"The Little Palace was full of danger."
Valeriya Alferova was a simple girl. Except for the fact that she was Grisha, and she knew the Sun Summoner, and she knew a prince. With the excitement of the Sun Summoner at the Little Palace, it's easy to...
Thank the Saints that David Kostyk wasn't a difficult person to find. He wasn't like Genya who moved around a thousand places in an hour, he generally stayed within a few hundred yards of his workshop. Especially since he basically never slept in his room, which was right next to Valeriya's. The only reason it took her ten minutes to find him was that it was how long it took her to walk from Alina's o-so-grand room to the dusty - yet beautiful - Fabrikator workshop.
It was a beautiful room that was in the basement of the Little Palace (which meant the Valeriya frequently made ghoul jokes...David was never impressed.) It had so many workshops that Valeriya never counted to see how many were actually in there, she was sure if she asked David would tell her, but she didn't care that much. When you first walked into the room you were greeted by the open Durast workshops and farther back were the Alchemi workshops that were sealed off. Down the hall further from the Fabrikator workshop was the Corporalki workshop where all of the Heartrenders and Healers could practice their craft. The Summoners were the unlucky ones that had to practice outside. Losers.
Anyway, David was right where she left him many months ago. Did that boy ever stop working?
"Hello gorgeous," Valeriya said, walking up behind David and giving him a hug from around his waist. Valeriya felt the dark-haired boy sigh.
David set down what he was working on and tapped Valeriya's hand. She released him and he turned around to face her, looking as handsome as ever with his hair messy and dressed in his purple kefta with silver embroidery.
"Hi, Vale, back so soon?" He said giving her a proper huge, but only briefly. He wasn't the most affectionate boy and he wasn't really great at having friends. He sometimes wondered why Valeriya had stayed friends with him for so long. But she was weird, so he guessed it was expected.
He turned back to the gadget he was working on, it appeared to be something for one of the Summoners.
"Yep, I was sent with Alina, the girl who saved us in the Fold."
David frowned slightly at that news. Not looking up from what he was working on he said, "I'm glad you made it out okay, I do wrry about you out there from time to time."
In David-land, that was the best compliment ever, Valeriya smiled.
"Well, my kefta took the brunt of it."
David groaned and turned around, looking Valeriya up and down - realizing that she wasn't wearing a kefta and it was instead hanging over her arm.
The only way that David knew how to describe it was sad. So when he muttered that and Valeriya heard she scoffed.
"Do you have any other keftas? Like your winter one?"
"David it's warm outside, I can't wear wool."
"But you're wearing your boots that go with your winter kefta."
"Since when are you a fashion critic David?"
He kept quiet after that and snatched her silk, warm weather kefta off her arm.
He walked over to another bench in the workshop, Valeriya following closely behind like a little duckling. The other Materalki (the official name for Fabrikators) in the workshop moved aside for David, well aware that once he was on a mission, he wouldn't move for anything. While he was walking, he was moving the fabric of her kefta around and muttering under his breath. Valeriya couldn't make out what he was saying except for a few rude words about her and the state of her kefta. If she didn't love him, she probably would have been annoyed, but it was just the way David was.
"There are spare keftas in there," he waved in the general direction of a few closets. She would just ask one of the other Materalkis standing near the array of closets.
"See you at the Grand Palace later."
He hummed in response, quickly busing himself with her kefta.
Saints, she missed him when she was in Kribirsk.
author's note !
Two surprising things today, one: a longer chapter than usual and two: two chapters in two days!!!!
And we got to see Valeriya and David's relationship, many I love them. Writing this made me want to write a David fanfic...
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know your thoughts!
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