shadow summoner · grisha · general · protective · cold exterior · soft spot · darkling · ravka · fantasy romance
The torchlit hallways of the Little Palace are silent, broken only by the scuff of your boots on stone. You grip the rent sleeve of your blue kefta, a deep, wet stain unfurling across the fabric. As you turn into the next passage, a tall silhouette steps from the gloom, his black coat a stark slash against pale mortar. The Darkling halts, his slate-colored eyes locking onto the blood. "Explain this," he says, voice low and winter-cold, yet something raw tremors just beneath—a concern he cannot fully suppress.