As the days rolled by classes lulled into each other, the faint sound of chatter far away yet somehow so close.

The gardens of the little palace were a personal favourite of mine, the blooming flowers and peacefulness of the area, that was the main reason mostly, the peace and quiet.

Many of the other Grisha didn't have a use for the gardens other than to run off with each other late in the evening, away from prying eyes, but during the day it was empty, mostly.

I ran my hands across the leaves of a few trees lightly as I passed underneath when the crunch of an apple caught my attention.

At the base of a far tree stood the pirate prince himself, chomping on an apple, fresh from the low lying branches of the tree.

"Sour," he commented as I tried to ignore him.

He didn't take kindly to my decision, throwing the half-eaten apple at me, I caught it before it could make contact with my head, "What do you want?" I sighed throwing the apple into a bush to decompose.

"Are you settling in alright? No one's giving you any grief?" Nikolai inquired.

I scoffed, "Didn't think you cared."

"Whatever you want to think just know, I didn't kidnapp you, Rena."

"Well you didn't rescue me either so what the hell did you do?" I accused him, all my fury blending together. "Was it not your men that held a knife to my throat, your men who attacked me, your men who threw me onto another ship, away from my father, it was your men, was it not?"

"Rena-"

"No, Nikolai. It was, it was your men, it was you." I took a deep breath, "I shouldn't exist, I was born of a mistake, an impulse tumble. This is a war between option A and B, except now people are looking at me like I'm a third, both option C and D combined. I can't do this, I won't."

"As a Grisha your loyalties are to the crown," he tried to reason.

"And as a human being, someone with a heart and a damn mind of their own my loyalties are to myself, number one and always."

I spent the next few days trying to avoid both my mother and Nikolai to the best of my abilities, confrontation wasn't my forte.

It was easier than I had suspected, during the class study sessions in the library she was always at the same big round table underneath the glass dome, the sun lighting her work. She was always so absorbed in her book that I think she hardly noticed all the students coming and going, and by the time we left she was still there, looking mildly more irritated and frustrated.

Unfortunately for me I also had the amazing experience of trying to also ignore both Toyla and Tamar which was considerably harder. Considering his size Toyla was well able to sneak up on people, and Tamar was like a ghost until she wanted you to see her, Alina should take some notes, Oretsev was the easiest to avoid, mostly because he seemed to avoid me aswell.

One morning as I pulled my shirt on over my head to get ready for the day I heard someone cough behind me, I whirled, my hands raised, ready to summon.

It was my father, well what I guessed was his phantom illusion, "Saints almighty. Ever hear of privacy, I was changing," I accused him neatly folding up my nightgown.

"Watch you language," he scolded mockingly, "Besides, how was I supposed to know?"

I rolled my eyes, "What do you want?"

"Is it not possible that I simply wanted to ask how your doing?"

I have him a sceptical look, crossing my arms in front of my chest, "Every time I managed to do... whatever this is, you've immediately sent me back and I'm nearly certain that you've also been blocking me somehow. I haven't seen you since I was arrested."

He shrugged lazily, and started walking around, "Are we in your room?" He asked.

"You can't see?"

He shook his head, "Only small bits and pieces, most of it is blurry, the only thing in sharp focus is you, your voice and that's about it, for me to hear or see anyone or anything else we have to be touching."

I nodded, "Noted, but yes we are, hence why I was changing. Now, answer the question."

He tried, yet again, to change the subject, "You're still wearing a black kefta," I gave him a death stare and he sighed, "Your mother-"

"Don't, don't call her that."

He gave me a questioning look but didn't press further, "Alina then, has she tried to, talk to you, tell you things?"

"Worried she'll divert my thoughts, that mabey I'll decide to join her little cult?" I mocked, I saw the expression on his face, "Oh my Saints, you did, you genuinely thought that, I mean yes I am angry at you but I was going to wait for an explanation first."

"Explanation?" He questioned.

Damn it, I hadn't meant to say that yet, I wanted him to admit it, "There's rumours, nothing much," I covered up.

His eyes narrowed but, finnaly, he answered my first question, "Would you know where, Alina, is?" He asked.

I went over to one of my windows, "Come see for yourself," I offered him my arm, he looked a bit startled but still held it so he could see, "Going to the chapel, mabey her and Oretsev are going elope there," I teased but still felt his grip tighten a bit.

I saw one of the bushes shake a bit and looked closer, "Ew, he's basically stalking her, that creep."

The Darkling followed my gaze, "Is that... Vasily?" He questioned, "He's a bit, rounder, than when I last saw him." I almost snorted, mabey Vasily was taking after his father, "I have a feeling he's going to try something, be a darling and save her from it?"

I scoffed, "Why? It would be just hilarious to see how this plays out."

He squeezed my arm, "I have a plan, which means you're going to have to play your part, if that's alright with you?" I nodded, "Right, get going then."

"Aren't you going to tell me this amazing plan first?"

"It's a big plan and this is just stage one," he winked at me and then left.

By the time I had started on the path leading to the church they had already exited, Alina and Vasily were making slow progress of the path as he talked, the distaste was basically leaking off of her in buckets, but what intrigued me was how she kept glancing back at the church, like she had seen a ghost.

"-You’ve risen high for a Keramzin orphan,” Vasily went on, “but you might rise higher still.”

“I can assure you, moi tsarevich,” Alina responded, “I have no such ambitions.”

“Then what do you want, Sun Summoner?”

I went up to them, "Excuse me, moi tsarevich," I reluctantly bowed to him, "But if you dont mind there are some urgent matters that require the attention of moi soverenyi, if you don't mind."

His face said it all, he hated me with every fiber of his being, but after a few sour looks thrown my way he obliged, "Of course, until we meet again, Alina Starkov," and in a horrible change of events he took her hand and brought her knuckles up to his mouth and kissed them, I thought I was going to vomit.

We walked away and I saw Oretsev catching up with us. Alina turned her head to me once we were out of Vasily's earshot, "What's so urgent, because I swear to Saint's if it's Zoya and Harsaw again-"

"There's nothing wrong-" I interrupted her, "Nothing that I know of anyways, I was just walking that way and saw you two, you looked like you needed saving, but by all means if I intruded on you and Vasily go back," I mocked.

She startled a bit, "Oh, well erm, thank you, I suppose I did."

I saw Mal advancing towards us from over her shoulder, he would be within earshot about now, "I should get to class, I'm already late."

Hey everyone, sorry for not updating yesterday, u was super busy and still had to edit some parts, but here it is, hope everyone is doing alright. Stay safe and happy holidays!!