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PROLOGUE.

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"𝘊𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮"

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

━𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄, 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐀 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆...

"YOU AWFUL, SELFISH, USELESS PIECE OF TRASH, WHERE ARE YOU'' screamed the drunk woman as she threw a glass of bottle onto the wall.

Quivering under the edge of the table sat a girl with her arms crossed across her knees trying to control the sobs escaping her mouth. 

The drunk woman was stumbling across the room trying to regain her balance "Come out you filthy excuse of a child. COME OUT."

The innocent girl whimpered as the voice grew nearer and nearer until a strong grip got ahold of her hair. 

"I have been playing nice, now you will be sorry you ever ran away from me," The woman shouted in the girl's face. 

Scrunching up her nose, the girl thrashed wildly around as the putrid smell of remaining alcohol hit her face.

"Stop it"  she hollered as the woman got a piece of glass from the bottle she threw earlier.

"SHUT UP" screeched the woman as she carved out a word in the poor girl's skin.

The pain shot up the girl's arm like fire, her body aching from the torture she has received, she felt dizzy, almost falling unconscious.

... until

"HOW DARE YOU HIDE FROM ME, HIDE FROM YOUR MOTHER" roared the woman while getting a new and sharper glass piece to strike the young girl with again. 

As if those words were enough to start the fire buried deep inside the girl, with a start she peeled off herself from her mother's awfully tight grip and pushed her off with whatever strength she had remaining, yelling

"MY MOTHER? MY MOTHER, IS THAT WHO YOU THINK OF YOURSELF AS. NO.

FOR ME YOU ARE THE WOMAN WHO I HAVE TO DRAG AFTER GETTING YOU KEEP DRUNK EVERY NIGHT

YOU ARE THE WOMAN WHO HAS ABUSED AND TORTURED ME JUST FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR ENTERTAINMENT

YOU ARE THE ONLY WOMAN I KNOW WHO ACTUALLY SELLS HER DAUGHTER TO PLEASURE THOSE DISGUSTING MEN YOU BRING HOME FROM THE CLUB

YET AFTER ALL THIS TIME, ALL THIS TIME, I HAVE STAYED BY YOUR SIDE WORKING OFF YOUR DEBTS JUST SO I HAVE A PERSON I CAN CALL AS MY ACTUAL BLOODLINE FAMILY".

The girl yelled these words with such a force that would surely startle anyone passing by. As she finished her speech panting and feeling drowsy, she felt a tingling sensation running throughout her body but ignored it. 

She was too proud to think of anything else other than the fact that she actually stood up to her so-called mother.

That was until a ring echoed through her ear, a fresh and red handprint stood across her right cheek, and her mother's hand raised above her as she was preparing to strike another blow to the girl's face, a sudden sound of thunder was heard, the house slightly shaking as if there was an earthquake, although the most bizarre thing was the flash of white and blue lightning which separated and threw the young girl's mother across the room. A sickening crunch and weak groan heard from the direction of her mother.

The girl could do the only thing she could have done: she ran, fast and away from the horrible place she had to call her home for 14 years.

□ □ □

"Ouch", the girl groaned as she hit her head on something, rather someone. Rather than looking at who she hit, she closed her eyes for a second and pressed a hand on her forehead trying to control the painful throb. 

Swerving right past the person, she made it two steps before she felt a grip on her shoulder. Taking a deep breath to control the urge to tear the hand apart, she instead decided to tell the person kindly to disappear. 

As soon as she turned, cold-stone-guarded golden brown eyes clashed onto understanding-somber-calculative black eyes. 

The girl would have thought that the man she stumbled upon actually cared for her state if she had not noticed the glint that sparkled through his eyes; a glint of curiosity as if he had discovered a huge secret and was dying to unravel it.

"What's a charming young lady like you doing alone in the vicious streets of Ketterdam?" asked the man with the same glint in his eyes still present.

"Clearly minding my own business, unlike some people who think they can question a person without even knowing them" The young 'lady' sarcastically replied back as she scanned the streets looking for at least someone who she knows and can go to.

The man raised his right brow, whispering, "I know everything, every single thing that goes on in Ravka".

"Wow, I am so sorry but I do not care. I have to get going and the thing you are doing, where you act all mysterious does not work with me" she whispered back, raising her eyebrows while tilting her head slightly to the right as if to ask the man to challenge her.

Instead of defending himself, all he does is chuckle slightly with a shake of his head, "Oh darling, you have no idea what or how powerful you are, but fear not, as I will teach and tell you everything, and now is the perfect time to introduce myself,"

"Aleksander Kirigan, the Darkling."

As soon as she heard that, she held onto the not-so-kind words on the tip of her tongue. The Darkling; who doesn't know that name, the name that can scare someone as soon as it was mentioned. Regaining her balance, the girl replied in her most confident manner...

"Hart. Raina Hart."

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞!

just a little bit about raina