𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏 𝐈𝐍 𝐀 𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 | 𝔫𝔦𝔨𝔬𝔩𝔞𝔦 𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔰𝔬𝔳

𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

david's crush

When Valeriya met up with Zoya that night, she found out the enraged girl only had to go for a few days - including the journey to make her reevaluate her choices.

Now, Valeriya felt lonely with Zoya gone. She'd eaten with David a few nights down in the Fabrikator labs, the boy trying to make her feel better to the best of his ability. Her thoughts consumed her during the nights, hindering her sleep. When she did, she was plagued by nightmares of her past. She tried her best to hide her past deep inside her when the testers had taken her.

Yali was a main figure in her dreams, the girl from her past lurking in the shadows. The dreams terrified Valeriya, not because of what Yali did, but because Yali just stood there, staring at Valeriya with a blank gaze, reaching out towards her.

"Vale," David said, knocking on her door and causing her to jump at her vanity. She dropped her brush and glanced at herself in the mirror.

"Come in," she replied. In the background of her mirror, she saw David enter the room, clad in his gorgeous purple kefta. On his arm was Valelriya's own red kefta. He tossed it on her bed and flopped down next to it.

"What's up bub? You good?" Valeriya said with a slight laugh. This was David's way of being dramatic. He most likely wasn't upset about her kefta - well, there was a slight chance of him being pissed at her.

"I finished your kefta," he said, lazily lifting his arm and waving at the kefta next to him, "Don't screw it up."

"And?" Valeriya pressured, attempting to put her long brown hair into a braid before giving up and just tying half of it back. She got up from her chair and sat next to David's head on her bed.

"The others are making me give the sun summoner her - uh - gloves," he said, looking up at Valeriya.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"Please."

♕

When they arrived at Alina's room on the other side of the Little Palace, Valeriya was not shocked when Genya's voice welcomed them in. David on the other hand became even more flustered. He had a crush on the girl but claimed to be too socially awkward to do anything about it. In fact, Valeriya only knew about the crush because she annoyed David until he admitted it. That was a long three days for both of them.

"This is David Kostyk. Expert resident Fabrikator. And you've met Valeriya," Genya introduced from her kit next to Alina.

David was pushed into the room by Valeriya and silently made his way to stand near Genya, trying to seem as emotionless as possible. Valeriya followed him and offered both the girls a smile and a wave.

"He created the blue light that was used during your fold crossing," Genya said to help Alina have a connection to David.

"I had to drag him to meals during that time," Valeriya added with a laugh, earning one from Genya and Alina. David glared at her.

As if snapped out of his emotionless state, David rushed over to Alina.

"The General had me make these for your demonstration this evening," David said, handing the gloves to Alina and taking a large step back from the girl.

Valeriya mentally facepalmed. She'd completely forgotten about the demonstration. Shit.

Alina set down the glove and Genya complimented them, to which David responded to by avoiding her gaze. Valeriya elbowed him.

"What do they do?" Alina asked. David perked up and Valeriya took that as her cue to leave. She'd already heard the explanation four times on the way to Alina's room, so she was sure she didn't need it again.

"I'll see you later," Valeriya whispered to David before he started talking and waved to the girls, promptly exiting the room.

Valeriya wandered down the halls, not in a hurry to return to her room when she saw a guard walking down the hall by himself. Curious, Valeriya followed behind him, a good enough distance as to not be seen. The guard had a limp, which Valeriya found interesting. She saw him duck behind a door when a Fabrikator - Mya - walked down the hall followed by a maid and a servant. She said hello to them and walked away, pretending to leave the hall. Instead, she stayed so she could still see the guard peeking through the door.

It was such odd behavior that Valeriya was confused. She looked away for a second, noticing Fedyor walking Alina and Genya back inside the palace. When she looked back he was gone.

Very interesting.

author's note !

HI!!!  THANK YOU FOR 6K READS!!!

I can't believe that we've come this far.  I'm so very excited for the next couple of chapters because I've decided to introduce a spin-off book I will write -after this one is finished- for Kaz!

I love reading all of your comments and appreciate all of the love and support you guys give me.  

I also wanted to share the map of the people who have read this book, because it is mindblowing to me that people from all around the world are reading this book!

If you want, drop a comment letting me know where you are reading from!  I'm in the Eastern USA :). 

See you guys soon!