Page 81 of The Stolen Throne
She lifts one shoulder in a barely there shrug that isn’t casual. For such a small gesture, it carries weight. “I’ve spent my entire life trying to be the best. At everything. Because maybe then…” Pella shrugs.
I can fill in the rest. Maybe then her father would value her, too. He really is focused on Cain, the firstborn who will take over the zariphate someday. Maybe then she’d be more than just Cain’s little sister. Maybe then she could relax and not have to always be what others wanted. “Maybe then,” I agree.
We both nod.
“I’m pretty sure I would have still hated you, though.” Only her tone is ironic now rather than Pella’s usual brand of poison.
“Likewise.”
Apparently done with the conversation, she leaves. I’m about to get up and follow when the book I’m holding jerks in my grip and an invisible force slaps at my hands. I jump up, scrambling back, narrowly missing knocking over a candle, only to watch as the book flips its own pages…or…no. The shadows are flipping the pages, darkness touching it in waves like visible wind.
Every muscle in my body goes taut. Uh…this is new. Is this Reven? Or Eidolon’s ghost? Or something else?
I’m half a second from sprinting out the door when the pages stop turning and a word on the page it lands on catches my eye. One of the words I’ve been searching for.
Eidolon.
35
One Piece
I inch toward the book, trying—and failing—to keep my breathing even and calm. I need to see what the shadows showed me. The last thing I need is to scare them off.
My amulet flashes hot, and I just about trip over my own feet.
“Sandsnakes!” I gasp. “Don’t do that.”
I’m not sure if I’m more annoyed at the goddess trapped around my neck—now she decides to wake up?—the shadows that only now decide to be helpful, or myself for being so goddess-damned jumpy. But after everything that’s happened and now days of bleary-eyed reading, it’s probably all of the above.
A scratching flap of wings is my only warning before Bene lands on the balcony outside the doorway, then sticks his big head through the door. I’m staring at a lion’s head with a man’s face, his boar’s teeth sharp as daggers. “I feel her.”
Yeah, me too. But all I can think is how happy I am not to be alone. His presence settles me. I’d hug him if he wasn’t a giant, sandy Devourer.
He reaches out a paw, close enough to get to me, and, with a single unsheathed claw—which isn’t creepy at all—plucks at the chain around my neck. Before he can work it out from under my clothing, the amulet goes cold again, and he stops. “She has gone from me again.”
“I—” I don’t even know where to start. “She woke up when… But now she isn’t… I think…”
“Calm yourself, young Imperium.”
I take a breath. “I think the shadows showed me a page.”
“The shadows? Are you sure?”
No. But darkness was definitely involved.
“Did they attempt to hurt you?”
How is he so calm? He just thought he felt his heartmate after ages without her.
“Did they?” His voice goes harder.
“No.”
“Then I would pay attention to whatever they showed you. You are safe enough with me.”
Right. Devourer. That makes me feel better.
With Bene there watching, I start to read as fast as I can. Partly to find out what they want me to see, but also to get out of here and back to the others as fast as I can. In my rush, I have to keep going back in case I missed something important.
