Purest Corruption - The Darkling [General Kirigan]

• Chapter 2 •

I was sitting in an overlook tower drawing in my sketchbook thinking about how tomorrow could be the last day I ever see Mal.

I can't let him go alone.

I felt my face contort slightly but I didn't want to cry. I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard a laugh behind me that could only belong to one person.

Mal.

He sits down and sighs "I found you."

"You always do, somehow" I laugh

"Well, it's not hard, you always perch." He says with a shrug

"I'm brooding" I scoff and let a small sniffle that I had been holding in escape me

"Well, I have something for you." He pulls out a bowl full of fruits and hands it to me

Confused, I ask "Where did you get these?"

With another shrug he replies "I stole them."

I'm not surprised.

"From a Grisha tent?" I let out a real laugh, finally, and feel some of the weight of sadness lift off of my shoulders.

"I thought it would get me an invitation to jail, but it just got me an invitation to tumble with a Grisha." As he said that my heart stops

Did he do it? Of course he did why wouldn't he? It's not like he feels anything for me.

"You tumbled a Grisha?" I ask, hoping that he would say no.

He chuckles "No. No, I just flirted with her."

Like that's any better.

Well, maybe it's a little better.

I nod my head and eat some of the fruit from the small bowl in my hands

"Maybe she flirted with me." He adds

I don't want to hear any of this Mal.

I just spare him a glance in the hopes that he'll stop talking about this.

"Look, Grisha women scare me. Okay?"

I laugh at his comment but then remember what's happening tomorrow and turn serious. "Did you see the lieutenant?"

"Yeah." He nods but the look on his face doesn't seem happy.

"And?" I hope with everything in me that it's good news and he's just tricking me with a look of sadness.

"Well..."

I subconsciously hold my breath, waiting for him to continue.

"Turns out they do need me. So..." And in that moment any hope I had left was shattered into a million pieces.

I looked down at my lap and then back up at the camp.

Don't cry.

"So..." I repeat his last word, looking at him with a grief stricken face.

"I could shoot you in the foot." Joking seems like the best thing to subside the feeling that's weighing down my heart.

He laughs at what I've just said "You're a terrible shot."

He's right. I'd probably hit something more important than his foot if I tried shooting him.

There's a silence that comes between us and there's one more thing I have to say.

"Don't cross it." I plead.

He pauses, then a void fills his eyes. "When I was young, I had nightmares about going in. Finding my parents...still dead. Waiting for me." He seems to snap back to reality after realizing what he said.