Page 33 of Shadow and Bone (The Grisha 1)
Angry energy crackled through the room. What had I walked into? I was thinking about slipping out the door and leaving them to finish whatever argument I’d interrupted when Baghra’s voice lashed out again.
“The boy thinks to get you an amplifier,” she said. “What do you think of that, girl?”
It was so strange to hear the Darkling called “boy” that it took me a moment to understand her meaning. But when I did, hope and relief rushed through me. An amplifier! Why hadn’t I thought of it before? Why hadn’t they thought of it before? Baghra and the Darkling were able to help me call my power because they were living amplifiers, so why not an amplifier of my own like Ivan’s bear claws or the seal tooth I’d seen hanging around Marie’s neck?
“I think it’s brilliant!” I exclaimed more loudly than I’d intended.
Baghra made a disgusted sound.
The Darkling gave her a sharp glance, but then he turned to me. “Alina, have you ever heard of Morozova’s herd?”
“Of course she has. She’s also heard of unicorns and the Shu Han dragons,” Baghra said mockingly.
An angry look passed over the Darkling’s features, but then he seemed to master himself. “May I have a word with you, Alina?” he inquired politely.
“Of … of course,” I stammered.
Baghra snorted again, but the Darkling ignored her and took me by the elbow to lead me out of the cottage, shutting the door firmly behind us. When we had walked a short distance down the path, he heaved a huge sigh and ran his hands through his hair ag
ain. “That woman,” he muttered.
It was hard not to laugh.
“What?” he said warily.
“I’ve just never seen you so … ruffled. ”
“Baghra has that effect on people. ”
“Was she your teacher, too?”
A shadow crossed his face. “Yes,” he said. “So what do you know about Morozova’s herd?”
I bit my lip. “Just, well, you know …”
He sighed. “Just children’s stories?”
I shrugged apologetically.
“It’s all right,” he said. “What do you remember from the stories?”
I thought back, remembering Ana Kuya’s voice in the dormitories late at night. “They were white deer, magical creatures that appeared only at twilight. ”
“They’re no more magical than we are. But they are ancient and very powerful. ”
“They’re real?” I asked incredulously. I didn’t mention that I certainly hadn’t been feeling very magical or powerful lately.
“I think so. ”
“But Baghra doesn’t. ”
“She usually finds my ideas ridiculous. What else do you remember?”
“Well,” I said with a laugh. “In Ana Kuya’s stories, they could talk, and if a hunter captured them and spared their lives, they granted wishes. ”
He laughed then. It was the first time I’d ever heard his laugh, a lovely dark sound that rippled through the air. “Well, that part definitely isn’t true. ”
“But the rest is?”
“Kings and Darklings have been searching for Morozova’s herd for centuries. My hunters claim they’ve seen signs of them, though they’ve never seen the creatures themselves. ”
“And you believe them?”
His slate-colored gaze was cool and steady. “My men don’t lie to me. ”
I felt a chill skitter up my spine. Knowing what the Darkling could do, I wouldn’t be keen on lying to him either. “All right,” I said uneasily.
“If Morozova’s stag can be taken, its antlers can be made into an amplifier. ” He reached out and tapped my collarbone—even that brief contact was enough to send a jolt of surety through me.
“A necklace?” I asked, trying to picture it, still feeling the tap of his fingers at the base of my throat.
He nodded. “The most powerful amplifier ever known. ”
My jaw dropped. “And you want to give it to me?”
He nodded again.
“Wouldn’t it just be easier for me to get a claw or a fang or, I don’t know, pretty much anything else?”
He shook his head. “If we have any hope of destroying the Fold, we need the stag’s power. ”
“But maybe if I had one to practice with—”
“You know it doesn’t work that way. ”
“I do?”
He frowned. “Haven’t you been reading your theory?”
I gave him a look and said, “There’s a lot of theory. ”
He surprised me by smiling. “I forget that you’re new to this. ”
