regrow limbs. Tidemakers become vapour and can walk through walls. What the fuck happens to us?"

His face was a stone mask, but his eyes... She did not think she'd ever seen him look so afraid. 

"I don't know," 

That was more terrifying than any order he could have given. The situation truly was grim. They were surrounded by enemies, who had backed off now, so that after the short-lived drug had worn off and the two of them were crippled by the throes of withdrawal, they could swoop in cart them off back to the Ice Court. As backup plans went, it was not a poor one. Though they had failed to consider the damage that two immortal summoners would do, given what parem did to a normal Grisha.

A strange feeling was starting to swell within her, and a hysterical laugh bubbled out of her throat. 

"We're going to kill everyone, everything, in a hundred-mile radius," They'd better hope the Heartrenders and Yul-Bayur were far enough away by now.

"Your amplifiers," He realised suddenly, and she swore, fumbling the rings in her haste to rip them off her fingers, shoving all three into a pocket so they didn't touch her skin.

A heavy pause.

"It is rare, the occasion that I have no idea what comes next," 

"Aleksander," Alina was scared like she had never been in her life, although her fear was slowly ebbing away, being replaced with what felt like the sweetest feeling in the world. Her mind was still aware enough to recognise the feeling as danger, but not for much longer. 

He made no reply, simply pulled her close, arms tight around her, her head to his chest. Both of them sank to their knees, unbidden, wrapped around the other as jurda parem overtook them entirely.

*

How did you all like the crossover??

I was dreading the writer's block when I came to write this chapter, but it actually went by quite easily since I managed to get the last one out the way. I had this arc planned for a while, though it's been a long time since I read Six of Crows and I had to do a lot of research to make sure the timeline of the Ice Court heist lined up properly (whilst I know Nina and Kaz etc weren't in the tank, they went into the river gorge, but Alina doesn't know that yet). Letting them get away with Kuwei allows Crooked Kingdom to go similarly to how it did before, whilst Ravka still gets Bo Yul-Bayur in secret to work on an antidote to parem. I also didn't want this chapter to be a recap of Six of Crows, hence the hasty recap in Nina's POV so anyone who hasn't read it isn't entirely lost.

Also, apologies for the cliffhanger haha. Please do speculate in the comments as to what parem will do to a Sun and Shadow Summoner, I'd love to hear your ideas.