The Tower Must Fall by S.E. Bennett

Author:S.E. Bennett [Bennett, S.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781620075890
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Published: 2016-04-24T16:00:00+00:00

In which Liesel von Asche is heroic and stupid in equal measures

arek could get used to living the high life.

He stretched out on his back on his five-star train bunk, arms crossed behind his head, and half-listened to the conversation between Annika and Enyo. They sat together on the bunk above his, whispering, and from the snatches of words he heard, Annika was explaining the finer points of honorable hand-to-hand combat to Enyo.

Enyo, for her part, was more animated than Marek had ever heard her with anyone but him. She sounded very skeptical of the real-life applications of chivalry, as she said very forcibly, “Yes, well, that’s fine if you’re fighting with a two-handed axe, but I use knives and guns. There are no honorable ways to fight with my weapons of choice, and that’s not a coincidence.”

“Two-handed axes are pretty,” Annika said wistfully, and he couldn’t hear what she added, but Enyo made a strange noise in response.

Marek’s heart stuttered and he tried hard to relax into his luxury bunk bed. That… that had been a laugh. Annika had made her laugh, and he really shouldn’t feel so miserable that it wasn’t something only he knew how to do.

He knew that it was quite possible that he was just refocusing his life to revolve around his bodyguard. Being on the sleeper train to Gretelstadt reminded him pleasantly of being in the clock-caravan, listening to his aunts argue, feeling the ticking of the engine and the whirring of the mechanics in the walls. This was fancier than any caravan, but there were similarities.

He didn’t miss it. He missed his family  it was worse, somehow, being around Annika and Liesel, who reminded him so much of his cousin Rawnie and aunt Tasaria  but he didn’t miss the life he’d left behind.

This life felt like it was all he’d ever known. Maybe it was the absence of his family, but the longer he spent around Enyo, the more his loyalties shifted.

He wanted her to accept what she was. He wanted her Cryptid, and fighting for what he and the others believed in.

Until two weeks ago, his only ambition  the thing that drove him  was to someday have a family of his own. To love a woman, to somehow persuade her he was worthy, and then to love their child. If he had been mortal, it would have been so easy, but he wasn’t. He was Cryptid, and so preparing the world for that dream took a great deal more effort.

He’d wanted to fight to build that future. Now he listened to Enyo talk, relished the cadence of her scarred voice, and knew that he didn’t want to fight alone anymore.

Kian slid the paneled door of their private carriage open and quickly and quietly moved to crouch by Marek. The carriage had been a gift from the train driver, Edie, and her Cryptid husband, and it had two long, soft benches that attached to chains, converting to make four bunks.

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.