Shadow and Bone

Alina's arc closes with her breaking free of the Darkling's control rather than defeating him outright. After Baghra reveals that the Darkling is centuries old, that he deliberately created the Shadow Fold, and that he intends to bind Alina to himself to use her power for conquest, Alina flees the Little Palace. Mal, sent by the Darkling to track her down because of his unusual tracking ability, finds her first but chooses to help her escape instead of turning her in. The two travel north together to hunt Morozova's stag, a legendary creature whose antlers can be forged into a collar that amplifies a Grisha's power. During the pursuit, Alina and Mal finally acknowledge their love for each other, and when they at last corner the stag, Alina cannot bring herself to kill it.

The Darkling arrives before she has to make the choice, kills the stag himself, and forces the antler collar onto Alina, binding her so completely that she becomes unable to disobey him. He marches her and Mal south to cross the Shadow Fold, using Alina's now-amplified power to shield the ship from the volcra. Partway across, the Darkling reveals the true extent of his ambition by expanding the Fold itself, destroying the town of Novokribirsk on the far shore, and then throwing Mal overboard into the darkness to be killed by the monsters that live there.

Watching Mal about to die is what breaks the Darkling's hold over Alina. It was her earlier act of mercy toward the stag that left open the possibility of resisting the collar's control, and it is her love for Mal that finally gives her the strength to do it. She wrenches free of the Darkling's command, leaps from the ship, and manages to save Mal from the volcra, destroying the vessel in the process and leaving the Darkling behind on the Fold.

The book ends with Alina and Mal alive but fugitives, boarding a ship together to cross the True Sea and leave Ravka behind, fleeing both the Darkling and the country he still intends to control.

Alina Starkov grew up at an orphanage in Keramzin with her closest friend, Mal Oretsev, and the two were later conscripted into Ravka's army. While crossing the Shadow Fold, the perpetually dark, monster-infested strip of land that splits the country in two, the volcra attack their unit; in the chaos of trying to save Mal, Alina manifests an extraordinary power to summon light, marking her as the long-mythical Sun Summoner. The Darkling, leader of the Grisha (Ravka's corps of magic-users), immediately takes her to the Little Palace in Os Alta to train her, since her power is believed capable of destroying the Fold. There she struggles to master her ability and fit in among the other Grisha, but does form a friendship with Genya Safin, a Grisha Tailor who can alter people's appearances. She also becomes drawn to the Darkling, and the two share more than one kiss, though the relationship remains unresolved and fraught.

After a public demonstration of her power before the King, Alina's tutor Baghra pulls her aside and reveals a devastating truth: Baghra is the Darkling's mother, the Darkling is centuries old, and he was the one who originally created the Shadow Fold. Baghra warns that he intends to permanently bind Alina to himself and use her power to conquer, not save, Ravka, so Alina flees the Little Palace. Mal, dispatched by the Darkling to track her using his near-supernatural tracking skill, catches up to her but chooses to help her run instead of handing her over, and the two admit their feelings for each other along the way.

Together they journey north to hunt Morozova's stag, a legendary creature whose antlers can be made into a collar that would massively amplify Alina's power. When they finally find the stag, Alina refuses to kill it. Before she has to decide further, the Darkling and his men arrive, kill the stag themselves, and force the antler collar onto Alina, which binds her into absolute obedience to him. He drags her and Mal back south to the Fold, forcing her to use her amplified power to shield a crossing ship. Partway across, he deliberately expands the Fold, destroying the town of Novokribirsk, and throws Mal overboard to be killed by the volcra. Watching this, Alina finally manages to break the Darkling's control over her, drawing on the same capacity for mercy and love that let her spare the stag. She rescues Mal from the Fold and destroys the ship, leaving the Darkling behind.

The book ends with Alina and Mal escaping together by ship across the True Sea, fleeing both Ravka and the Darkling. Going into the next book, the Darkling is presumed to have survived and remains fixated on capturing Alina and controlling her power; his ambitions for the Shadow Fold and for Ravka are unresolved. Alina now carries the amplifying power of the stag's antler collar without being enslaved to it, making her considerably stronger than before but also a bigger target. Her romantic relationship with Mal has been openly acknowledged between them, and her friendship with Genya Safin and her uneasy position as the famed Sun Summoner within Ravkan and Grisha politics remain open threads as she and Mal begin their life on the run.