Bittersouls by L.A. Morton-Yates

Author:L.A. Morton-Yates [Morton-Yates, L.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Synthesis Press
Published: 2022-12-16T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

“Talon?” Dela whispered, staring out at the setting moon through the trees from the snow hovel they shared. The Grey Wilds stretched out for miles around them, quiet and still.

“Hm?” he grunted, stirring to wakefulness in an instant. After so many years of living the way he had, even the slightest of sounds could wake him. She, on the other hand, hadn’t slept all night. Her mind hadn’t let her.

“I think she’s like me.”

“She?” Talon rolled over to face her. “The queen?”

Dela nodded. They’d both dressed themselves before going to sleep. The dangers of the Bitters wouldn’t wait for them should the need to act arise. Still, part of her wished they hadn’t. Last night had been…

“Amazing?” he asked, a playful smile on his lips.

Dela rolled her eyes. “I mean like me.” She fluttered the eight white tendrils of her wisp. “A wispmother.”

He pursed his lips at the name but didn’t disagree with it. She was pretty sure her wisp had given it to her, but she had yet to find a way to be sure about that sort of thing. In any case, the name worked.

“Why do you think so?” He looked at her with his familiar intensity. His curiosity seemed genuine.

“I’ve been trying to think why a group of Bittersouls would ever follow someone.” She hoped he wouldn’t ask how much of the night she’d been considering it. Though they knew little about where they were headed, they had a few pieces of information. She couldn’t help working them over and over in her mind. Couldn’t help but think her experience with the Shade last night was important. “A queen would have to be someone or something pretty remarkable.”

He nodded.

“At first I figured she had to be a Jackal, or something like one. Something the Bittersouls could understand, but which superseded them in some important way. Jackals are threats to them, so maybe if there was a pack leader among them—though I always assumed they traveled alone.”

He nodded again. “They do.”

“So I figured it might be something else. An even rarer creature, something else Bale made to torment the people of the Bitters.”

He shrugged. “Never thought about that.”

“But then I thought about Bittersouls in general. About what threatens them out here.” A hint of pride at her reasoning lifted the edge of her lips. “Like congregations, they are threatened most by Shades and by other Bittersouls. But if there was someone else like me—someone who could stop a Shade, even kill it—a Bittersoul would want to stay near that person. Suppose that person knew what she could do. She could offer Bittersouls that stayed with her—even served her—protection from Shades and, by uniting under her, protection from each other. A woman like that could rule the Bitters for as long as she wanted, to whatever extent she chose, unless someone came along who could challenge her power.”

Talon saw what she was getting at. His lips pressed thin, sympathy written in the darkness of his eyes. “Someone like you.

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.