Shadow and Bone

Baghra tries to make Alina use her power. Like the Darkling, Baghra is an amplifier, and Alina’s power works with Baghra’s help. However, despite harsh tactics, Alina’s powers remain dormant on her own.

Next is combat training. The teacher, Botkin Yul-Erdene, “wasn’t Grisha; he was a former Shu Han mercenary who had fought in wars on every continent for any army that could afford his particular gift for violence” (138). The Summoners go through endurance and sparring drills, and Alina is forced to partner with Botkin. Training is purely physical, with use of Grisha abilities banned. Alina struggles to keep up, although the ban means at least Alina’s inability to use her powers by herself remains a secret.

At dinner, Marie and Nadia gossip about Genya, who lives at the Grand Palace. The Grisha scorn Genya, who is rumored to sleep with the King. Thinking of “the King’s wet lips, the broken blood vessels in his nose, and beautiful Genya in her servant’s colors” (140), Alina loses her appetite at the injustice.

To everyone’s surprise, Alina is summoned to meet with the Darkling. Although she fears reprimand for her failures, the Darkling is kind. He asks about her day before showing Alina to a hallway leading to her room, allowing her to avoid the other Grisha.

Despite days training with Baghra and Botkin, Alina’s lessons do not improve. Botkin calls Alina “too slow, too weak, too skinny” (146). Alina has no appetite and never has a restful sleep. She begins to look sickly and tired again as Genya’s work wears away. Baghra accuses Alina of fighting against her power. Alina avoids the other Grisha to keep her failures secret and grows isolated. When Alina isn’t in lessons, she studies theory in the library. She learns “[e]verything in the world could be broken down into the same small parts. What looked like magic was really the Grisha manipulating matter at its most fundamental levels,” because “like calls to like” (148).

One day, Alina runs into the Apparat. He offers Alina a present: a book titled Istori Sankt’ya, or The Lives of Saints. The Apparat compares Alina’s suffering to that of saints and predicts that she will suffer even more. Alina hurries away, unsure if his words were meant as a threat or a warning. Back in her room, she thinks about how much she misses Mal. Alina writes him weekly, although he never responds.