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

She laughed, a harsh sound but not a bitter one. “Just because I was born with the proper bloodline doesn’t mean I deserve a throne, Uncle. Besides, you once told me I wasn’t cut out for leadership, and since Leopold has worked with you this long, I have no doubt he would be amenable to finishing your plan—”

“Leopold?” Eron coughed. “He…” Another cough. “Was not part of our plan.” Again, the brutal hacking overtook his lungs, his ribs, his throat. But this time, Safi did not lean in to help him. Instead, she simply held her uncle upright and stared with unseeing eyes at dark weathered steps that led into daylight.

She had been played then. True, true, true. And quite neatly too. True, true, true. Leopold had not been a part of Eron’s plan; he’d had nothing to do with peace in the Witchlands or Mathew or Habim.

“Oh,” she said on an acid exhale, and something angry settled across the tops of her bones. She was quite certain now that the Hell-Bards would find no sign of the prince in the Solfatarra.

Wherever he was, he would be very safe. And very alone. But had she completed his plan or ruined it? Likely she would never know, so she dismissed it from her mind.

Then, one step at a time into a rising day, Safi helped her uncle ascend. Toward life with wide eyes. All clear, all clear.

FIFTY-FOUR

The Rook King came for Aeduan, as Aeduan knew he would, materializing from snow-shod trees, his gray clothes blending into shadow. Likely, he had been there some time, watching Aeduan. Perhaps throughout the fight with Evrane, perhaps while Aeduan had stood sentry and sheltered her body against the cursed storm.

He always had been a silent observer—he and that bird of his.

The bird now roosted on his shoulder, button eyes leveled on Aeduan as the Rook King crossed the clearing on sure, determined feet. Snow crunched with each step. His cloak billowed and curls shone. He wore a different face, a different body than one thousand years ago, but the same energy filled him. The sense of someone larger than the frame in which he’d been housed. He could have been an Exalted One a thousand years. They’d certainly courted him instead of Aeduan, but the Rook King had been indomitable in the end.

Aeduan had not. He really had been the weakest.

No more, though. He was ready to give back what should never have been his. Like before, it would not be death, just a return to the dark waters he had endured for so long. He dreaded returning to them. Dreaded the way they bore down, weighted and lightless and eternal. But he had made his choice, exactly as Saria had commanded him.