‘But what he did? What he almost did? The… demon.’ The word was strange to say aloud. ‘It would have been the end of everything.’

‘Would that be so bad?’ she said, gesturing to the people drifting towards the town square. Our being there had broken some of the scene’s spell.

‘So bad?’ I said, recalling the horrifying images of Christophor’s book. ‘Most people are not saints, we’re no saints, but I would not wish such a future as Berith on anyone, anywhere.’

‘Much worse will come, and of our own making. We may not have another chance.’

‘Rebecca, you don’t mean—’

‘Do you have a penny?’ she said.

I didn’t think she had such black humour in her – I saw she was serious. I didn’t have any money, but my night-brother did.

I offered her the penny, but she shook her head. ‘It’s your wish.’

I tossed the coin towards the soupy water. I made a different wish, one I would never tell her. As the penny arced through the air, the polished bronze caught the first rays of sunlight.

The men and women of Drekenford squinted against that light and, for a moment, they appeared eyeless.

Except for Rebecca. Her eyes burned with all the fires of the sun, and all the fires of our poor choices.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the team at Head of Zeus, in particular my editor Clare Gordon, who saw exactly what this book needed to be, and how to get there. My thanks also to my agent, Sam Copeland at Rogers, Coleridge & White, for always pushing me to do better.

Thanks to Bev, Jamie, Jo, Jonathan, Liz, Lyndall, and Tricia for reading chapter after chapter of draft work and asking all the best questions of this story.

Thanks, too, to my colleagues at the University of South Wales for all their support.

And thanks to Kath, for everything.

About the Author

David Towsey is a graduate of the Creative Writing programmes at Bath Spa University and Aberystwyth University. Born in Dorset, he now lives in Cardiff with his girlfriend and their growing board-game collection. Together, they write under the pseudonym of D.K. Fields whose Tales of Fenest trilogy is also published by Head of Zeus.

David’s first novel, Your Brother’s Blood, was published by Quercus, and was the first in the Walkin’ Trilogy. He is also one half of the indie games company Pill Bug Interactive, who have released three titles across PC and Nintendo Switch™.

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