BooksBarbecue
Back Witchshadow Save as PDF
Chapters (70)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. Map
  5. Epigraph
  6. BEGINNINGS
  7. PART I
  8. ONE
  9. TWO
  10. THREE
  11. FOUR
  12. FIVE
  13. SIX
  14. SEVEN
  15. EIGHT
  16. NINE
  17. TEN
  18. ELEVEN
  19. TWELVE
  20. THIRTEEN
  21. FOURTEEN
  22. FIFTEEN
  23. SIXTEEN
  24. SEVENTEEN
  25. EIGHTEEN
  26. NINETEEN
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. THIRTY
  38. THIRTY-ONE
  39. THIRTY-TWO
  40. THIRTY-THREE
  41. THIRTY-FOUR
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. PART II
  45. THIRTY-SEVEN
  46. THIRTY-EIGHT
  47. THIRTY-NINE
  48. FORTY
  49. FORTY-ONE
  50. FORTY-TWO
  51. FORTY-THREE
  52. FORTY-FOUR
  53. FORTY-FIVE
  54. FORTY-SIX
  55. FORTY-SEVEN
  56. FORTY-EIGHT
  57. FORTY-NINE
  58. FIFTY
  59. FIFTY-ONE
  60. FIFTY-TWO
  61. FIFTY-THREE
  62. FIFTY-FOUR
  63. FIFTY-FIVE
  64. FIFTY-SIX
  65. FIFTY-SEVEN
  66. TRICKSTER
  67. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  68. Also by Susan Dennard
  69. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  70. Newsletter Sign-up

“Come,” Iseult said, wrapping her hand around Owl’s good one. “It’s time for us to run again.”

The Bloodwitch named Aeduan fought against the water.

Fathoms below the surface with no air to fill his lungs, no light to fill his eyes, he kicked and reached and strained against the weight that held him down.

He was not drowning, but he also did not breathe.

He had breathed, though. Briefly, when he had seen the face made of moonlight and shadows only a foot away from his. Iseult’s hair had flown on the breeze, her knees had trembled against his ribs, and he’d thought he had somehow returned to the past. To that day beside the lighthouse, when she had broken his spine and stabbed him in the heart.

But this was not that day, and the waves that washed against him were not from the warm Jadansi. These were dark waves with talons that held fast to his ankles, his hips, his lungs. And he knew they would never let him free. Not until they found a different body to hold on to. Not until they claimed hers.

He was glad she hadn’t found the silver taler still tied around his neck.

TWENTY-SIX

Safi did as Henrick had ordered and returned to her quarters, where she allowed Svenja and Nika to clean her. It required some fancy handwork to sneak the Truth-lens from her shredded training gear, but she managed to tuck it into her court gown before either attendant had noticed.

Then she went to dinner as if nothing had happened that day. As if she hadn’t trained with Hell-Bards, as if she hadn’t been stabbed, and as if she hadn’t gone to the Keep and studied the Loom.

Safi’s mind was alight, though. Throughout the tedious conversations about court gossip and sycophantic compliments flung Henrick’s way, she considered all she’d learned. All she still needed to find. She had a lead on where Uncle Eron was being held, and she knew that Henrick wanted her for more than just her magic. In fact, he didn’t simply want her. Safi seemed to be a requirement if Leopold’s rule were to ever one day proceed.

Safi kept her face alert, her eyes wide throughout the tedious courses. She had told Henrick she wanted power, and she would do all she could to prove that to him. If only so he would open up again. If only so he would believe her earlier lies.

It was as an older domna chatted several seats away that Safi noticed the woman’s necklace. A hideous thing, the chain dangling loosely around her neck while large butterfly bangles hung down. Glittery and golden, gemstones winked upon the butterflies’ wings, reminding Safi of the colors in the Truth-lens.