Yes, Alina and Mal do sleep together in Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone trilogy, specifically in the third book, Ruin and Rising, during a pivotal moment before a major battle, marking Alina's first time. While there are implied intimate moments earlier, and they are childhood best friends with complex feelings, their physical relationship develops later, culminating in that night and eventually leading to marriage at the series' end.
It is confirmed in R&R that Mal and Zoya had slept together. Technically Mal and Alina were not officially together at that point, but then after Mal tells Alina in S&B and S&S that he wants her and makes a huge deal of their relationship, especially in front of Nikolai, then he still kisses Zoya .
They slept together in the second book. When Alina was back in the little palace.
With the Fold destroyed, Alina loses her powers and fakes her death. She and Mal eventually marry and rebuild the Grisha orphanage. Mal makes one last appearance in the Grishaverse: he and Alina return in Rule of Wolves, the second novel in the King of Scars duology.
Mal and Alina had their happy ending, end of story. I thought it was amazing, because having everything be happy and perfect would be unbelievable. It was realistic, because they shared the same loss of their powers, but Alina and Mal still found happiness in their love for each other.
While his desire for Alina is not a healthy one and is obsessive, he truly does develop feelings for her. She is the one person who can bring balance to his life. The one person who will understand the weight of eternity and never leave him behind.
That's lucky for newly minted Shadow and Bone stans because it's Mal who Alina ends up with at the end of the Shadow and Bone books. Before they get there, though, there are two other contenders for Alina's heart. The most obvious is General Kirigan, who in the books is known as the Darkling.
Despite his nefarious plans, it is thought the Darkling did love Alina. However, Alina ends up killing him at the end of Ruin and Rising. Alina and Nikolai Lantsov: In Siege and Storm, despite fleeing together, Mal and Alina begin to drift apart. Enter Nikolai Lantsov, younger son of the King of Ravka.
Following its success, Netflix renewed the show for a second season, which premiered on March 16, 2023, and adapted Siege and Storm (2013), Ruin and Rising (2014), and parts of Crooked Kingdom (2016). Despite growing fan support, Shadow and Bone was canceled after two seasons in November 2023.
Mal is a human amplifier, which means a Grisha can use his powers to enhance their own. He learns that he descended from the Darkling's aunt, who was killed by her sister, Baghra, the Darkling's mother, and then brought back to life by their father, Ilya Morozova, which turned her into a human amplifier.
After Alina finally accepted her powers, the Darkling visited her again during a training session. He had still not found Morozova's stag whose antlers he had promised her but he asked that she have faith in him, and then he kissed her to both of their surprise.
Four months after Alina Starkov discovers she's pregnant, the father of her unborn child finds her hiding place.
In the end, Mal is magically healed and the Fold is destroyed, while Alina loses her powers and fakes her own death. She and Mal eventually marry and rebuild the Grisha orphanage. While Alina Starkov is not in the King of Scars, she appears in the second book of the King of Scars duology, Rule of Wolves.
Zoya was initially infatuated with the Darkling. Upon Alina's arrival at the Little Palace, Zoya instantly hates her for becoming the Darkling's new favorite, and expresses her jealousy by injuring Alina during a duel.
In the Fold, Mal sacrifices himself to Alina so that she can defeat the Darkling. After Mal dies and Alina uses the amplifier, her power is given to many of the soldiers nearby as well as scattered across the continent, and she is left powerless against the Darkling.
Alina's Grisha powers are first revealed when she rescues Mal from a volcra attack by emitting a blazing beam of light from within herself. Mal and Alina are separated after this when she is sent to live with the Grisha at the Little Palace. Mal is sent on an assignment tracking Morozova's Stag for the Darkling.
General Kirigan / The Darkling
The villain of Shadow and Bone seasons one and two is the Darkling, the former commander of the Second Army.
Alina, who's also affected, manages to use her powers to stop the Fjerdan. But, instead of summoning light, it's clear her powers have been corrupted by merzost as she summons shadows. Rather than seeming fearful, she smiles at the revelation – and the season ends. Shadow and Bone season 2 is streaming on Netflix now.
The newly-created Sun Summoners destroy the Fold and also partially return Nikolai to his former self. Tolya and Tamar Kir-Bataar manage to save Mal. However, Alina has lost her power. She fakes her death, sealing her legacy as Sankta Alina, the Sun Saint, and claims a new identity.
In Leigh Bardugo's novel, Kirigan (Ben Barnes) stuns Alina (Jessie Mei Li) with an unexpected first kiss. Later, after they demonstrate Alina's abilities to the king's court, the two passionately make out and the narrative suggests they come very close to having sex before they're interrupted.
Ulla is a half-sildroher songcaster and the Darkling's half-sister by their mother, Baghra. Ulla is revered by humans as Sankta Ursula of the Waves.
Nikolai proposes that he and Alina get married, but she says no. Not long after, the Darkling attacks Os Alta. Fighting back, Alina defeats him using merzost, a corrupt form of Small Science, which causes her hair to turn white and nearly kills both her and the Darkling.
Type of Villain
Aleksander Morozava, also known as the Darkling or General Kirigan is the main antagonist of the Shadow and Bone book series and its 2021 Netflix adaptation of the same name, serving as the main antagonist of both seasons.
Shadow and Bone is a young adult fantasy adventure and the debut novel written by the American author Leigh Bardugo.
Alina is automatically powerful just by being the Sun Summor. She destroyed the Fold, which was with the help of three amplifiers. Because of those amplifiers, she is in third place. Coming in at number two, we have the Darkling.