the king

Saints bless me with the strength to not strangle this man slowly, Valeriya thought as she did her hair all nice in Zoya's room. She'd stolen a kefta from one of the other Heartrenders who was around her size, but it was still a little tight.

Zoya had arrived in getting prepared Os Alta early that morning, along with plenty of other Grisha, all getting prepared to stand before the king to present the might of the Second Army.

But Valeriya hated the king. She would never voice it to anyone, besides Nikolai of course who shared her feelings.

"Vale?" Zoya said, coming up behind the girl and making her jump. Valeriya had been doing her hair into a half-up style in the mirror and got lost in her thoughts, a common thing in the past few years.

"Yes Zoya?" Valeriya said doing the pins in her hair. Zoya took them from her and finished off her hair. She set her head on top of Valeriya's and pinched her cheeks.

Valeriya scoffed and slapped her hand.

"Time to go."

♕

The Grisha were all huddled together, all three of the classes mixing together. When they would be called to stand before the King, they would eventually separate into one half being Corporalki and the other half being Summoners with the Fabrikators mixed in.

"Can I stand by you?" asked David as he came up next to Zoya and Valeriya.

"Of course darling, I could never say no to you," Valeriya said, a smile on her face.

The crowd of Grisha parted. A girl who Valeriya could only assume was Alina was wearing a hideous "army uniform" and an even more dreadful gold veil. She was accompanied by General Kirigan and they took their place at the front of the group, the general's elite personal guard - The Oprichniki - standing so that the pair was separated from the main group of Grisha.

"First Army, form your ranks," The Darkling ordered.

The Grisha were quick to separate, the only jumbling left were the few Fabrikators that had crawled out of their workshops and were just dotted around the group. Zoya had moved to take a place at the back of the group (Valeriya knew she didn't like to be seen at these things) and Valeriya took a place next to a Heartrender named Natalia who was a very nice girl. They were near the front, but she knew that she would likely be scolded by Ivan (who was on the opposite end of the row from her) if she wasn't.

David stayed glued to her side. If Valeriya was being honest, she was surprised that the other Materalki had managed to drag his screaming body from his workbench. Saints knew that Valeriya couldn't do that.

She squirmed a little in the borrowed kefta. It was uncomfortable but it was kind of her fault for destroying her own. They were supposed to be indestructible though, right?

The large group began moving forward, led by the Darkling and his four guards in front of them. The guards were positioned perfectly as to hide David but leave Valeriya out in the open.

And it was totally inconvenient because she'd spent the last several years trying to avoid anything to do with the royal family. Her hand unconsciously grasped the thick-chained necklace tied around her neck. She generally wore two necklaces. A thin-chained one from Zoya that held a beautiful sunshine charm ("You are the sunshine everyone needs in their life," Zoya had said.). The thick-chained one was the one Zoya told her to leave at home, the one that she couldn't part with no matter what. The one that stayed tucked beneath her shirt, away from the prying eyes of jealous Grisha. The one with the emerald ring, engraved with the Lantsov double eagle family crest.

As they walked down the stairs, reaching the throne room, Valeriya kept her eyes straight, not looking at the mumbling nobles and trying not to waver at the judgment gazes over the King and Queen.

The Queen spoke, throwing a few backhanding comments towards Alina, but Valeriya was too distracted to pick out what they were. It was all too much being back here. She looked at Vasily, whose gaze was anywhere but the Sun Summoner. He still wasn't anywhere as attractive as Nikolai was.

Saints, Valeriya scolded herself, Did I really just go there?

A hand grasping hers pulled herself back into reality. David had his hand in hers, clearly very uncomfortable with the situation at hand and trying to find some peace.

"She will change the future," General Kirigan spoke, causing Alina to look up at him. It was only then that Valeriya realized she'd lost that hideous veil.

"Starting now," the General finished, always being one for the dramatics.

He reached his hand up and a loud rumbling filled the room, shadows pouring out of every crevice and causing the room to be completely dark. It reminded Valeriya of the Fold and that terrified her. David was apparently scared too, as his grip on her hand tightened.

Suddenly, a bursting light filled the room, blinding everyone who dared to look. Valeriya used her free hand to shield her eyes and she heard audible gasps from around the room.

This girl was going to change history.

Valeriya just hoped it was for the better.

author's note ! 

Hello everyone and I hoped you enjoyed this almost 900-word chapter!  It's one of the longer ones in a while and I'm super happy about it!  We also learned more about the necklaces Valeriya wears and why they are important to her.  There were also some more Valeriya, David, and Zoya interactions!  

I also added a graphic gallery to the book, so if you want to make any graphics for the story feel free!  If you send them to me I will add them!

On another note, why didn't anyone tell me I was spelling Lantsov wrong?  I kept spelling it Lanstov and I didn't notice until I was googling for some details about this chapter!  Oops!  

See you all next time!  Love you!

(lovely gif by crystallous)

(I made a new gif too!)