The Darkling smiled cruely. His eyes were slightly squinted. I looked back to Mal and then up at the Darkling. Did he know I was planning to escape? Did he know of my entire plan? I stood up carefully, he observed me closely. His eyes glanced down on me then at my face.

"How did you get down here anyway?" The Darkling questioned, breaking the nerve wracking silence around us. Tension rose in my shoulders, a shiver ran up my spine. I stepped in front of Mal. "Oh Alina, you thought you could rescue your beloved, you thought you could escape me, you can't." His tone was spiteful on the word beloved.

I will always run from you. I will always try to escape you, even if it kills me.

"I thought keeping you in my supervision would prevent you from doing something foolish, but now you have made things worse for you and your tracker!" His arm grasped my elbow and pulled me closer to him. The lose strands of my hair blew back to tickle the back of my neck. I looked behind me to Mal, who seemed to be getting angry.

"Let her go!" Mal demanded. It took a lot of effort to drag himself up the wall and stand. Protecting me was his motivation. I smiled lightly. But my smile turned to a frown of disgust, because of the Darkling.

He looked to Mal and raised a brow, he looked back to me and smiled wickedly. "Sorry tracker, she is mine now and I will do whatever I want with her."

I flinched after what he said. He held onto my arm tighter, making me wince. "Come on Alina!" He then started to drag me out of the dungeons. I heard Mal scream my name behind me and my small fits of disagreeing and refusel to move were nothing to the Darkling. He was more stronger than me and he knew it. Where the hell did Sturmhond go? Well if he escaped, I hope the Darkling doesn't find him and kill him. But what if he lowered me down here to land in the Darkling's trap. Was everything he said a lie? Did he betray me?

"You shouldn't have pulled of what you did. And now I'm forced to resort to this measure." The Darkling said angrily, pulling me out of my thoughts. I felt slightly sick as he pulled me into the palace. My body started to disagree with me again. I knew what was happening. The Darkling stopped dragging me as he stood towards and unknown door. It looked similar to the ones in the dungeon. I forced my arm out of the Darkling's hold. "You can't keep me away from Mal, I will try to escape again. I will defy you again."

He look angered and so he pushed me up to the wall, gripping my forearms harshly. I cried out a little. He heard me wince and leaned in closer to my face. "If you defy me again, you won't like what I will do to you. And you definitely won't like what I would do to Mal!"

"Leave him out of this!"

"I'm not the one dragging him into this!" His grip went stronger. I wanted to scream out. "You did. The day he came into your life, the day he knew you were Grisha."

"Why are you fighting me on this Alina? Just accept he'll never be equal to you. That will only and forever be me!" He said, his twisted-brutal truth. I admit we have summoning abilities and like him I can live forever but I don't want to.

"Everyone is equal. Some may be more powerful, but we love the same. We die the same. Stop trying to take him away from me." I stated. The Darkling seemed unaffected by what I said.

"I will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no shelter but me."

His words spiked me, disgusting me again. I could never be with him,

"And I promise you that Alina. Hopefully this will change your mind." He swung the door open, and threw me in the dark room with great force. I landed on the floor. I could feel my head pounding with pain. I looked back up to where the Darkling stood in the hall light. "I'm sorry about this Alina!" He closed the doors and I could hear it lock from the outside. I was in a room of absolute darkness. I couldn't tell how small, or how big the room was. If it was empty or filled with sharp objects.

I shivered from the cold, there was a draft in the room. This was my punishment, my torture chamber.
How could the Darkling be so cruel?

He's a monster.

I started to cry, I let the tears roll down my cheeks as I held onto the floor. I couldn't even be bothered to summon some light. My head hurt like hell and my body felt stiff. I was sick to my stomach but somehow didn't throw up. It had to be the Negative amplifier, the Darkling told me it was. Which I don't trust-could be a poison he injected in me long ago.

My plan failed.
I didn't get Mal out and Sturmhond must have betrayed me.

My body started to shiver and my head started to spin. My body froze in place and soon I felt myself falling to the ground in great pain.

I stayed awake trying to fight of the agony. I pushed through like a mother who was giving birth. I screamed out and soon felt my body losing feeling. I started to numb out but it wasn't natural. I looked down to my leg to see someone or something was with me. The something was made of Shadows.

***
Start: 19:41pm 29/11/21
Finish: 16:23pm 30/11/21
Published:17:48pm 30/11/21