by Mary Taranta
My stomach tightens, and I feel the threads of poison that still linger in my blood that have yet to be excised. Desire, greed, and some unnameable longing. Home.
“Time,” I finally say.
“I can afford that,” he says with a smile. “As much as you need. But these belong to you in the interim.” Sitting up, he pulls several small rocks from his trousers pocket.
“How?” I ask as he laughs, dropping three of them into my cupped hands. “You’ve been in bed for ten days! Did Tobek bring these to you?”
“Anonymous sources,” he says, his crooked grin suddenly shy. He retrieves the first stone and sets it down along the edge of the map. “This is for that night we spent after Prevast,” he says. “A night of great willpower, Faris; you have no idea.”
My breath catches as he reaches for the second stone, fingertips ghosting across my skin. “This one is for the moment you entered the abbey with your gun raised, ready to kill my father for me,” he says. “And this one”—he touches the final stone before curling my fingers around it—“is for this moment right now.” He’s all seriousness now as his hand brushes across my cheek, then slides into my hair. “Keep these until the time is right, because I love you and I will wait as long as I have to.” His expression softens. “But not a moment longer.”
“But what are they for?”
His gaze softens, and my stomach somersaults. Oh.
As tempting as the future sounds, we deserve a moment of weakness now. I reach forward, moving hair out of his eyes. “Just one,” I murmur, brushing my lips across his.
“Just once,” he adds with a smile, pulling me closer, deepening the kiss.
Apparently I didn’t destroy all the magic left in Avinea.
When he finally pulls back, he picks up one of the stones and brandishes it toward me. “But I advise you, Faris Locke, to hoard these like gold, because I fully expect you to trade every last one of them in at the same time, and when you do, I am going to kiss every single inch of your skin. Bruises and scars included.”
“But until then,” I say, flushing with heat. Sweet, steady North has a spark of the wild within him.
Good.
“Until then,” he repeats softly, still watching me with that smoldering grin. A moment later he stands, and Darjin rolls onto his feet to join him. “Did you know there are secret passages in this palace?”
“Cadence has mentioned them.”
“One of them goes directly to my rooms from this library,” he says, arching an eyebrow as I scan the room on reflex. He grins again, before he turns, heading for the door. “It never hurts to have a fail-safe, Miss Locke,” he calls over his shoulder.
I watch him disappear, biting back my own grin. From outside, Cadence’s and Tobek’s laughter carries through the glass, and I begin to straighten my maps, feeling more at peace than I have in weeks.
Ten years ago I believed my mother to be a murderer and my life to be a mistake. But now I know there is nothing else I would rather be: Brim-raised and battle-worn, with a scar above my heart and an insatiable need for more that carried me under a castle, over a border, and across a kingdom riddled with decay, so that one day I would finally be here:
Home.
Acknowledgments
Authors often speak of their second contracted novels in whispers of horrified despair, underlined with the nagging fear that they will be unmasked as imposters along the way. For me, an amazing support system was the difference between weeping under my desk—or hitting my deadlines despite all the doubts.
So thank you to Alexa Pastor for keeping Faris focused on the task at hand—and for being an editorial wizard. This book would have perished in the Burn without your guidance. The entire team at McElderry/Simon & Schuster continue to provide the best home Faris could hope for. Thank you for another beautiful book.
From deadlines to trade reviews to hospitalizations: the debut road has been rocky, but my family has been steady. Mom and Dad, thank you for letting me grow up a little wild and a little weird and for always believing I could do this (twice!). Audrey, I owe you so much more than a dedication. Nicole, thank you for being the first to buy my book in the store, and to Alex for being right there with her to take the photo. Cathy, I truly appreciate how you celebrate every one of my successes, no matter how small.
Debuts are often lost in the crowd, so a shout-out to the book bloggers and bookstagrammers who’ve promoted Faris and her misadventures, and to anyone who’s ever written a review. Authors may not thank each one of you personally, but we see you and appreciate every ounce of support you provide. I want to say thank you especially to Morgan from Take Me Away To A Great Read, Austine Decker from NovelKnight, and Christen from Whimsify. Thank you for the enthusiasm and generosity with which you embraced this strange story I wrote.
A special squish and a cuddle to my son, Jacob, who missed the start of this journey but has kept me going to the end.
Finally, Eugene. No matter what I try to say here, it always comes down to the same simple truth: I love you.
About the Author
MARY TARANTA grew up playacting her favorite stories and writing some of her own in the woods behind her family’s farmhouse. Originally from Ohio, she moved to central Florida at the age of fifteen, where she still lives with her husband, two cats, and library cards from two counties. You can visit Mary online at marytaranta.com.
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ALSO BY MARY TARANTA
Shimmer and Burn
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2018 by Mary Taranta
Jacket photo-illustration by Sonia Chaghatzbanian
Jacket stock photographs copyright © 2018 by Arcangel Images
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Taranta, Mary, author.
Title: Splendor and spark / Mary Taranta.
Description: First edition. | New York : Margaret K. McElderry Books, [2018] | Summary: “Faris has her sister back but it’s not the happy homecoming she imagined, and instead she must go once more into the Burn to help North find his father and inherit the magic that will allow him to reverse the Burn’s hold on the kingdom of Avinea”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018009925 (print) |
LCCN 2018017313 (eBook)
ISBN 9781481472043 (eBook) | ISBN 9781481472029 (hardcover)
Subjects: | CYAC: Sisters—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. | Plague—Fiction. | Social classes—Fiction. | Fantasy.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.T383 (eBook) | LCC PZ7.1.T383 Spl 2018 (print) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018009925
