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It was just a simple thought. A desire for more light in the dark.
No matter where General Kirigan is stationed, at home in the Little Palace or in one of his tents, there is more than enough candlelight to see by.
However when he goes to bed, the curtains are shut and all flames snuffed out. Absolute darkness reigns when the king of shadows rests.
And when he wakes up, he wants more light.
It came not from the window, or the unlit lamps. It came from his palms, flat against his ebony blankets.
Aleksander blinked, wondering if he was seeing things. Yet there could be no mistaking the warmth emanating from his hands, the familiar rush from using his power.
Before thinking of what this could mean, Aleksander decided to test his unnamed theory by summoning darkness.
Tendrils of shadows snaked up the bed posts and over the carpet.
Now he tried to call on the light, and make them into large orbs.
The light came, but it refused to expand beyond his hands.
Aleksander was unaware of the tears sliding down his cheeks.
Theory proven.
Aleksander’s soulmate was born, and she was the Sun Summoner.
Alina knew she could glow. Ever since she was a baby, she would glow, causing her papa to try to calm her and her mama to stoke the hearth.
It took time for them to train Alina to summon not with her body but with her hands. And then to summon tiny orbs instead ball-sized suns.
Alina loved to play with her fireflies. She called them fireflies because they were glowing flakes of glitter in the air, obedient to her will and following her everywhere like a playful wind spirit or a cape.
Mama always told her not to show her fireflies to anyone else because then they would steal them away from her.
In the dark of the Fold, her fireflies protected her, gathering about her like a shield, coalescing into a fuzzy glowing blanket.
Where were her mama and papa?
Alina scanned the dark sky frantically. She had seen them picked up by the monsters. They went after the grown ups first before they went for her.
Sobs heaving her chest, Alina felt her face crumple and large tears well up and over.
“Mama! Papa!” She cried again and again. “Anyone? Can anyone help me?”
But there was no one left on the skiff. The monsters had left.
She was alone, with only her fireflies for company.
What could she do? What could a lone, little girl do on a gigantic skiff? Alina was no Squaller. She did not have the muscle to drag the sand skiff forward.
Should she leave the skiff and try to find mama and papa on her own? Where would she even go? She did not know the direction.
Her fireflies did. Like calls to like, they floated in front of her face, forming a tail for her to follow.
With no better idea, Alina stepped off the skiff and pattered after her fireflies, hoping they would lead her to her parents.
Instead, after who knows how long, Alina burst through the shadow wall, to the somewhat familiar sight of Kribirsk, her clothes torn and her face tear-stained.
Out in the open, Alina’s fireflies dissipate, replaced by scary looking men in uniforms.
“Please,” she sobbed. “Please help me find my parents.”
Aleksander had sent out more spies to rescue foreign Grisha. And he was always at the Little Palace to welcome the Ravkan children, asking them what their powers were.
What else could he do? Thanks to centuries of studying and training in just about everything, he could not hope to know what talents his soulmate might possess.
Not to mention he was fairly certain she was too young to actually cultivate her talents.
Alina had long since forgotten her fireflies. They had been wonderful companions but they never really talked to her, and having a one-sided conversation where the other party always agrees gets kind of dull.
Ever since Mal came to Keramzin, Alina began to look for him for comfort rather than the fireflies that no one was supposed to see.
“Together,” she promised.
More tentative, Mal nevertheless grasped onto the promise. “Together,” he agreed.
Alina was there to comfort Mal when he began to spout all kinds of information about Grisha, just before the testers came.
“What if I’m grisha?” he whispered, staring down at his hands fearfully as fire could sprout out and burn his face. “Only Grisha have each other for soulmates,” he stated miserably, once more using knowledge he had no memory of learning.
Alina put her arm around his shoulders. “Maybe your soulmate is from a Grisha family,” she suggested. “Sometimes otkazat’sya are born into Grisha families.”
Mal nodded, but then frowned. “How do you know that?”
Alina blinked. “I don’t know.” She stared at her hands. “My soulmate must be from a Grisha family too,” she said.
By now she had blocked out everything about her traumatic past from her memory. Otherwise she would have known just what kind of Grisha she was.
Mal looked out over their meadow. “If I’m Grisha, I can meet my soulmate at the Little Palace. But I don’t know how I feel about being with other Grisha.” He cast frightened eyes at his only friend. “They’re still scary.”
“You don’t have to meet your soulmate right away,” Alina assured. “The testers always come every year.”
Mal thought about it. “I can wait a few years,” he decided. He had no desire to show up at the Little Palace to be seen as just another orphan. He wanted to make a name of himself before finding his soulmate.
As for Alina, she could wait with Mal too. Unlike him, she wasn’t as frightened of Grisha. Yet if she left now, he would be alone with no one to defend him from bullies.
As the years pass, Alina was astounded by how smart her soulmate was. No matter the range of subject, she could give an answer straight away.
Even when Mal was the one to go hunting, Alina was the one offering tips on how to skin the animal carcass or how to season it for a nice stew.
“Your soulmate likes to do everything,” Mal marveled.
It made Alina wonder if her soulmate got any of her talents. She was sure her artistry was her own, but was he a good artist too?
Curious enough, this never made Alina feel self-conscious. Perhaps it was because of how the older orphans gave her grief for having a Shu mother. Alina was proud of who she was, every aspect, and there was no way she was going to let anyone make her feel lesser, not even her own talented soulmate. Besides, he must have some flaw!
Anyway, enough time had passed for Alina to ask Mal when they would see their soulmate?
Finally brave enough to face the Second Army just to seek his soulmate, Mal agreed to be tested, truthfully claiming he was excused the last time.
The tester looked up from the crimson scratch. “He is not Grisha.”
Alina automatically pricked herself with a hidden sewing needle. It was her current weapon since Ana Kuya confiscated her letter opener.
It does not matter that they will not be sent to the capital. There is always a way.
No matter who it is, no matter the background, everyone always helps each other find their soulmate, using what knowledge they have gathered.
To not help was a universal taboo.
They could walk right up to an intimidating oprichnik or an obnoxious Squaller and ask for help. They would have to oblige.
From what Mal knew, he said his soulmate seemed to be very familiar with the oprichniki.
From Alina could tell, her soulmate knew everybody in the Little Palace, and the Grand Palace. Maybe he was even the Black General’s right hand.
The thought of that admittedly made Alina pale. Her soulmate must be very intimidating. And if he was General Kirigan’s right hand, he must be a heartrender.
Mal found his soulmate in Rusa the oprichnik . Or rather she found him.
As soon as Rusa realized she had sudden knowledge of the informal spar matches held within the first army, she immediately conducted a scan of who was from Keramzin.
Mal was thrilled his soulmate knew how to punch!
And Rusa felt like she already knew Alina and was more than willing to help Alina find out who her soulmate was.
“Multilingual and extensive knowledge of Ravkan territory,” Rusa counted on her fingers. “Really, the first is the most helpful clue. All of us at the Little Palace know at least one second language. And there’s not many who knows as many as your soulmate. I might have suggested a heartrender be your soulmate but her soulmate is actually a druskelle! Talk about star-crossed lovers!”
“Thank you,” Alina said sincerely, a bit nervous now.
Rusa checked with her superiors, but none knew that many languages.
Suspecting that Alina might be Grisha (she was practically the model for wasting sickness), Rusa then checked with the Grisha.
None of the students around Alina’s age at the Little Palace were taking that many classes. There were a couple of best friends determined to take that many but they were too young.
The graduated soldiers all pointed to Nina, Genya and the widow Botkin. Yeah, all had already found their soulmates.
Russ felt a chill up her spine. Could Alina’s soulmate be that high-ranking. Nervously, she asked Fedyor to check within the general’s inner circle as to who spoke that many languages.
Fedyor happened to make his inquiry while the General was present.
No way, Alina thought faintly as she took in who stood before her.And yet who else could learn so much and look so young?
He’s Grisha, some part of her protested.
Another voice chimed in. Well, we did frequently cheat the test. So we might be Grisha too. We do have the symptoms of wasting sickness.
“What are you?”
Alina’s probable soulmate obviously did not care for first impressions, relying on his good looks and charisma to solve that issue later.
Curious enough, the moment Aleksander scratched the light out of her arm and revealed how he could summon a portion of her light, all the apprehension Alina felt vanished.
Aleksander was her soulmate. He was safe.
Not to mention ecstatic. The Black General was too controlled to be beaming broadly, but there was a proud smile on his face, joy sparkling in his mesmerising gaze, and relief in his grip on her hand, holding her so tightly as if she might disappear.
And meeting Ivan, Alina herself was so happy she was not his soulmate. Nope, Ivan had his own ball of sunshine as his soulmate, the peppy Fedyor.
“You know before I met you, I tried to think of what flaw you might possess to compensate all your skills,” Alina remarked on the black steed.
Aleksander almost chuckled. “And now you’re sure you know what my fatal flaw is?”
“One of your flaws,” Alina said with conviction. “You’re horrible with first impressions.”
“I like to think I have few flaws. And first impressions are to be expected when you’re a shadow summoner.”
Alina stifled a chortle. “Shame. I’m guessing it made things harder for you to learn more about me, if you could not even know what talents you got from me.”
“What would you have shared with me, beyond your powers,” Aleksander whispered into her hair.
Alina looked up at the sky. “I’m a decent drawer. I know that comes from myself. What about you.”
“I can draw,” he admitted, seeming almost disgruntled at the fact.
“Well, maybe when you’re not busy overseeing an army, you and I could draw each other sometime,” Alina offered, hiding her shyness behind a cheery tone.
“I will never be too busy for you, Alina,” he stated.
“Not even if the king stood in our way,” Alina teased, remembering how many flaws that man had.
“Definitely not.”