#don’t screw around with merzost

[rmblythe7]

Zoya brushes random fly from her shoulder

Me, screeching in my living room: “MERZOST!! IT’S MERZOST!!”

#put that thing back where it came from or so help me #dammit alina #you had one job #don’t screw around with merzost #s&b netflix #shadow and bone s2 #shadow and bone #s&b season 2 #no i haven’t read the books yet #technically I have no idea if this is a spoiler #sooooo #sorry lol

[sellyoursoulforagoodfic]

Fire and Darkness Chapter 6

The Darkling x reader

Word Count: 1340

Summary: Time to plot

“Okay,” you said after he’d finished explaining the gist of his ‘brilliant plan’, “I’m gonna need you to run all that by me again.”

Aleksander rolled his eyes, somehow looking fond as he did so. “Where, exactly, did I lose you?”

You screwed up your face as you pretended to think. “I think it was the part where you said you’d gain the king’s favor.” Right when he was taking a breath to speak, you continued, “Or maybe it was the part where you sounded like you were honestly suggesting that you could make an army of grisha??” You kept your voice low to keep from being overheard even out here in the middle of the woods where you decided to make camp for the night, but that did nothing to disguise the incredulity in your voice. 

“Think about it,” he prompted, gesturing vaguely with the portion of jerky he held between his elegant fingers, “why should people with the sort of power that grisha control be the ones hiding?”

Easy. “Because we’re hopelessly outnumbered, Sasha.”

“Look me in the eyes and tell me that you alone couldn’t take down a squadron of men.”

“Not everyone is as powerful as us,” you argued. “I’ve seen other Inferni struggle to light a candle.”

“That wouldn’t be the case if they were properly trained, and that’s part of my plan.”

“And that doesn’t mean that they’d ever be able to progress as far as you seem to think they could. We don’t know how strong you can push a weak grisha to be; some just don’t have the juice. Plus, why would they want to fight for a king that’s openly persecuted them for all of their lives?”

“For safety and a salary, I don’t think it would be hard to convince them. As for their natural power, not every grisha would need be a soldier; there is work to be found in a kitchen for a weaker Inferni with a love of baking, or a squaller with a mind for performing in making smoke dance like art.”

“I thought your scheme relied on convincing the king that we would be his army.”

“At first, yes,” he admitted, “but think of what good we could do, what we could convince him to allow us to do once the otkazat’sya realize our usefulness.”

You sighed. Every part of you heavily doubted that this plan would succeed--even if it did, it would take years in the making--, but you did love that spark of hope (or was it excitement?) that danced in his eyes. “Say this plan works,” you allowed, “how would you even set it into motion?”

A mischievous little smirk played at Aleksander’s lips. “You know it as well as I that there’s never publicly been another grisha with abilities like mine. If the otkazat’sya were to capture me after seeing what I can do, they’d likely be inclined to warn the king of the new threat.”

“Meaning that they’d haul you before him and make you dance like the court fool before sentencing you to death. Aleksander, this is madness!”

His hands clasped yours, and immediately you felt that oh so familiar zing of power that sang between you whenever your skin touched his. “Not if I can convince him that I can be of use to him.”

“A man like him would never take a suggestion from a grisha.”

“He would if he believed the idea were his own. A man like that is desperate for one thing and it’s power.”

“And how would you plant that idea in his head? Are you secretly a witch, too? Able to manipulate other’s thoughts on a whim?” The idea was ridiculous. Yes, people experimented with merzost, but never had you heard of something like that taking place.

His thumbs rubbed distracting lines along the backs of your hands as he spoke, voice pitched lower, huskier than normal in a tone much like the way he’d sounded upon waking next to you in the mornings, “While merzost would be a useful tool in my arsenal, I have yet to tamper with such a thing. No, I think you’ll recall that I can be quite convincing when the occasion calls for it. This little plot would simply take a subtle hand.”

“There is nothing simple about anything that’s coming out of your mouth.”

As soon as the sentence left your lips, his were gently pressed against yours, silencing any protest for a moment. You allowed it, but you did not relax, nor did you forget your point. Your resolve did, however, crumble a bit in the face of the pleading expression he leveled you with when he pulled back slightly. “Trust me,” he begged. “This will work.”

You clenched your jaw. “And if it doesn’t? How would you even begin to escape?”

The movement that he made following that question was a swipe of his arm so lazy and graceful that you almost didn’t notice the swirls of darkness he was commanding as he did it. A loud thud prompted you to turn and notice the sapling toppling over behind you, cut in half easily by his power. “You’re not the only one that can go on the offensive, dearheart,” came his cocky reply.

In that moment, you wanted nothing more than to kiss that smirking mouth, but there was still more you had to discuss. “And what of me? Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you haven’t said where I fit in this scheme of yours.” A small part of you believed that he wouldn’t simply abandon you like his silence implied, that he simply didn’t have room in these plans for the likes of you. The rest of you, the cynical part, knew from the second that you saw the darkness dance around his fingers that there was something so fundamentally different about the pair of you that you’d never truly be part of his world.

And then he had to surprise you, just like he always did. “I will be honest with you; I have never seen an Inferni like you before. Most can do much, but nothing on the scale that I feel rolling within you whenever we touch,” he squeezed your fingers for emphasis. “I want you beside me; I need you to know that.”

You could read between the lines. “But not as your equal.”

His brows furrowed. “In my eyes, you are my only equal; I have never trusted another like I have trusted you.” The sincerity of his words was clear. “I . . .” He took a deep breath. “I have never been able to so much as touch another because I’m an amplifier.”

You knew what he was, but it was still a shock to hear him admit it openly for the first time.

“I tried once.” Those grey eyes squeezed shut.

You tugged your hand away from his to cup his cheek, thumb stroking the skin there comfortingly. “I imagine it didn’t end well?”

“It was the first time I killed someone,” he admitted.

You leaned forward to kiss his forehead. “So what would you have me do?” you asked with your lips still caressing his skin.

“Once I convince him to go along with this plan, I want you by my side, but no one can know the true scale of your power.”

“You want me as a secret weapon.” You leaned back once more.

“I want you with me,” he corrected, “and to fight by my side should the occasion arise.”

Your eyes narrowed as you gazed into his. “If we do this, there can be no other,” you said, voice as serious as the grave. “I will not play the heartsick fool and watch you bed anyone to get your way and be content with your words alone.”

Suddenly, he was close enough that his breath mixed with yours. “I would never want another like I want you, but if you need my word you have it. I’m yours.”

“Then I am yours.”

#aleksander morozova x reader #aleksander morozova imagine #the darkling x reader #the darkling imagine #reader insert #general kirigan x reader #general kirigan imagine #inferni au