The Stricken by Morgan Shamy

Author:Morgan Shamy [Shamy, Morgan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CamCat Publishing

22

DOOM

Fae slapped down a large leather book onto the table where we were sitting. Ricki and I glanced at each other, eyebrows raised, though she still looked shaken. She couldn’t maintain eye contact with me for long.

The library ceiling towered stories above us, supported by marble columns that encircled the large space. Each wall was filled with books and lined with sliding ladders stretching up to the tallest stacks. Books towered from the top of the ceiling to the floor, every shape, size, and color lining the wooden shelves. The white drapes that usually covered the glassless windows were pulled back, the stars in the night sky winking through.

“We don’t have much time,” Fae said. “When those kids can’t find you, they’ll go to their parents, who will go to the High Officials, and then everyone will be searching for you.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and started pacing. “But there’s so much more for us to focus on.”

She paused and faced me. “You need to know more about the history of Khalom. It will help us.” Her sharp nail pointed down at the book in front of me. “We have scribes here whose job is to write every detail of our history. In fact, that Diviner attack has probably already made it into the books. Everything from the days of Ehlissa to the present is written and documented here in this library.”

Ricki gave me another look and I shivered.

“You know Clara didn’t do this, right?” Though Ricki didn’t sound convincing. It was almost like a question.

“Of course I do,” Fae said stiffly. “Not on purpose, anyway.” She raised a single brow. Her nail tapped on the book. “This is why we’re here.”

“Please don’t tell me you expect us to read that. If everyone in the city is really after Clara, we don’t have time,” Ricki said.

Fae ignored her. “This is installment nine thousand eight hundred and seventeen of our history.” She drew her finger over the golden number embossed on the cover. Her mouth tightened. “I brought you here because history is repeating itself and you should be aware.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “How?”

Fae’s shoulders sagged, and her mouth relaxed. “I owe you an apology, Clara. I wanted you gone, but I shouldn’t have tried to push you away. I see now that you’re essential to Khalom’s safety.”

I titled my head in question, brows creased.

But I already knew. A war was coming. Death was the only thing that could stop it.

I shook my head. “I can’t help you.”

Fae’s thin brows slanted inward. “I should’ve been kinder to you. You are Laela’s granddaughter after all. And with Laela having been my best friend . . .” She trailed off, her eyes turning wistful for a moment. “Did Ricki tell you that we were Blood Companions? I once saved Laela from a Diviner attack, in the early days, before she developed her strength to defeat them. We are forever linked—or were. When one becomes a Blood Companion with another, when one saves the life of another Noble, you give them a piece of your Center.

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