A Clasp for Heirs by Morgan Rice

Author:Morgan Rice [Rice, Morgan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Morgan Rice
Published: 2018-11-22T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Kate stalked through the caverns, the shine of the light from the dark walls lending it an eerie quality. The shadows stretched out in odd ways that didn’t always seem to have anything to do with the light. After the attack by the watchers, Kate kept clear of them, wary of being grabbed.

“People come this way sometimes,” Lisare said in a low voice. “They try to consult with the stone.”

“Consult with it?” Kate asked. She had thought that it would just be a stone. How did you consult with a stone?

“The shadow stone is connected to every shadow in the world,” Lisare said. “People come to ask questions, and see what it sees. Many do not survive. The ones who do…”

“What?” Kate asked as they kept going, through the underground spaces beneath the mountain.

“The stone tells the truth, but a shadowed version of it,” Lisare said. “People come out haunted looking. I have seen a man fight his way through all of it, only to sit down and starve himself to death once he was back.”

Kate shuddered at the thought of that. “And no one here tried to help him?”

“This is a place of death,” Lisare told her. “We tried to warn him, just as I’ll warn you now: the stone is powerful, and it is dangerous. Try to use it before you are perfectly prepared, listen to its lies too closely, and you risk destroying yourself.”

Kate could hear the concern in her voice, but she didn’t trust it. She had learned far too many times how cruel life could be, and how easily people betrayed one another. This woman, this priestess, was just trying to push her back to keep her from what she needed to do.

Kate pressed on in silence, her feet slipping over the shadowy ground without so much as a scrape. The echo of Lisare’s feet sounded far too loud in comparison.

“You need to stay back,” Kate said. “You’re making too much noise.”

“I need to guide you,” Lisare said.

“To a place you’ve never been?” Kate demanded, becoming more suspicious by the second. “Why? So that you can let something know that I’m coming?”

“Kate, this is the shadows having an effect on you,” Lisare said. “They try to sneak into who you are. They try to bring out the worst in you.”

“But not in you?” Kate shot back. What did she actually know about this priestess? How many times had she been tricked before? Siobhan had done it, tricking her out of her own soul. Her parents had sent her a way to find them, but then… then they’d gone and died.

She couldn’t listen to this. She had to get away before Lisare had a chance to betray her. She should run, she should kill her. She should…

“Kate, don’t!” Lisare shouted as Kate sprinted away.

Kate took turnings at random as she headed through the passages beneath the mountain. The shadows reached for her, but she avoided them. Kate ran on, trusting her instincts, hoping that they would lead her to where she wanted to go.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.