The light behind the darkness (Darklina fanfic)

Chapter 3

POV Mal

He couldn't understand why someone wanted to kill him. Perhaps someone didn't want the Grisha General to find the stag. Something was wrong. He needed to find Alina. She could be in danger.

Mal penetrated to the servants' area of the Little Palace. He was always good at being unnoticed. He could quietly hide everywhere, which makes him a good tracker.

He found a palace plan with marked rooms of every inhabitant of the Palace. "Vezda Suite – the Sun Summoner" was marked a room not far from Generals' quarters.

He found out that there were stairs and a corridor for servants that led to this part of the Palace.

Mal took the plan and quietly slid into the corridor. He stopped before the door to the main hallway near Alina's room. He looked through the door cleft. There were four oprichniks near the door, which must have led to her room. The Heartrender was sitting in a chair near the room reading the book.

Shit, he can feel my heartbeat, thought Mal.

He heard steps and saw a black figure. The heartrender jumped from his chair.

"General," the Heartrender bowed.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes, moi soverenyi. Girls exiled me because Alina needed to change."

The General'd knocked on the door, and a second later he disappeared into the room. The red-haired girl went out of the room.

Mal was thinking about how he could bypass the oprichniks and the heartrender. But his thoughts were disturbed by a familiar voice.

"You should dismiss Fedyor. I don't need guards at the funeral," said Alina.

"You are free, for now. Go find Ivan," said General Kirigan to the heartrender.

Alina was going through the hallways alongside General. Mal held his breath when he saw her. She changed, and she looked more beautiful than he could remember. And most of all, she was in black. There was not the orphaned girl he once had known; she was the real Grisha – the Sun Summoner.

"Where will be the funeral?"

"At the lake. We burn bodies."

She said something more to him, but Mal couldn't hear. The oprichniks who had been standing near the doors of her room were gone with them. So he decided to wait for her in the room.

He entered her room. It was a big bright room, with expensive furniture, different decorations. He looked at the black kefta which was hanging on the wardrobe door. He ran his finger through soft fabric and gold embroidery.

The only one Grisha wears black. Why does she wear his color?

He smelled the scent of kefta, but it wasn't familiar. He looked at the dressing table. There were brushes with her dark hair, some jewelry, and the scratch book.

"You're still drawing," he mumbled to himself smiling. He opened the book. The first picture was of a pretty red-haired girl; then the picture of the stag. The landscape, which looked like a lakeshore near the Palace. And next picture of the General. He recognized those dark eyes, but he was smiling at the picture.

"What the...?"

He flipped through other pictures and in the end, he found his own. It was the old one.

He heard steps in a hallway and put down the scratch book. He went to the bathroom. There was the same scent as from her kefta. He came to the window and saw the crowd on the lakeshore.