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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

And now Henrick is shoving her off of him. His eyes bug, his mouth sputters. He grabs her arms and forces her back. “What the hell-gates,” he begins … until he realizes what is clasped in Safi’s fingers. She is too slow to drop the chain, and now he is watching it slip from her grasp.

It lands on his chest, then slinks down his stomach, a golden snake across muddy velvet.

For several seconds, neither Safi nor Henrick moves. The Hell-Bards all have their backs turned discreetly away; they have not seen. I should kill him, she thinks. Before he kills me. But she is, again, too slow.

Or perhaps Henrick is too fast. With shocking ease and skill, he swoops beneath her outstretched arms and tackles her to the ground. He is viciously strong, and Safi stands no chance.

Her skull cracks on flagstones. Her vision shadows, and everything suddenly moves a thousand miles away. The Hell-Bard armor clanks her way, and Caden’s voice barks, “Protect the Emperor!”

And the Emperor himself bears down on Safi with snaggletooth and spitting tongue. “What a disappointment,” he snarls, forearm digging into her throat. “You could have been a great leader, but now there is only one path for you.”

He rolls off of her as two Hell-Bards lurch in. Her hearing is muffled, her eyesight uneven. She knows, in a far-off sort of way, that she has made a very dangerous mistake. That she has ruined not only her own life but the lives of all those people depending on her.

“Tell Paskella I will not be coming tonight,” Henrick commands once Safi is on her feet. He will not even look at her. “And then take my Empress to the Hell-Bard chamber. It is time she learned what true obedience feels like.”

THIRTY

There was no time inside the Well. There was only now. There was only all eternity, stretched and unknowable.

Vivia recognized the feeling as soon as it curled over her. It was her favorite feeling—the only thing to truly calm her during an attack. The only time she ever felt truly, truly safe. Except …

As she sank to the jagged bottom of the Well, as she watched her blood swirl and spread, she realized this water wasn’t calming. It wasn’t welcoming. In fact, it felt nothing like the waters of the lake beneath Lovats—her safe place, her secret place. There, fox fire spread across a cavern ceiling, and the presence, the life, the weight of the Well was a comfort. It was as sad as she. It was as lonely as she. And it was always glad to have her there.

Here, six cypress trees were just visible above the water, wavy shadows around the Well’s edge. And here, the waters were not glad to have her. Intruder, they seemed to say. Thief, usurper, false queen.