Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (z-lib.org).mobi
I edged back into the barracks, closed the door tightly behind me, andgratefully snuggled into my bedroll.Would that black-haired Grisha girl sneak out of the pavilion to meet Mal? Ipushed the thought away. It was none of my business, and really, I didn’t want toknow. Mal had never looked at me the way he’d looked at that girl or even theway he looked at Ruby, and he never would. But the fact that we were stillfriends was more important than any of that.For how long? said a nagging voice in my head. Alexei was right: thingschange. Mal had changed for the better. He’d got more handsome, braver,cockier. And I’d got … taller. I sighed and rolled onto my side. I wanted tobelieve that Mal and I would always be friends, but I had to face the fact that wewere on different paths. Lying in the dark, waiting for sleep, I wondered if thosepaths would just keep taking us further and further apart, and if a day mightcome when we would be strangers to each other once again.
CHAPTER 2The morning passed in a blur: breakfast, a brief trip to the Documents Tent topack additional inks and paper, then the chaos of the dry dock. I stood with therest of the surveyors, waiting our turn to board one of a small fleet of sand skiffs.Behind us, Kribirsk was waking up and going about its business. Ahead lay thestrange, shifting darkness of the Fold.Animals were too noisy and scared too easily for travel on the Unsea, socrossings were made on sand skiffs, shallow sleds rigged with enormous sailsthat let them skate almost soundlessly over the dead grey sands. The skiffs wereloaded with grain, timber, and raw cotton, but on the trip back they would bestocked with sugar, rifles, and all manner of finished goods that passed throughthe seaports of West Ravka. Looking out at the skiff’s deck, equipped with littlemore than a sail and a rickety railing, all I could think was that it offered noplace to hide.At the mast of each sled, flanked by heavily armed soldiers, stood two GrishaEtherealki, the Order of Summoners, in dark blue kefta. The silver embroidery attheir cuffs and the hems of their robes indicated that they were Squallers, Grishawho could raise or lower the pressure of the air and fill the skiffs’ sails withwind that would carry us across the long miles of the Fold.Soldiers armed with rifles and overseen by a grim officer lined the railings.Between them stood more Etherealki, but their blue robes bore the red cuffs thatindicated they could raise fire.At a signal from the skiff’s captain, the Senior Cartographer herded me,Alexei, and the rest of the assistants onto the skiff to join the other passengers.Then he took his place beside the Squallers at the mast, where he would help
- Page 2 and 3: www.hachettechildrens.co.uk
- Page 4 and 5: PRAISE FORA New York Times Bestsell
- Page 6 and 7: ContentsCoverTitle PagePraise for S
- Page 8: THE GRISHASOLDIERS OF THE SECOND AR
- Page 11 and 12: of lessons in stifling classrooms.
- Page 13 and 14: “Leave us now.”“Wait!” excl
- Page 15 and 16: slash that had severed Ravka from i
- Page 17 and 18: slammed the book shut and run squea
- Page 19 and 20: through the darkness to West Ravka.
- Page 21 and 22: “He was short and pudgy and afrai
- Page 23: “Sure,” I said. But I didn’t.
- Page 27 and 28: the other, my heart pounding, my ey
- Page 29 and 30: thud as I fell forward and my head
- Page 31 and 32: were actually guarding me. Like a p
- Page 33 and 34: grand. The Grisha tent was like not
- Page 35 and 36: I frowned. If the Cartographer had
- Page 37 and 38: “So you didn’t see where the li
- Page 39 and 40: touch went that peculiar sense of c
- Page 41 and 42: “So I’m the Darkling’s prison
- Page 43 and 44: felt tears threatening again and bl
- Page 45 and 46: “A what?”Fedyor and Ivan exchan
- Page 47 and 48: He never finished his sentence. A s
- Page 49 and 50: Slowly, I opened my eyes and took i
- Page 51 and 52: CHAPTER 5The next few days passed i
- Page 53 and 54: on the earthen floor and built a fi
- Page 55 and 56: The Darkling sighed. “I doubt tha
- Page 57 and 58: country that had long been at war.T
- Page 59 and 60: CHAPTER 6I dreamed that I was back
- Page 61 and 62: ease in slowly. Military life had l
- Page 63 and 64: feeling the anger and embarrassment
- Page 65 and 66: A tall, broad-chested Grisha in red
- Page 67 and 68: particular affinity and made a gift
- Page 69 and 70: Light flooded the throne room, dren
- Page 71 and 72: subject.“The Apparat?”“Is he
- Page 73 and 74: Grand Palace, all of them dressed i
I edged back into the barracks, closed the door tightly behind me, and
gratefully snuggled into my bedroll.
Would that black-haired Grisha girl sneak out of the pavilion to meet Mal? I
pushed the thought away. It was none of my business, and really, I didn’t want to
know. Mal had never looked at me the way he’d looked at that girl or even the
way he looked at Ruby, and he never would. But the fact that we were still
friends was more important than any of that.
For how long? said a nagging voice in my head. Alexei was right: things
change. Mal had changed for the better. He’d got more handsome, braver,
cockier. And I’d got … taller. I sighed and rolled onto my side. I wanted to
believe that Mal and I would always be friends, but I had to face the fact that we
were on different paths. Lying in the dark, waiting for sleep, I wondered if those
paths would just keep taking us further and further apart, and if a day might
come when we would be strangers to each other once again.
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