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

particular affinity and made a gift of her to the Queen.”
“A gift? So a Grisha is no better than a serf?”
“We all serve someone,” he said, and I was surprised by the harsh edge in his
voice. Then he added, “The King will expect a demonstration.”
I felt as if I’d been dunked in ice water. “But I don’t know how to—”
“I don’t expect you to,” he said calmly, moving forward as the last of the redrobed
Corporalki disappeared through the door.
We emerged onto the gravel path and into the last of the afternoon sunshine. I
was finding it hard to breathe. I felt as if I were walking to my execution. Maybe
I am, I thought with a surge of dread.
“This isn’t fair,” I whispered angrily. “I don’t know what the King thinks I
can do, but it isn’t fair to throw me out there and expect me to just … make
things happen.”
“I hope you don’t expect fairness from me, Alina. It isn’t one of my
specialties.”
I stared at him. What was I supposed to make of that?
The Darkling glanced down at me. “Do you really believe I brought you all
this way to make a fool out of you? Out of both of us?”
“No,” I admitted.
“And it’s completely out of your hands now, isn’t it?” he said as we made our
way through the dark wooded tunnel of branches. That was true too, if not
particularly comforting. I had no choice but to trust that he knew what he was
doing. I had a sudden unpleasant thought.
“Are you going to cut me again?” I asked.
“I doubt I’ll have to, but it all depends on you.”
I was not reassured.
I tried to calm myself and to slow the beating of my heart but, before I knew
it, we had made our way through the grounds and were climbing the white
marble steps to the Grand Palace. As we moved through a spacious entry hall
into a long corridor lined with mirrors and ornamented in gold, I thought how
different this place was from the Little Palace. Everywhere I looked, I saw
marble and gold, soaring walls of white and palest blue, gleaming chandeliers,
liveried footmen, polished parquet floors laid out in elaborate geometric designs.
It wasn’t without beauty, but there was something exhausting about the
extravagance of it all. I’d always assumed that Ravka’s hungry peasants and
poorly supplied soldiers were the result of the Shadow Fold. But as we walked
by a tree of jade embellished with diamond leaves, I wasn’t so sure.
The throne room was three storeys high, every window sparkling with gold
double eagles. A long, pale blue carpet ran the length of the room to where the