"And a real bed to sleep in tonight."

"I'm looking forward to pillows."

"Some soft blankets, even."

"And a hot breakfast."

"A wonderful perk of wealth and power."

(She got a smile!!)

"I'm sure you know more about that than me."

"It's one of the things I'll be educating you on."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"Good. An eager student means quite a lot."

"I'll do my best."

"And after our meeting with the king, we can see exactly how far your current best goes."

Nod.

"Are you looking forward to that, Svetka?"

"Meeting the king?"

"Or what comes after."

"More to that than the meeting."

"I'm looking forward to it, too."

"Oh. Good."

And then they're at the stables, and the Darkling helps Svetka down, and orders her to keep close while she gets their horses settled. 

(There are quite a lot of horses she's bred and trained here. It's an enormous stable, and she apparently knows the name and temperament of every single one.)

She wasn't expecting the collection to be so... extensive.

"I surround myself with fine things," she says, "Though unfortunately I haven't actually had the chance to train most of these extensively - I help with the foals and yearlings, and again when they're old enough to begin serious training, but the majority of it is done by others - though those others are trained by the school I founded."

"I only ride the ones I trained myself into battle, though."

"You don't trust your students that far?"

"I do trust them. However... There's a special bond that develops between rider and horse when only one person has trained them. One that's invaluable in situations like war."

"Huh."

Smile. "And with my powers, it helps having a horse that's unusually accustomed - all Ravka's war horses undergo desensitization to all grisha powers, but bearing a grisha can be a more challenging request."