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She was Grisha.
That thought alone terrified her. Life as she knew it had changed. It had only taken one moment for all to be revealed. She had hardly believed it herself, had tried to say that she was just a mapmaker but it was to no avail.
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Shortly after she had been taken before the general she had practically been forced into a carriage, and likely would have been had she refused to get into it herself, and that thought made an involuntary shiver go through her.
Her eyes constantly wandered to the spot where a blinding light emerged from her skin, the spot where the general had pierced her with his ring. She also thought about how the general's hand had felt warm, and like home. She shook those thoughts away, it would be better for her to focus on her surroundings rather than to lust over someone unattainable.
Alina was still stewing over her thoughts when there was a distant shout from outside the carriage, followed by several shouts closer to them, then many more from the Grisha guards which had been sent with her. She was just getting the feeling that something had gone very wrong when the carriage halted so abruptly that she almost fell to the floor.
“Stay here,” the Grisha who had been in the carriage with her said, she had not been paying enough attention to know his name. He did not even stay to make sure she had heard and would heed his words before he opened the carriage door, the noises all around her intensified for a few seconds before the door was shut firmly behind him.
Alina waited in sheer abject terror, her fight or flight response making her freeze up inside the carriage. She was hoping that if she didn’t move they wouldn’t realise that she was here.
She looked down at her arm again.
She was Grisha.
There must be something she could do to help, but she didn’t quite know how she had summoned her powers before, nor did she know how to control them.
The noises had quietened down, and Alina didn’t know whether she was on the winning side or not.
She didn’t have to wait long to find out before the carriage door was opened, her Grisha guards had failed.
The man who had opened the door was no Grisha, and he was after her. It seemed like his eyes had lit up when he saw her there, Alina did not like the look in his eyes and she fought and clawed at any parts of his body as he dragged out of the carriage.
When she fell to the floor it gave her an opportunity to kick out at her attacker as she had leverage from the ground to make her attack more powerful. And then she ran during his momentarily stunned state. She ran hard. It was all Alina could do to get away from those around her.
But it wasn’t enough. The man who had pulled her from the carriage was much faster than she was, and had gained a weapon that Alina hadn’t noticed he’d had before. It was inevitable that she was tackled to the ground from behind but still she struggled, not giving up, even when her attacker had a knife to her throat.
Alina was so focused on getting away from her attacker that she didn’t hear any hoofbeats or footsteps getting closer so she was shocked when the man was cleaved into pieces by shadows. She had no notion that anyone else had come upon them, let alone gotten close enough to do that.
Yet the proof was all around her, and on her.
When she looked up, there was a form in the sky silhouetted by the sun behind him. But Alina knew who it was right away, no other man could have a presence such as he. The black general, her saviour. Though Alina had to blink because the dark general wouldn’t have been hovering in the sky, with shadowy wings protruding from his back. She blinked again, but the image was still there.
The dark general was really flying, and had wings which spanned almost double his height. Alina noted that the wings were almost like the fold itself, shadows turning in on themselves over and over, yet still keeping the shape of a wing and managing to keep him afloat.
And then the dark general gracefully floated to the ground, his wings tucking away almost as soon as he feet touched upon the soil which had been stained by the mans blood.
The dark general should have been terrifying as he had just reigned terror upon those near her. She should have shrank back from him after he used his power to slice that man into several pieces. At the very least Alina should have scowled or made to get away from him. She should have questioned why he had wings, or done something to act like she had some semblance of preservation.
She definitely should not be looking upon him in awe and intrigue, her eyes shouldn't have been straying from his. She most certainly should not have been thinking about what touching the black feathery like substance of his wings would feel like. Sensual - that was what she wanted them to feel like.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, making her wince as her thoughts were starting to get away from her.
“I’m perfectly fine…” Alina said, though she wasn’t, she was sure that she was going to have some bruising, and though no stranger to war, being in the middle of the crossfire was worse than being on the sidelines. Seeing injuries as they were created was different than seeing injuries treated after the fact.
“Come. We mustn't stay here much longer. We must get to safety,” the general said, offering a hand to her.
“You have wings…” Alina blurted out, taking his hand to stand up. It was just like she had remembered, it felt like home.
“All Grisha have wings. They manifest shortly after we first use our powers. They will closely resemble which element we harness.”
“They do?” she asked, thinking about all the times she had seen Grisha, and never once had she seen one with wings. “Why does no one know of this?”
“It’s a well kept secret. We must not show one of our most powerful advantages.”
“Surely people would know if Grisha had wings, the news would have spread like a wild fire by now.”
“Anyone who isn’t Grisha immediately forgets about them the second they are out of view.”
“Then why do I remember?” Alina asked without thinking.
“You are Grisha.”
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She was Grisha.
The thought still terrified her, she would have wings to contend with soon, but at least the black general, who had asked to be called Aleksander, was there to guide her. Those were her thoughts as Aleksander flew with her in his arms to the Little Palace. She had one last thought as they were reaching the Little Palace, and that was that it would be so much easier to draw maps were one able to fly.