Shadow and Bone: Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis

Alina’s days are awful and frustrating. It starts to seem absurd that the Darkling thinks she has powers at all, let alone the ability to destroy the Fold. Both Baghra and Botkin work Alina hard and reprimand her, but Alina struggles to improve. She sleeps poorly and isn’t hungry, which leads Baghra to think Alina is purposefully fighting her power. The Etherealki often practice by the lakeside together, but Alina never joins them. Because the Darkling fears assassination attempts, Alina can’t join the Grisha on weekend outings. She seldom sees the Darkling either; he apparently spends most of his time traveling. Because he never acknowledges her, Alina figures he’s mad that she’s such a failure. And she struggles to understand Grisha theory at all—though she does note that the word for people without Grisha gifts is otkazat’sya, a word for orphan.

One afternoon, as Alina is reading in the library, the Apparat appears and looms over her. He’s the only other person in the library, and he sits down. Alina tries not to inhale his damp, dead smell as he explains that he’s a spiritual advisor and wants to be friends. He offers her a gift: a small book of saints. The Apparat says that peasants love saints but hate Grisha—and he believes this is because Grisha don’t suffer like saints. But Alina, he says, has suffered and will suffer more. Suddenly afraid, Alina looks up. But the Apparat’s eyes are full of pity, not malice. Alina makes excuses and runs away. She tosses the book in a bottom drawer and thinks about the Documents Tent—and how much she misses Mal. She’s been writing him weekly, but he hasn’t responded.