Chapter 7: Small Talk

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"You could rest your eyes for a while," suggested Carolyn after the first quarter of the journey.

"I don't want to, but thank you." Adaline tried to give her a polite smile but trying hurt just like everything else.

"You look like you could use some rest. It has been a long day."

"You could use some rest as well. It is bad enough that you are stuck with a big baby like me."

Carolyn broke out laughing, which sounded like musical bells to Adaline. It was true that Grisha women were gorgeous with breathtaking beauty. But it only dawned on Adaline then as to just how wrong the books had been about the right description. Grisha were....enchanting.

Awkward silences often filled after the Heartrender made small talk. Adaline tried to talk as well but the silence was familiar. It was sweet. She looked back and forth between the two guards once her pencil became blunt and she couldn't draw anymore to avoid them. 

Carolyn was the only one who talked to her. Erik kept sending glances at her way. "I'm not going to kill you, you know?" She was met with a feeling of sadness when she realised that those were the same words that she had told Simon when he first found out about her thoughts about physical affection. She missed him terribly and it had not even been a long time since she last saw him. It was the fact that she might never see him again that hurt.

Erik turned his head forward and kept his gaze fixed on the back of the coach. "Sorry," he spoke under his breath.

"It's alright."

After a while, he spoke again. "How did you do it?"

Adaline didn't realise that he had talked to her until she felt Carolyn's gaze on her. "What?"

"Make the earth move like that."

Adaline saw that question coming miles before. "I don't know." 

"Everyone at the Little Palace is going to have a million questions for you," revealed Carolyn, cutting off Erik's next question. "Your powers seem to be something entirely new."

"I'm sorry that you're stuck with me."

"I don't mind babysitting," she replied and it was Adaline's turn to smile.

The coach stopped moving for the night as the Grisha realised that their water supply was getting low

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The coach stopped moving for the night as the Grisha realised that their water supply was getting low. The soldiers immediately got working on a fire, the Inferi happy that they could use their powers. They were careful to not touch the forest cover though. They couldn't spread the slightest panic that night. Their journey had them left with a lot of questions. Who was the girl that was riding with them? Who was she? If she had powers, how was she not Grisha and even if she was, which Order would she belong to? Every Grisha could feel the trembling of the floor that they had felt at the tent. They would never forget that or the speed of the wind that threatened to take the roof of the tent away with it. Was Adaline a Corporalki, Etherealki or a Materialki? She certainly seemed to fit all the three Orders. Would the Darkling tell them about the decisions that he would be making?

Carolyn and Erik went their way to keep watch of the perimeter as they were instructed earlier on when Adaline was asleep. She brushed the sleep from her eyes and found herself walking towards the fire. The night was colder than usual and her coat wasn't as warm as a kefta looked to be. She searched the silhouettes in the dark for Maxwell, but he was nowhere to be found. She bit her inner cheek finding nothing else to do. 

Looking back at the fire, she saw a shadow that wasn't there before. He was sitting on a log, staring into the heart of the fire as he tried to get his hands warm. Adaline looked around and saw no one that she could talk to. Everyone was busy as they formed their own groups, and so, seeing no other option, she walked towards the fire.

Her eyes fell upon the empty space on the log next to him but she decided otherwise and sat on the ground opposite him. She tried not to stare at him but his granite eyes were fixed on her. She could feel it and wished that it was a dream. Nothing would have made her happy then.

She pulled out the crinkled pages from her pocket and looked at them properly in the light of the flames. She could see the places where she had missed the details because her pencil wouldn't cooperate with her then. Her hands were trembling in the cold. A small smile spread across her face when she thought about the countless nights that the General had stayed up to sharpen colour pencils for her because she never did it.

"You have a good hand," the icy voice broke the silence.

Adaline's head jerked up as she realised that the Darkling had spoken to her. "Thank you."

"The log is long enough for the both of us."

"I know."

The Darkling looked perplexed but he did not show it, the darkness surrounding them hiding his expression. He had seen how she had reacted when he tried to stop her from stopping Maxwell in the tent. But what he didn't understand was why. "Why did you become a doctor?"

Adaline couldn't believe that he was trying to have small talk with her. He didn't seem the type but she tried to hide her smirk. "I like helping people," she said. "Why do you work for the crown?"

A shadow fell over his face and she knew that she shouldn't have asked that question. She consoled her beating heart that if anyone wanted to talk, they should be able to take any question that was thrown at them. "My family has been serving the royals for ages. It started with my great great grandfather. He was the first Darkling and the one who created the Shadow Fold."

She found herself nodding

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She found herself nodding. She had only heard rumours but actually hearing them from the man's mouth felt different. "Why am I here?"

He had been expecting that. "Because you might be able to help me destroy it."

Adaline's mouth fell open slightly. What was he thinking? His eyes were not easy to read but his face was illuminated. She could see the dark circles under his eyes and a faint tinge of laugh creases on his face. "I'm not Grisha."

"You might be," he said. "I'm sure that you have questions for me."

She looked at him eagerly and wondered if she should ask him. He was an unpredictable person and the tales that she had heard about the one before him had everyone quaking in their boots. What was she thinking by sitting before him? "Why did you ask Maxwell to cut his arm?"

He warmed his hands against the fire and gave her the answer that she had been looking for. "Because after what I had heard, I was sure that your first instinct was to protect someone."

"You shouldn't have asked him to do it in the first place."

"Hurting him wasn't my intention."

Adaline noticed the softness in his voice. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or the embers of the fire, but the Darkling didn't seem so dark for a split second. He looked like someone her age, but the darkness in his eyes was unmistakable. He had a purpose that he would fulfil. No matter what. "I'm not Grisha," she said once again and saw the corner of his face twitch into a smile that he didn't want to suppress.

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