Page 40 of Shadow and Bone (The Grisha 1)
The biggest event of the season. I let out a shaky breath.
“N
ervous?” asked Genya.
“A little. I don’t know why. ”
“Maybe because a few hundred nobles are waiting to get their first look at you. ”
“Thanks. That really helps. ”
“You’re very welcome,” she said, giving my hair a hard tug. “You should be used to being gawked at by now. ”
“And yet I’m not. ”
“Well, if it gets too bad, give me a signal, and I’ll get up on the banquet table, toss my skirt over my head, and do a little dance. That way no one will be looking at you. ”
I laughed and felt myself relax a bit. After a moment, trying to keep my voice casual, I asked, “Has the Darkling arrived?”
“Oh yes. He arrived yesterday. I saw his coach. ”
My heart sank a little. He had been in the palace for an entire day and he hadn’t come to see me or called for me.
“I imagine he’s very busy,” said Genya.
“Of course. ”
After a moment, she said softly, “We all feel it, you know. ”
“Feel what?”
“The pull. Toward the Darkling. But he’s not like us, Alina. ”
I tensed. Genya kept her gaze studiously focused on the coils of my hair.
“What do you mean?” I asked. Even to my own ears, my voice sounded unnaturally high.
“His kind of power, the way he looks. You’d have to be mad or blind not to notice it. ”
I didn’t want to ask, but I couldn’t help myself. “Has he ever … ? I mean, have you and he ever … ?”
“No! Never!” A mischievous smile twitched on her lips. “But I would. ”
“Really?”
“Who wouldn’t?” Her eyes met mine in the mirror. “But I’d never let my heart get involved. ”
I gave what I hoped was an indifferent shrug. “Of course not. ”
Genya raised her flawless brows and tugged hard on my hair.
“Ouch!” I yelped. “Will David be there tonight?”
Genya sighed. “No, he doesn’t like parties. But I did just happen to drop by the workrooms so he could get a peek at what he was missing. He barely looked at me. ”
“I doubt that,” I said comfortingly.
Genya twisted a final piece of my hair into place and secured it with a golden hairpin.
“There!” she said triumphantly. She handed me my little mirror and turned me around so that I could see her handiwork. Genya had piled half of my hair into an elaborate knot. The rest cascaded around my shoulders in shining waves. I beamed and gave her a quick hug.
“Thank you!” I said. “You’re spectacular. ”
“A lot of good it does me,” she grumbled.
How was it that Genya had fallen so hard for someone so serious and so quiet and so seemingly oblivious to her gorgeousness? Or was that exactly why she had fallen for David?
A knock at the door pulled me from my thoughts. I practically ran to open it. I felt a rush of relief when I saw two servants standing in the doorway, each carrying several boxes. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how worried I was about my kefta arriving. I laid the largest box on the bed and pulled off the lid.
