The Tailor
Leigh Bardugo
Why You Little Snake!
The Tailor is a short story belonging to Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone Trilogy. You can read it free here. It is about Genya, the "Tailor" from Shadow and Bone, the perfectly beautiful young woman with a gift for cosmetic magic who serves the Tsaritsa, and who acts as a friend to Alina.
If, like me, you have just read Shadow and Bone, you may remember a scene in which Alina gave Genya a scrap of paper on which she had written Mal's name and regiment, and asked her if she could track down any information about him. Alina has been writing Mal care of his regiment steadily since she came to court, but has received no response. Since it was plausible that Mal has been in danger (and eventually we learned that he had), Alina was worried about him.
Genya has been very sweet and helpful to Alina since her arrival at court -- indeed, she is essentially Alina's sole confidante. Above, when I said Genya "acts as a friend to Alina", I chose my words carefully. What we learn here is that Genya is not quite the sweet thing she appeared to Alina to be.
Really an excellent story that lays bare some of the personal/political maneuvers behind the scenes in Shadow and Bone.