Page 31 of Shadow and Bone (The Grisha 1)
“Botkin was furious!” Marie exclaimed. “I’ve never seen him so angry. He threw Zoya out of the training rooms. I thought he might hit her himself. ”
“Ivo says he saw Ivan take her through the domed hall to the Darkling’s council rooms, and when she came out, she was crying. ”
Good, I thought with satisfaction. But when I thought of myself lying in a heap in the dirt, I felt a burning wave of embarrassment.
“Why did she do it?” I asked as I tried to sit up. I’d had plenty of people ignore me or look down on me. But Zoya actually seemed to hate me.
Marie and Nadia gaped at me as if I’d taken a crack to the skull instead of the ribs.
“Because she’s jealous!” said Nadia.
“Of me?” I said incredulously.
Marie rolled her eyes. “She can’t bear the idea of anyone being the Darkling’s favorite. ”
I laughed and then winced at the stab of pain in my side. “I’m hardly his favorite. ”
“Of course you are. Zoya’s powerful, but she’s just another Squaller. You’re the Sun Summoner. ”
Nadia’s cheeks flushed when she said this, and I knew I wasn’t imagining the tinge of envy in her voice. Just how deep did that envy go? Marie and Nadia talked like they hated Zoya, but they smiled to her face. What do they say about me when I’m not around? I wondered.
“Maybe he’ll demote her!” squealed Marie.
“Maybe he’ll send her to Tsibeya!” crowed Nadi
a.
A Healer appeared from the shadows to shush them and send them on their way. They promised to visit again the next day.
I must have fallen back asleep because, when I woke a few hours later, the infirmary was dark. The room was eerily quiet, the other beds unoccupied, the only sound the soft ticking of a clock.
I pushed myself up. I still felt a little sore, but it was hard to believe that I’d had a broken rib just a few hours before.
My mouth was dry, and I had the beginning of a headache. I dragged myself out of bed and poured a glass of water from the pitcher at my bedside. Then I pushed open the window and took a deep breath of night air.
“Alina Starkov. ”
I jumped and whirled.
“Who’s there?” I gasped.
The Apparat emerged from the long shadows by the door.
“Did I startle you?” he asked.
“A bit,” I admitted. How long had he been standing there? Had he been watching me sleep?
He seemed to glide silently across the room toward me, his ragged robes slithering over the infirmary floor. I took an involuntary step backward.
“I was very sorry to hear of your injury,” he said. “The Darkling should be more watchful of his charges. ”
“I’m fine. ”
“Are you?” he said, regarding me in the moonlight. “You do not look well, Alina Starkov. It’s essential that you stay well. ”
“I’m just a little tired. ”
He stepped closer. His peculiar smell wafted over me, that strange mix of incense and mildew, and the scent of turned earth. I thought of the graveyard at Keramzin, the crooked headstones, the peasant women keening over new graves. I was suddenly very aware of the emptiness of the infirmary. Was the Corporalki Healer still nearby? Or had he gone somewhere to find a glass of kvas and a warm bed?
“Did you know that in some of the border villages, they are making altars to you?” murmured the Apparat.
“What?”
“Oh yes. The people are hungry for hope, and the icon painters are doing a booming business thanks to you. ”
“But I’m not a Saint!”
“It is a blessing, Alina Starkov. A benediction. ” He stepped even closer to me. I could see the dark and matted hairs of his beard, the stained jumble of his teeth. “You are becoming dangerous, and you will become more dangerous still. ”
“Me?” I whispered. “To whom?”
“There is something more powerful than any army. Something strong enough to topple kings, and even Darklings. Do you know what that thing is?”
I shook my head, inching away from him.
“Faith,” he breathed, his black eyes wild. “Faith. ”
He reached for me. I groped toward my bedside table and knocked the glass of water to the floor. It shattered loudly. Hurried footsteps pounded down the hall toward us. The Apparat stepped back, melting into the shadows.
The door burst open and a Healer entered, his red kefta flapping behind him. “Are you all right?”
I opened my mouth, unsure of what to say. But the Apparat had already slid soundlessly out the door.
“I … I’m sorry. I broke a glass. ”
The Healer called a servant to clean up the mess. He settled me back into bed and suggested that I try to rest. But as soon as he was gone, I sat up and lit the lamp by my bed.
