A Queen of Gilded Horns by Amanda Joy

Author:Amanda Joy [Joy, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780525518624
Google: pnXsDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2021-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

“This doesn’t make any sense,” I said, furiously stirring the cup of tea that had long since gone cold.

I read the line from Assani’s journal again. Harness the light within; it will show the limits of your shift.

What light within?

So far her notes had offered little explanation in how to use my shapeshifting magick. It was filled with detailed sketches of every animal she encountered—their claws, wings, and the like—seemingly in order to adapt those features to aid in her shapeshifting. Which was helpful in its way. I could imagine that if I had been raised with the knowledge that I would one day wield this gift, I would have done much the same. I would have experimented endlessly with various forms until I found the right fit.

Instead I was trapped with wings I did not know how to use and no closer to finding a way to get rid of them. Tavan had offered to teach me how to fly, and I was beginning to think a lesson with her would have done me more good than the past hours toiling away to translate Assani’s notes.

“None of this makes any sense,” I repeated. And I desperately wanted it to. Never had I felt such fervor studying blood magick. All those lessons had been filled with dread. Although the potential mistakes I might make with this gift worried me, I did want to know. My frustration did not detract from my awe. What a gift I had been given. What a blessing from the Mother to choose exactly what form you wanted to be.

I traced the rendering of Assani beneath the words. Auburn ears peeked out from long, beaded braids hanging to her waist, and a spiny, reptilian tail curled around her body.

“That explains why you’ve been stuck on the same page for hours now,” a voice called from the other end of the library. Falun spoke again without turning his attention from a tapestry depicting a pair of ancient fey and khimaer allies crossing the Red River. Each held a sword and walked hand in hand. Allies or lovers or both.

Two days had passed since I had woken and I spent most of them here. The library at Nbaltir was an eight-sided room with a glass ceiling just ten steps away from the kitchen, where Tavan and Lirra spent most of their time. Every morning I entered to find a fresh cup of tea, flatbread dripping with butter and garlic, and a plate of eggs—Osir had taken me on a tour last night where I met the hens supplying the estate. Whatever else I thought about my new family, they had lived entirely self-sufficiently within these walls. It was admirable, the skills and crafts they’d developed to make life here comfortable. Yet the necessity of such isolation made me sick to my stomach.

Through the glass ceiling, one could see the pinks and golds of the sunset, which accented the heavy gilt work on every bookshelf and most of the other furniture within the room.

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