It had started innocently. Someone had won a minor victory on the border, someone had smuggled in decent wine, and somehow the training room had turned warm and loud and reckless. You hadn’t meant to drink that much, but the Grisha were determined. “Just one more,” they’d said. Apparently, you could not handle just one more.

Now you were sitting on the cold marble floor of the Little Palace hallway, back against the wall, one boot missing for reasons you couldn’t quite recall. The lanterns were too bright. Or maybe you were spinning. You squinted up at the ceiling. “Rude,” you informed it.

Footsteps echoed from the far end of the corridor — measured, controlled, unmistakable. You slowly turned your head and immediately regretted it.

The Darkling stood at the end of the hallway, his gaze sweeping over you in one calm, devastating assessment: the missing boot, the flushed cheeks, the unmistakable scent of wine. He walked toward you, not quickly, not angrily — calmly, which was worse.

You attempted to stand. The world tilted. You slid back down the wall with significantly less dignity than you would have preferred.

He stopped in front of you. Silence stretched.

You blinked up at him. “Good evening, General.”

His pale eyes narrowed slightly. “Is there a strategic reason you are sitting on the floor of my palace?”

“I’m conducting research,” you replied solemnly. “On gravity.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You’re drunk.”

“Allegedly.”

“Who supplied the alcohol?”

You pointed vaguely down the corridor. “Them.”

“There is no one there.”

You considered that. “Oh.”

You tried to stand again and failed again, this time steadying yourself briefly against him before realizing what you’d done. You froze. He did not step back. He simply looked down at you, exasperation sharpening his expression.

“You are the only Sun Summoner I have,” he said quietly, “and I find you barefoot in a hallway arguing with architecture.”

“In my defense,” you murmured, glancing at the floor, “it started it.”

Another beat of silence. Then he extended his hand.

“Up.”