Immortal Love - Darkling ff. -English version-

Chapter 6 - The Little Palace

I opened my eyes. At first my brain did not understand where I was. My eyes looked irritatedly at the canopy of the four-poster bed in which I was lying. Where was I?

But then reality came crashing down on me and I knew exactly where I was. I was in the Little Palace. In my own room, which, by the way, was the size of a small apartment. Everything was magnificent and looked priceless.

It was the first time that I had my own room. In the orphanage, we girls had slept in the ancestral gallery that had been converted into a dormitory. And in the army in group tents or group rooms in barracks.

The last days after the failed attack of the Fjerdan, we had almost ridden through. Everyone had been tense and there was never really a moment where you could relax and come down.

Alina, who had been rescued from a near-fatal situation by the Darkling during the attack, was also personally brought to the Small Palace by him. He had ridden ahead with her and the rest of us only later, when the injured were tended and the dead burned.

I had been worried non stop about her. I hadn't heard from her in days. Or from Mal...

With my fingers I traced the fabric of the silky nightgown I was wearing. Part of me was glad that I had forced myself to take a bath last night. I didn't want to get into my new soft bed as dirty and bloody as I was.

A soft knock startled me awake. Quickly I sat up. With a few steps I had crossed the room, unlocked the door and opened it.

"Yes?", I returned a little hesitantly.

There stood two girls in blue keftas. One was embroidered with red patterns and the other with blue. One was an inferni and the other a Tidemaker. Both seemed nice and like the were excited to meet me.

The Inferni had light skin, brown hair and brown eyes. The other girl was dark skinned and dark eyes as well. Her black hair was braided into many small braids.

"I am Nadia, and this is Marie. We were sent so we can help you prepare for the Sun Summoner's audience with King Pyotr."

The two of them beamed at me like I was a unicorn or something.

I blinked in irritation. "I can understand Alina being presented to the king, but why should I go along. I mean I have no rank or prestige. I'm just a Grisha who slipped under the system. Nothing special."

Marie looked at me, cheered up and excited. "Nothing special? You survived an attack from the Volkras and the Fjerdan. You're familiar with the Sun Summoner. You grew up together. Many will envy you for such a position."

I screwed up my face. I didn't like being adorned with the feathers of others. All right, I had survived. But that was more luck than good sense. Alina had saved us in the hallway. And it shook me already, at the thought that in the future quite a few suck-ups and hypocrites would run after me, so that I could introduce them to Alina.

"Besides, all the orders of Grisha will be there too. And from what is told, you belong to us, the Etheralki. You're lucky you're catching us and not Zoya. She can be pretty mean," Nadia interrupted her friend's torrent of words.

It was only now that I noticed the garment she was wearing over her arm. I looked at it with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh yes, that's the kefta you'll be wearing today. You're only wearing it temporarily until you get your own, which will fit you properly. So this one may be a little too big. After the audience, we'll go to the seamster so they can take your dimensions," Marie added.

I thought it was kind of droll how the two of them complemented each other. But then I faltered. They hadn't said anything about Alina. Apart from the fact that she had an audience with the king. I had already calculated that from now on I would spend less time with my friend.