The Witch of Duva (Grishaverse, #0.5)

by Leigh Bardugo

There was a time when the woods near Duva ate girls.

Soon she was more ghost than woman, drifting silently from room to room.

Stupid girls, you think. I would never be so foolish. But you've never known real hunger.

“Havel could at least work and hunt,” she whispered. “You’re just another mouth.”

Hope made her stubborn,

No path could lead her back to the home she had known.

“That wasn't a real child. Why did she take it?” “It was real enough.”

She learned which herbs were valuable and which were dangerous, and which herbs were valuable because they were dangerous.

sometimes she felt her curiosity clawing at her like a different kind of hunger.

Nadya knew she was smelling her own bones and blood, but still her mouth watered.

Karina who had given herself to a monster, in the hope of saving just one girl.

Few good things happen to a woman alone.

Now you know what monsters once lurked in the woods near Duva, and if you ever meet a bear with a golden collar, you will be able to greet him by name. So shut the window tight and make sure the latch is fastened. Dark things have a way of slipping in through narrow spaces. Shall we have something good to eat? Well then, come help me stir the pot.