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Back The Starving Saints Save as PDF
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. 34
  36. 35
  37. 36
  38. 37
  39. 38
  40. 39
  41. 40
  42. 41
  43. 42
  44. 43
  45. 44
  46. 45
  47. 46
  48. 47
  49. 48
  50. 49
  51. 50
  52. 51
  53. Acknowledgments
  54. About the Author
  55. Also by Caitlin Starling
  56. Copyright
  57. About the Publisher

The Lady’s smile, at last, turns brittle.

Teaching is ongoing. If she lets the Lady in, she doesn’t want to let Her in for all time. To accept would be to form a relationship, but Phosyne only hungers for the knowledge, not the attachment. She needs to draw a boundary.

Phosyne considers a moment longer, and then steps into the hall.

The Lady regards her with something that looks like pleasure. “A novel solution,” the Lady admits. “But that doesn’t tell me what we will get instead in exchange for teaching you.”

Phosyne turns away, puts her back to them. “Teaching me is the reward,” she ventures. “For not harming me.”

She thinks she hears the Absolving Saint gasp in delight.

“Very well,” the Lady agrees.

Phosyne shivers with triumph.

“What do you wish to do?” the Lady asks, at her shoulder now. Her fine hands hover close to Phosyne’s waist, but do not touch. “For I do believe that, should you wish to do something, anything at all, you can find the tricks to make it happen.”

“Like the water,” Phosyne says, uneasy.

“That, and more,” the Absolving Saint says, at her other side. They’re both close enough to touch her. Neither does.

“But we will only teach you one thing, in exchange for your safety this one time,” the Lady purrs. “So choose carefully, little mouse.”

Phosyne stares into her room.

This whole exchange hinges on the belief that these creatures want to teach her. Phosyne is fairly certain of that, bolstered by their response to her explanation. But she doesn’t know at what point their desire to harm her will outweigh that longing to instruct. Helping Jacynde is the safe option; they have already offered it once, even knowing that she feels no great loyalty to her anymore. Asking for the correct words and actions to banish them from the castle is, almost certainly, too much. And in between?

She could ask to learn how they summoned food.

How they had bewitched Ser Voyne.

How they had enticed an entire castle to eat at their table and lose their minds.

What she wants, though, is to ask what they are. What they fear, what they crave, what they have come for. But that’s not on offer.

So she reaches for the next step removed from what they are: “Teach me how you came into the castle, unnoticed.”

The Lady’s hands settle at her waist, and Phosyne feels teeth pressed against her throat in a smile. “Gladly,” the Lady says. “Close your eyes, and taste honey on your tongue.”

28

28

Ser Voyne sees no trace of saints as she makes her way to the cisterns.

She does see the sun too high in the sky; only minutes ago, it seems, it was dawn. But now the yard is baking, and there are too many people still passed out in the dirt, baking with it. Their skin is growing red and hot.