by Annie Bellet
“Yes,” Alek said. He made it sound so simple.
“Damnit,” I muttered. Then I voiced my true fear, something I had trouble sharing even with Alek.
“What if this is how it starts?” I asked. The words I wanted stuck in my throat.
“How it starts?” he repeated.
“What if Samir justified himself the same way in the beginning?” I wasn’t sure if he had or not. His journals had gone all the way back, but I hadn’t read them all. The entries I had read were full of him talking about what he could get, how strong the victim was, the purpose and range of their magic. More like someone reviewing and describing a meal they’d just consumed than killing a person. “What if I’m sliding down that slope and I don’t even realize it?”
“Samir would have eaten Samir,” Alek said. His arms tightened around me.
Well, fuck. I couldn’t argue with that logic. I wasn’t Samir. Not yet. Not ever, if I had any say in it. Which I did, I realized. I had eaten the necromancer’s heart, but not without reluctance, without second-guessing myself and my motives. Perhaps the road to hell would be paved with my good intentions, but I wasn’t there yet.
“Good talk,” I said. I licked his skin and felt him shiver.
“Less talk now,” Alek said, rolling me under him.
We were alive. I didn’t owe the Archivist a favor anymore. Samir was still a trapped bead of mostly dead. Life was as good as it was going to get for the moment.
Less talk was better.
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Look for Tribes: Harper’s Tale, the exciting story of Harper’s time away from Wylde.
Coming April 2017.
Jade & friends will return in River of No Return: Book 9 of The Twenty-Sided Sorceress.
Coming Summer 2017.
Also by Annie Bellet
The Gryphonpike Chronicles:
Witch Hunt
Twice Drowned Dragon
A Stone’s Throw
Dead of Knight
The Barrows (Omnibus Vol.1)
Brood Mother (Spring 2017)
Chwedl Duology:
A Heart in Sun and Shadow
The Raven King (Winter 2017)
Pyrrh Considerable Crimes Division Series:
Avarice
Wrath (Fall 2017)
Short Story Collections:
Till Human Voices Wake Us
Dusk and Shiver
Forgotten Tigers and Other Stories
About the Author:
Annie Bellet lives and writes in the Pacific NW. She is the USA Today bestselling author of the Gryphonpike Chronicles and the Twenty-Sided Sorceress series. Follow her at her website at www.anniebellet.com
