Shadow Fall by Audrey Grey

Author:Audrey Grey [Grey, Audrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blaze Publishing, LLC
Published: 2016-11-22T00:00:00+00:00

Part II

The things that pleased us withered into dust.

And the things that haunt us sprouted from their remains.

Until the rotting harvest, watered in the blood of our children,

grew so tall it hid the sun—

And we forgot we ever loved the light.

~ Baroness Lillian Lockhart

Chapter Twenty-One

Reformation Headquarters teems with people in androgynous white frocks, hundreds of them, each planted in front of a large screen with a number beside it. Although I don’t see earphones, it is obvious each watcher can hear the screen in front of them.

As I watch, the number from the screen closest to me increases from 3,043,506 to 3,043,507. These must be the screens used to follow the Sleeper numbers attached to each Chosen. I try to imagine what it is like to have a million human beings piggybacked onto my mind. Seeing what I see. Feeling what I feel.

Being me.

As if reading my mind, Cage takes my elbow, whispering into my ear, “No worries, kitten, anything not for their sneaky little ears will be automatically wiped.”

We’re introduced to our guide, Lady Worsley, a short, priggish woman dressed in a black, corseted walking suit. Her severe bun stretches her eyebrows into sharp black peaks. Flame peeks from beneath the brim of her hat, surreptitiously scanning our surroundings. This is the hub of the Royalists’ propaganda effort and the office for Minister of Defense, General Cornelius Bloodwood.

Making Flame the proverbial fox in the henhouse.

Flame’s cunning gaze darts along the walls before settling on a large screen taking up the entire center wall. It’s a map, peppered and streaked with tiny stars meant to represent Sleepers.

And there are still too many dark spots.

We pass through a collection of corridors and rooms to a waiting room of sorts. It takes me a minute to orient myself because the entire west wall is a deep green valley, shaded by tall, lush mountains. The ceiling, a big, beautiful upside down bowl of blue, erupts in birdsong. I can almost feel the breeze on my face.

It is a place meant to make you forget. They are good at that. Minimizing fear means minimizing panic, my mother once said. It also reminds me although this side of the mountain is a bastion of highly controlled technology outlawed from the rest of the empire, the Island on the other side follows the Reformation Act. After all, the court must set an example.

But the Shadow Trials? I highly doubt those will follow protocol. What fun would that be?

“Calming, isn’t it?” The soft voice comes from a Bronze girl sitting against the opposite wall. Ashy-blond hair falls in sumptuous waves over a vibrant pale-blue gown, crowned with a stiff daffodil-yellow silk cape and embroidered with tulle trimmed with soft rosettes. Her face is oval-shaped and slightly plump, with a natural rosy tint to her lips and cheeks and rich brown eyes made for smiling.

“We once had a sitting room that made it appear you were in the clouds, but don’t tell anyone.” Beckoning me over, she offers a slender, boneless hand.

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