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Alina informs Mal of the Darkling’s plans. Mal is now in danger, too. He has both committed treason and defied the Darkling, with death a likely punishment. Mal decides to lead them north to track the stag. Reaching the stag before the Darkling is their best chance of stopping him as it would allow Alina to fashion an amplifier for herself only she controls.
They travel for days, stopping in a village for supplies. The village people are gathered to celebrate “butter week,” a joyful time when nobles visit their people to hand out food. For Alina and Mal, butter week was a cherished time at the orphanage, and they decide to risk joining the crowds to partake in the celebration. Down in the village, two men try to rob Alina and Mal. The men realize Mal is a deserter and threaten to sell this information. Alina reflects light into the robbers’ eyes. Mal and Alina fight their way free, then run. Alina and Mal keep traveling, more cautious knowing the robbers have likely alerted the army to Alina and Mal’s location. Despite their narrow escape and the risk they face, the moments between Alina and Mal are tender as their connection grows.
As they travel north, the landscape grows colder and wild. One night, Alina asks Mal a grim favor: to promise to kill her if the Darkling catches them. Alina does not relent, and Mal eventually agrees. They search for the stag, and Mal grows troubled, desperate to find the stag before the Darkling.
One morning, Mal senses the stag is near and changes direction. Mal finds the right spot, and they sit and wait. Day fades into night, and still the stag does not appear. It is cold, and snow is coming. Mal, who has grown rougher and colder while Alina was at the Little Palace, finally opens up about what happened while they were apart. Mal’s two closest friends died tracking the herd. Mal, tormented by losing Alina when she was taken to the Little Palace, volunteered for a foolish mission. His two friends followed suit. Of the nine men who went on the mission, only Mal and one other returned alive. The mission was both unsuccessful and unnecessary, as the herd returned to safer land not long after. Mal blames himself for his friends’ deaths. As they talk, Mal reaches for Alina’s hand. Snow starts to fall around them.
They continue tracking the stag the next day. Mal asks if Alina was happy with the Darkling the day he saw her at the fete. She shares that she was happy to finally belong. This answer pushes Mal to share how much he missed Alina while they were apart and how he wants to be with her because they belong together. They kiss, and Alina realizes she still loves Mal.
As they pull apart, the stag appears. Alina realizes, despite the sacrifices they’ve made to find it, she is unwilling to kill the stag. An arrow then strikes the stag, wounding it and bringing it down. The Darkling has found them. The Darkling raises his hands, planning to kill the stag using “the Cut.” Alina jumps in front of the stag, shielding it and forcing the Darkling to spare them. The Darkling taunts Alina and Mal. Alina uses her powers to keep the Darkling back but feels her power waning. She turns to Mal and tells him: “You know what has to happen” (302). Mal reaches for his knife but can’t bring himself to kill Alina. Darkness overtakes them as the Darkling’s powers win out. Guards grab Alina and Mal. The Darkling kills the stag. David, Genya’s love interest and the best Fabrikator, fashion the antlers into an amplifier. The guards threaten to torture Mal, so Alina complies as the Darkling places the amplifier around her neck. David seals it so it can’t be removed.
These chapters focus on Mal and Alina’s relationship. Their journey provides space for their romance to flourish, while the challenges they face highlight their bond. A theme of their relationship is finding joy in the face of misfortune, so long as they have each other. In the orphanage, they faced the housekeeper Ana Kuya and other bullies. Now, they take on threats from robbers and the Darkling. Alina and Mal have faced heavy personal challenges individually as well, and as their characters evolve, their relationship matures. Alina realizes she can love Mal without relying on him to fix her loneliness. Denying her love would only mean denying her inner truth. Having moved past her need to belong, she now approaches romance from an empowered perspective.
Atmospheric descriptions of the landscape parallel Alina and Mal’s romantic journey. They survive days traveling through rugged, freezing wilderness, braving mountainous terrain and “howling winds.” The diverse conditions they face capture the passage of time and their coming of age. In literature, winter often symbolizes hardship and death, while spring represents love, hope, and rebirth. The seasons are in transition, and both themes are present. However, signs of spring are blotted out as they travel towards snowy Tsibeya. Romance is budding between Mal and Alina, but so, too, is hopelessness about finding the stag under such conditions. The winter scenes are written in a romantic tone, adding beauty to tender moments between Mal and Alina: They sit holding hands as “the first flakes of snow began to fall” (294), and Alina uses her powers to “pull sun across the dark and starlit stretches of Tsibeya to warm us beneath the furs” (295). This romantic tone culminates in dazzling imagery when Morozova’s herd appears as Mal and Alina share their first kiss. However, the harsh winter foreshadows challenges lurking ahead. The moment is interrupted by the Darkling’s arrival and the stag’s death.
Alina’s willingness to die rather than be used for the Darkling’s plans highlights themes of life, death, and sacrifice. Alina is a saint figure for the people of Ravka, supported by her sacrificial intentions. Alina selflessly spares the stag’s life, an act that grants her special power, as revealed in Chapter 22. Mal likewise has jeopardized his career and is risking his life to help Alina, a sacrifice motivated by love. These actions show Alina and Mal as good and selfless. In contrast, the Darkling is motivated by greed. He mocks Alina and Mal, saying: “Tracker! Are you so ready to die for her? [...] Did you tell him, Alina? Does the boy know how willing you were to give yourself to me?” (302). As a love interest, the Darkling is selfish and manipulative, and his dark nature becomes clear. After a battle of light and darkness between Alina and the Darkling, symbolizing the battle between good and evil, the Darkling wins and kills the stag. This death allows the Darkling to consume Alina’s power, supporting his plans to spread destruction for his own gain.
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