Acolyte's Underworld by Levi Jacobs

Author:Levi Jacobs [Jacobs, Levi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781952298004
Publisher: Americon Industries
Published: 2020-04-19T16:00:00+00:00

25

Ella rang the chimes at House Merewil with a strange mix of anger and apprehension. The more she thought about her mother sending the lawkeepers after her the more it made sense, and the angrier she got. At the same time she couldn’t approach this house without the old fear that she would get trapped somehow, that they’d lock her up again.

Well, they were trying to lock her up anyway. And Ella had never been one for running if there was someone she could fight face to face.

A servant answered. It was no one Ella recognized, and mercifully they didn’t appear to recognize her either. There were paintings of her in the house, or used to be, but by this late in the day she likely looked closer to 50 than the 15 she’d been when they were painted.

That, or they’d taken all the pictures of their murderous daughter down after she escaped.

“Malia Galferth,” she said mildly. “Calling for Elyssa Merewil, if the lady is home.”

The servant lead her into the courtyard, Elyssa’s carefully pruned halia bushes still surrounding the quiet unplumbed fountain and circle of stone benches. It looked so small now, compared to when she had grown up here. Unbidden, her eyes looked to the north wing of the house. A third story rose there, smaller than the others, with not even a window looking over this side. The hours she had spent with an ear pressed to the wall, trying to make out who was talking or what was happening out here. Seeking any relief from the sweltering boredom of her cell.

Ella stood, trying to quiet her emotions and think logically. Her parents would respond to logic. To emotion, she would get scorn from her mother and a stone wall from her father.

Elyssa entered the courtyard a few minutes later, wearing the simple gray gown she preferred at home, hair tied but unbraided. She cleared her throat, the sound high and tight. “I thought it would be you. Come to apologize?”

“Hardly,” Ella said, frost in her tone matching her mother’s. “Did you send lawkeepers after me?”

Elyssa jerked at her satin dress, straightening a crease along one edge. “No. I told your father I’d seen you, and I suppose he alerted the authorities.”

Of course he did. Ella’s anger went cold, freezing onto something much bigger and older. Adding weight to a glacier of resentment that had weighed on her since childhood.

“And the Quill?” Ella asked, voice gone cold too. “He knew to send them there?” Her mother had always been a more perceptive reader than Illen. She doubted he would recognize her prose from anyone else’s.

Elyssa jerked at her gown again, though the thing hung perfectly straight. “I recognized your style. The article was beautifully written, even if it’s full of lies.”

“They’re not lies, mother. Why would I do that?” You raised me better than that, she almost said.

“Well either way it reflects poorly on the House,” Elyssa said stiffly.

Ella ground her teeth. On the House. Of course.

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.