Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo Read Free Book Online Page A

to him, but the next moment he was gone, swallowed up by the crowd.

CHAPTER 4
    T EARS OF FRUSTRATION welled in my eyes as Ivan dragged me out of the tent and into the late-afternoon sun. He pulled me down a low hill to the road where the Darkling’s black coach was already waiting, surrounded by a ring of mounted Grisha Etherealki and flanked by lines of armed cavalry. Two of the Darkling’s gray-clad guards waited by the door to the coach with a woman and a fair-haired man, both of whom wore Corporalki red.
    “Get in,” commanded Ivan. Then, seeming to remember the Darkling’s order, he added, “if you please.”
    “No,” I said.
    “What?” Ivan seemed genuinely surprised. The other Corporalki looked shocked.
    “No!” I repeated. “I’m not going anywhere. There’s been some kind of mistake. I—”
    Ivan cut me off, taking a firmer grip on my arm. “The Darkling doesn’t make mistakes,” he said through gritted teeth. “Get in the coach.”
    “I don’t want—”
    Ivan lowered his head until his nose was just inches from mine and practically spat, “Do you think I care what you want? In a few hours’ time, every Fjerdan spy and Shu Han assassin will know what happened on the Fold, and they’ll be coming for you. Our only chance is to get you to Os Alta and behind the palace walls before anyone else realizes what you are. Now, get in the coach .”
    He shoved me through the door and followed me inside, throwing himself down on the seat opposite me in disgust. The other Corporalki joined him, followed by the oprichniki guards, who settled on either side of me.
    “So I’m the Darkling’s prisoner?”
    “You’re under his protection.”
    “What’s the difference?”
    Ivan’s expression was unreadable. “Pray you never find out.”
    I scowled and slumped back on the cushioned seat, then hissed in pain. I’d forgotten my wounds.
    “See to her,” Ivan said to the female Corporalnik. Her cuffs were embroidered in Healer’s gray.
    The woman switched places with one of the oprichniki so that she could sit beside me.
    A soldier ducked his head inside the door. “We’re ready,” he said.
    “Good,” replied Ivan. “Stay alert and keep moving.”
    “We’ll only stop to change horses. If we stop before then, you’ll know something is wrong.”
    The soldier disappeared, closing the door behind him. The driver didn’t hesitate. With a cry and the snap of a whip, the coach lurched forward. I felt an icy tumble of panic. What was happening to me? I thought about just throwing open the coach door and making a run for it. But where would I run? We were surrounded by armed men in the middle of a military camp. And even if we weren’t, where could I possibly go?
    “Please remove your coat,” said the woman beside me.
    “What?”
    “I need to see to your wounds.”
    I considered refusing, but what was the point? I shrugged awkwardly out of my coat and let the Healer ease my shirt over my shoulders. The Corporalki were the Order of the Living and the Dead. I tried to focus on the living part, but I’d never been healed by a Grisha and every muscle in my body tensed with fear.
    She took something out of a little satchel and a sharp chemical scent filled the coach. I flinched as she cleaned the wounds, my fingers digging into my knees. When she was done, I felt a hot, prickling sensation between my shoulders. I bit down hard on my lip. The urge to scratch my back was almost unbearable. Finally, she stopped and pulled my shirt back into place. I flexed my shoulders carefully. The pain was gone.
    “Now the arm,” she said.
    I’d almost forgotten the cut from the Darkling’s knife, but my wrist and hand were sticky with blood. She wiped the cut clean and then held my arm up to the light. “Try to stay still,” she said, “or there will be a scar.”
    I did my best, but the jostling of the coach made it difficult. The Healer passed her hand slowly over the wound. I felt my skin throb with