✧・❉・✧

"Only you," he said, clutching his head. "Only you would manage to find a Sun Summoner and nearly get killed in the process on your first trip to the Fold."

Valeriya suppressed a smile. "I hardly found her."

"You should have come back the moment you were attacked!" he snarled, slamming a hand on the table.

Valeriya flinched slightly, but the Darkling did not yield and she felt hot anger course through her. "Oh, should I have?" she said with a haughty raise of her chin. "Should I have directed the skiff with no Squallers, no Inferni, the First Army barely breathing and somehow, I should have come back to you like a scared kitten," she hissed.

"Don't pretend you couldn't have brought the skiff back here," he replied, his quartz eyes cold as shadows gathered in the corner of the tent.

Valeriya bared her teeth at him.

"People have lost their heads for less," he said, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"Not my fault you have the temperament of a wet kitten," she bit back.

His face grew livid, but the tent's flaps shook as the Corporalnik who was standing guard came inside and bowed. 

The tent fell in silence as the Grisha filed in, standing near the dais on which Valeriya and the Darkling stood. The Darkling nodded to her with stormy eyes, and Valeriya took her place beside the dais, so she could see the back of that onyx throne. She would get her scolding later.

Zoya and her little posse laughed at something, and Valeriya immediately felt the need to punch her.

The First Army survivors staggered into the tent along with the Senior Cartographer, Colonel Raevsky and some rugged-looking trackers. The mapmaker or Sun Summoner's face visibly flooded with relief at the group, but Valeriya couldn't figure out who it was she was so pleased to see.

The Senior Cartographer, perhaps? Valeriya wondered as the Darkling kept his eyes trained on the mapmaker. Maybe he's her father.

"Baranova, report," The Darkling commanded in a low voice.

"Approximately thirty minutes into the crossing, we were set upon by a large flock of volcra. We were pinned down and sustaining heavy casualties. I was fighting on the port side of the skiff. At that point, I saw a blaze of light. Bright as noon, brighter. Like staring into the sun," Valeriya said, putting her hands behind her back and trying to ignore the simmering anger in the Darkling's eyes.

"And the girl?" he asked.

"I didn't see the girl, General."

The Senior Cartographer gave his report, and Grisha immediately began laughing, whispering or making fun. Only Zoya and her posse did the last thing.

The Darkling shut them all up and turned to the tracker.

Oh. That's who the mapmaker was looking for.

The Darkling got up from his dais and approached the girl. Alina Starkov.

Ah, the test was to happen.

Valeriya winced as a faint memory of her test came back to her, and The Darkling's eyes found hers as if thinking the same thing. She gave him a nod, she didn't know if it was meant to be reassuring. He remained impassive as shadows shrouded the room.

He said something softly to the girl, his head tilted slightly to the side. The girl shook her head, and he said it louder now, but still not audible to Valeriya. He pushed the sleeve up to her arm, and the young Fabrikator felt the metal of his wickedly curved ring pierce the alleged Sun Summoner's skin, and the light burst out brighter than a noon sun, pushing away the shadows and lighting up the face of the awe-struck girl and the man with the calculating gleam in his eye.

And in all of the one second that the light had taken over the room, it dimmed down, leaving the girl panting and looking at the General with wide eyes. The ethereal glow of the light fired something in the heart of the audience, who started the soft murmurs of 'Sun Saint' amongst them.

The girl fell forward with the force of using her power, and the Darkling handed her over to the oprichniki. "Valeriya, take her to —'' he paused, turning back around to sweep his eyes over Valeriya's shabby clothes. "Ivan, take her to my coach, an armed guard around her at all times. Straight to the Little Palace, stop for nothing. Get a Healer to look at her wounds."

Ivan roughly grabbed her arm, and the girl paused a second and desperately grabbed at the Darkling's sleeve, saying something.

And perhaps out of instinct, or training, Valeriya immediately brought her hands together and the slight metal inlays of the Darkling's kefta heated up, making the girl hiss and drop her hand, looking around wildly. The Darkling got a slightly amused look in his eyes, and held a hand up at Valeriya.

"She is Grisha now, and you all will treat her as such," he said in a smooth, cold voice, looking pointedly at Ivan's hand which was digging roughly into the Sun Summoner's arm. And with long, sweeping steps, he approached the dais again, flicking a hand at Valeriya, ordering her to tidy herself before coming back.

The girl's cry of "Mal!'' pierced through Valeriya's ears, and she whirled to see the mapmaker looking at the tracker from before, a yearning look on her face. Valeriya felt pain for the two of them, but in a war-ridden world, there was hardly any place for love. She wondered what was the sort of love to risk your life over.

"Valeriya!" the Darkling called out, making her stop in her tracks. "Ride with them."

Valeriya nodded and turned around. In all odds, the General wanted the ride to be smooth and without any interruptions, prompting him to send Valeriya.

Rushing towards her tent, Valeriya removed her kefta and swapped it for a new one, feeling the warm comfort of the memories of the uncountable days spent in her workshop settle over her, calming her mind. She stepped outside near the Darkling's coach only to find Ivan hissing something at the girl, with his usual scrunched face even more angry, somehow. His hand was digging visibly uncomfortably in the girl's arm. He said something to her, and when she replied, he leaned closer, hissing. Valeriya smiled.

The girl got on Ivan's nerves. They were going to get along splendidly.

"Don't be a mudak, Ivan," Valeriya called out in a smooth voice, tucking her hands in the pockets of her kefta. "Dare the General hear you talk to our Sun Saint this way."

Ivan bared his teeth but relented his hold on the poor girl. "I'm Valeriya Baranova," she introduced herself with a wry smile at the extreme number of guards and Grisha surrounding the coach. "Materialnik."

The girl, now seated uncomfortably between two oprinichki, reached out with a desperate voice and shaking hands. "Please, you have to understand, it's a mistake, I'm not some Sun Saint or anything like that."

Valeriya pursed her lips together, her mind unwillingly travelling back to the distant yet clear memories, going to her initial years at Os Alta, under the glittering jewels of the Little Palace and the casual luxury of each and every person there. The necessary fear against her own people, who could stop your heart without touching you, change your face, or manipulate the elements.

So, yes, it was a long time ago, but the fear stayed fresh.

"Everything will be alright once we're at the Little Palace, Miss Starkov," Valeriya reassured her, feeling the absence of a comforting female friend.

From a distance, Ivan turned to look at Valeriya. "Baranova, the General wants us to move now!" he shouted.

Valeriya pursed her lips at his tone, but nodded. Valeriya and Ivan were equally powerful, but Ivan just had a superiority complex because of his glorified powers. "Come along, then, you're the one standing far away!"

"Convinced the girl yet?" Ivan sneered at her as he climbed into the coach after a very reluctant Alina Starkov.

"We'll find out, I guess," Valeriya murmured, climbing into the coach, crossing her heart for no hassles, but knowing she'd end up losing it anyway.

✧・❉・✧

i need opinions guys

dyou want to follow the book or the show

i think itll be easier w the show and i can continue with rule of wolves from there

anyway, leave your opinion and tell me what u think!