Shadow and Bone

had ridden with me and Ivan in the Darkling’s coach and
helped to fight off the Fjerdan assassins. I scrambled to
remember his name.
He came to my rescue, bowing deeply and saying, “Fedyor
Kaminsky.”
“Forgive me,” I said. “It’s been a long night.”
“I can only imagine.”
I hope not, I thought with a twinge of embarrassment.
“It seems the Darkling was right after all,” he said with a
smile.
“Pardon?” I squeaked.
“You were so certain that you couldn’t possibly be Grisha.”
I returned his grin. “I try to make a habit of getting things
hopelessly wrong.”
Fedyor barely had time to tell me of his new assignment
near the southern border before he was swept away by another
wave of impatient guests waiting to get their moment with the
Sun Summoner. I hadn’t even thanked him for protecting my
life that day in the glen.
I managed to keep talking and smiling for about an hour, but
as soon as I had a free moment, I told my guards that I wanted
to leave and made a beeline for the doors.
The instant I was outside, I felt better. The night air was
blessedly cold, the stars bright in the sky. I took a deep breath.
I felt giddy and exhausted, and my thoughts seemed to keep
bouncing from excitement to anxiety and back again. If the
Darkling came to my room tonight, what would it mean? The
idea of being his sent a little jolt through me. I didn’t think he
was in love with me and I had no idea what I felt for him, but
he wanted me, and maybe that was enough.
I shook my head, trying to make sense of everything. The
Darkling’s men had found the stag. I should be thinking about
that, about my destiny, about the fact that I would have to kill
an ancient creature, about the power it would give me and the
responsibility of that, but all I could think about was his hands