chapter fourteen.

"I SEE," I SAID, "DOES HE ALSO PLAN TO BUILD a summer home there?" Baghra seized my arm again, "this isn't a joke!" There was a desperate, unfamiliar edge to her voice, and her grip on my arm was nearly painful.

What was wrong with her? "Baghra, maybe we should get you to the infirmary—" I started but Alina was sighing shakily, "she's not sick,"

"You must listen to me, girl." Baghra spat. "Then talk sense," I said. "How could anyone use the shadow fold as a weapon?" She leaned closer to me, fingers digging into my flesh, "By expanding it."

"Right," I said slowly, trying to extricate myself from her grasp. "The land that the Usea covers was once green and good, fertile and rich. Now it is dead and barren, crawling with abominations. The darkling will push its boundaries north into Fjerda, and south to the Shu Han. Those who do not bow to him will see their kingdoms turned to desolate wasteland and their people devoured by ravening volcra."

I gaped at her in horror, shocked by the image she had conjured. The old woman had clearly lost her mind. "Baghra," I said gently, "I think you have some kind of fever." Or you've just completely lost your mind. "Finding the stag is a good thing. It means that Alina can become stronger so that we can destroy the fold."

"No!" She growled out in frustration, "He never intended to destroy it. The fold is his creation."

I sighed. Why had Baghra picked tonight to lose all touch and reality? "The fold was created hundreds of years ago by the black heretic, you idiot!" I said, but a part of me was slowly beginning to see the picture clearly.

"The Darkling is the black heretic." Alina said, grabbing my arm again, "of course he is." I said and yanked myself away from the two.

"I'm going to go find you a healer and then I'm going to bed." I said to Baghra but she only glowered and said, "Look me in the eyes girl,"

I sighed but did as I was told, my patience at an end. I felt sorry for her, but this was just too much. "Baghra—" the words died on my lips.

Darkness was pulling in Baghra's palm, the skeins of inky blackness floating in the air, "You do not know him, Freya." It was the first time she had ever used my name. "But I do."

I stood there watching dark spirals unfurl around her, trying to comprehend what I was seeing. Searching Baghra's strange features, I saw the explanation clearly written now, I saw the ghost of what must have once been a beautiful woman, a beautiful woman who gave birth to a beautiful son.

"You're his mother," I whispered, eyes wide. She nodded, "I am not mad. I am the only person who knows what he truly is, what he truly intendeds. And I am telling you that you and Alina must run."

The Darkling had claimed he didn't know what Baghra's power was. He had lied to me. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts, trying to make sense of what Baghra was telling me. "It's not possible," I said. "The Black Heretic lived hundreds of years ago."

"He has served countless kings, faked countless deaths, bided his time, waiting for the Sun Summoner, when he found Alina, he thought he had his final solution but then he heard that there was a possibility of a Tidemaker and a Sun Summoner and he did not hesitate and went searching for you," said Baghra.

I shook my head, "but why would he need a Tidemaker? I'm barely anything compared to Alina." I chanted, "it is because you are part Sun Summoner girl, he does not care that you are a Tidemaker, his intentions go far and beyond with what he could do with not just one Sun Summoner but two."

"Once he takes control of the fold, no one will be able to stand against him." Alina said, "he will have us on leashes, barking orders to do his dirty work."

I stared at her, conflict stirring in her brown eyes, but I could tell she was hurt, had he used her the way he'd used me? "But he told us that the fold was a mistake," I whispered.

"The fold was never a mistake." Baghra dropped her hands and the swirling darkness around her melted away. "The only mistake was the volcra. He did not anticipate them, did not think to wonder what power of the magnitude might do to mere men."

My stomach turned, "The Volcra were men?" I asked, "oh yes. Generations ago. Farmers and their wives, their children. I warned him that there would be a price, be he didn't listen. He was blinded by his hunger for power. Just as he is blinded now."

"You're wrong." I said rubbing my arms, trying to shake the bone-deep cold stealing through me, "You're lying."

Alina reached for me again but I only shook my head and stepped back, "Only the Volcra have kept the Darkling from using the Fold against his enemies. They are his punishment, a living testimony to his arrogance. But you and Alina will change all that. The monsters cannot abide by sunlight. Once the Darkling has used your power to subdue the volcra, he will be able to enter the fold safely. He will finally have what he wants. There will be no limit to his power."

I closed my eyes and tried to compose myself from crying, "He wouldn't do that. He would never do that."

I knew I was only trying to convince myself that this all could just be some joke, but Baghra never joked and Alina had never looked more afraid in her life than she does right now. I didn't want to believe it, but then the Darkling's words came to mind, I've been waiting for someone like you and Alina for a long time.

"He wants Ravka to be whole again, he told Alina that himself—" I started, "Stop telling me what he said!" Baghra snarled. "He is ancient. He's had plenty of time to master lying to lonely, naive girls." She advanced on me, her brown eyes burning. "Think, Freya. If Ravka is made whole, the second army will no longer be vital to its survival. The Darkling will be nothing but another servant of the King. Is that his dream of the future?"

I was starting to shake, "please stop." I whispered backing away again, "With the Fold in his power, he will spread destruction before him. He will lay waste to the world, and he will never have to kneel to another King again."

"No." I said firmly, "all because of you and Alina."

"No!" I shouted at her, "We wouldn't do that! Even if what you're saying is true, We would never help him do that."

"You and Alina wouldn't have a choice. The stag's power belongs to whoever slays it." Baghra said, "But he can't use an amplifier!" I protested weakly.

"He can use you and Alina." Baghra said softly, "Morozova's stag is no ordinary amplifier. He will hunt it. He will kill it. He will take its antlers, and place them on Alina's neck, then he will use Merzost to take your power away from you." Baghra stopped then said, "You two would belong to him completely, and Freya, you would lose the ability to summon light."

I shook my head, "no." I said, "I will fight him, I will not lose this." I said, eyes filling with tears, "not after everything I've done to get to this point."

"I've worked hard to get to where I am at now just to get my power ripped away from me," I said, my feet giving out beneath me. I fell to the ground, covering my head with my hands, trying to cut out Baghra and Alina's voices.

Alina was on her knees pulling my hands away from my ears and pulling me to her chest and I let her because I knew I wasn't the only one hurting right now, she was too.

The Darkling had been using us, trying to get us to work with him willingly by bestowing false love to us. He'd played both of us dirty, but now, after finding out the truth and his real identity we were not going to give in to any more of his lies. He'd convinced us that the fold would be destroyed, that we would be the ones to take it down, only to be hiding his real intentions.

You, Alina, and I are going to change the world, he'd said to me. And now what I got out of that was, put on your pretty clothes and wait for the next meet, to please him. Waiting for the sea whip was false hope, he'd be putting a bone on Alina's neck, and using abomination to take away my power. To make him stronger.

What would that make me after? If he did take it? I would lose my other half, the thing I'd come to love and accept over the past two months. The thing that made me feel powerful.

I took in a shaky breath and tried to still my trembling. I thought of Genya, where would she be? The Darkling knew I cared about her. If he found out, which he would if not tonight, then tomorrow that Alina and I were gone, he'd be sending his Grisha out to find us.

He'd search all of Ravka to find us, even cross into Fjerda because of his desperation for our kind of power. And I knew sooner or later after we escaped, we wouldn't stand a chance of hiding for long.

I opened my eyes and looked up at Baghra, "All right." I started, "Where do we go?"

❂♕

Baghra's relief was unmistakable, but she wasted no time. "You can slip out with the performers tonight. Head west. When you get to Os Kervo, find the Verloren. It's a Kerch trader. Your passages have been paid for."

My fingers froze on the buttons of my Kefta as I and Alina looked up at Baghra, "You want us to go to West Ravka? To cross the fold alone?" Alina asked.

"I want you two to disappear. You two are strong enough to travel the fold on your own now. It should be easy work. Why do you think I've spent so much time training you two?" Another thing I hadn't bothered to question. The Darkling had told Baghra to leave me be. I'd thought he was defending me, but maybe he'd just wanted to keep me weak.

I and Alina shucked off our Kefta's and pulled two rough wool tunics over our heads. "You knew what he intended all along. Why did you wait to tell us until now?" I asked, "why tonight?"

"We've run out of time. I never truly believed he'd find Morozova's herd. They're elusive creatures, part of the oldest science, the making at the heart of the world. But I underestimated his men." Baghra said.

Baghra passed me and Alina a thick brown traveling coat lined with fur, a heavy fur hat, and a broad belt. As I looped it around my waist, I found a money bag attached to it, along with the knife Boktin had given me, and a pouch that held my leather gloves.

She led us through a small door and handed us a leather traveling pack that we both swung over our shoulders. She pointed across the grounds to where the lights from the Grand Palace flickered in the distance. I could hear music playing. With a start, I realized that the party was still in full swing. It seemed like years had passed since I'd left the ballroom with the darkling, but it couldn't have been much more than an hour.

"Go to the hedge maze and turn left. Stay off the lighted paths. Some of the entertainers are already leaving. Find one of the departing wagons, and both of you stay together. They're only searched on their way into the palace, so you should be safe, but still stay together." Baghra said with a little push, "should be?" Alina pitched.

Baghra ignored her, "when you two get out of Os Alta, try to avoid the main roads." She handed me a sealed envelope. "You two are serf woodworkers on your way to West Ravka to meet your new master. Do you understand?"

"Yes." I and Alina said both of our voices were on edge. "Why are you helping us?" I asked, "why would you betray your own son?"

For a moment, she stood straight-backed and silent in the shadow of the Little Palace. Then she turned to look at me, and I took a startled step back, because I saw it, as clearly as if I had been standing at its edge: the abyss. Ceaseless, black, and yawning, the unending emptiness of a life lived too long.

"All those years ago," she said softly, "Before he'd ever dreamed of a second army before he gave up his name and became the Darkling, he was just a brilliant, talented boy. I gave him his ambition. I gave him his pride. When the time came, I should have been the one to stop him." She smiled then, a small smile of such aching sadness that it was hard to look at.

"You think I don't love my son," she said. "But I do. It is because I love him that I will not let him put himself beyond redemption."

She glanced back at the Little Palace, "I will post two servants outside your alls doors tomorrow morning to claim that you are ill. I'll try to buy you as much time as I can."

I bit my lip, "Tonight. You'll have to post the servant tonight. The Darkling might.. might come to my room." I expected Baghra to laugh at me again, but instead, she shook her head and said softly, "Foolish girl."

I glanced at Alina and saw her eyes close. I reached out and grabbed her hand, "I swear on my life, Alina, nothing happened. He just might—" I stopped and shook my head, "He knows about my feelings for Genya."

Her eyes shot open, "I didn't—" I shook my head and laughed, "he has noticed the way I look at her."

Alina took a breath and nudged me with her side and mumbled, "don't scare me like that."

We turned our attention back to Baghra who was shaking her head, "Thank you, Baghra." I gulped, "for everything."

"Hmph," she said, "Go now, girls. Be quick and take care of each other."

With one last glance, we turned and ran.

❂♕

Endless days of training with Boktin meant we knew the grounds well. I was grateful for every sweaty hour as we jogged over lawns and between trees. Baghra sent thin coils of blackness to either side of us, cloaking us in the darkness and we drew closer to the Grand Palace. Were Marie and Nadia still dancing inside? Was Genya wondering where we'd gone?

I shoved those thoughts from my mind. I was afraid to think too hard about what I was doing, about everything I was leaving behind.

A theatrical troupe was loading up a wagon with props and racks of costumes, their driver already gripping the reins and shouting at them to hurry things along. One of them climbed up beside him, and the others crowded into a little pony cart that departs with a jingle of bells. We darted into the back of the wagon and wiggled our way between pieces of scenery, covering ourselves with a burlap drop cloth.

As we rumbled down the long gravel drive and through the palace gates, I held my last breath. I was sure that, at any moment, someone would raise the alarm and we would be stopped. I and Alina would be pulled from the back of the wagon in disgrace.

But then the wheels jounced forward and we were rattling over the cobblestone streets of Os Alta.