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Chapters (58)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright
  3. Dedication
  4. Part One
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Part Two: Three Months Later
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Chapter Twenty-one
  27. Part Three
  28. Chapter Twenty-two
  29. Chapter Twenty-three
  30. Chapter Twenty-four
  31. Chapter Twenty-five
  32. Chapter Twenty-six
  33. Chapter Twenty-seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-one
  38. Chapter Thirty-two
  39. Chapter Thirty-three
  40. Chapter Thirty-four
  41. Chapter Thirty-five
  42. Chapter Thirty-six
  43. Chapter Thirty-seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-eight
  45. Chapter Thirty-nine
  46. Chapter Forty
  47. Chapter Forty-one
  48. Chapter Forty-two
  49. Chapter Forty-three
  50. Chapter Forty-four
  51. Chapter Forty-five
  52. Chapter Forty-six
  53. Chapter Forty-seven
  54. Chapter Forty-eight
  55. Epilogue
  56. Acknowledgments
  57. About the Author
  58. Keep Reading for a Sneak Peek at Umbertouched

I look down. Bloodred splotches stare back at me. Still I deny it. Maybe it’s too early. Maybe the marks just need more time to fade. But then I look at Kaylah’s face, and I see the tears she’s holding back.

“I’m sorry, Zivah,” she whispers.

It’s hard to hear her voice over the sound of my own heartbeat. My mind whirls with numbers. I’m seventeen right now. One year from now, I will be eighteen. In ten, I will be twenty-seven. That’s the best I can hope for, if I’m one of the lucky ones. Where will I go? What will I do? I try to breathe, but there’s no air.

“I’m so sorry,” Kaylah says again.

Everything around me comes into focus. The leaves blowing outside, the trickle of the water clock in the corner. I’m aware of every drop that falls. I’d never noticed how quickly they come.

Kaylah reaches to take my hands, as she so often had before. Except this time, she’s wearing plague gloves. The leather is worn soft from use, but there is no warmth in its touch.

Part Two: Three Months Later

Chapter Six

Spasms run through me. I’ve long since vomited up the contents of my stomach, but wave after wave still grips me until I think I might die. No, that’s not right. I know I’m dying, but for this hour of misery, I have no one to blame but myself.

I’m huddled behind my cottage, crouched on the ground because my legs are too shaky to hold me. Once again, I go through the workings of my potion, the theory behind the disease. Rose plague essence is heavy and sticky, hard for the body to purge. The umbertouched somehow rid themselves completely of the disease, whereas the rosemarked dislodge all but a remnant, which clings to some unknown region of the body.

My recent attempts have focused on the liver, because I’ve noticed a yellower tint to my skin since I fell ill. A tincture of chozat to strengthen the organ, a drop of nadat-root juice to expel the disease essence, plus boiled syeb petals to stabilize the body’s energies. It seemed a good mixture, but now I’m on my knees, and the rosemarks show no sign of disappearing. The problem with expelling such a stubborn illness is that anything powerful enough to do the job wreaks havoc on the rest of my body as well.

At times like these, I’m glad to be in isolation. At least no one else is here to witness my recklessness, and my failure.

“Zivah?” Leora’s voice floats toward me from the direction of the village.