Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (z-lib.org).mobi

chest. “I’m sorry it took me so long to see you, Alina. But I see you now.”
He lowered his head, and I felt his lips on mine. The world seemed to go silent
and all I knew was the feel of his hand in mine as he drew me closer, and the
warm press of his mouth.
I thought that I’d given up on Mal. I thought the love I’d had for him belonged
to the past, to the foolish, lonely girl I never wanted to be again. I’d tried to bury
that girl and the love she’d felt, just as I’d tried to bury my power. I wouldn’t
make that mistake again. Whatever burned between us was just as bright, just as
undeniable. The moment our lips met, I knew with pure and piercing certainty
that I would have waited for him forever.
He pulled away from me, and my eyes fluttered open. He raised a gloved hand
to cup my face, his gaze searching mine. Then, from the corner of my eye, I
caught a flickering movement.
“Mal,” I breathed softly, gazing over his shoulder, “look.”
Several white bodies emerged from the trees, their graceful necks bent to
nibble at the grasses on the edge of the snowy glade. In the middle of
Morozova’s herd stood a massive white stag. He looked at us with great dark
eyes, his silvery antlers gleaming in the half-light.
In one swift movement, Mal drew his bow from the side of his pack. “I’ll
bring it down, Alina. You have to make the kill,” he said.
“Wait,” I whispered, placing a hand on his arm.
The stag walked slowly forward and stopped just a few yards from us. I could
see his sides rising and falling, the flare of his nostrils, the fog of his breath in
the chill air.
He watched us with eyes dark and liquid. I walked towards him.
“Alina!” Mal whispered.
The stag didn’t move as I approached him, not even when I reached out my
hand and laid it on his warm muzzle. His ears twitched slightly, his hide glowing
milky white in the deepening gloom. I thought of everything Mal and I had
given up, the risks we’d taken. I thought about the weeks we had spent tracking
the herd, the cold nights, the miserable days of endless walking, and I was glad
of it all. Glad to be here and alive on this chilly night. Glad that Mal was beside
me. I looked into the stag’s dark eyes and knew the feel of the earth beneath his
steady hooves, the smell of pine in his nostrils, the powerful beat of his heart. I
knew I could not be the one to end his life.
“Alina,” Mal murmured urgently, “we don’t have much time. You know what
you have to do.”
I shook my head. I could not break the stag’s gaze. “No, Mal. We’ll find
another way.”