A Song to Wake a Thousand Sorrows by Michelle Manus

Author:Michelle Manus [Manus, Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Seclusion Publishing

Clare almost pitied the artists who followed her. She had done them the service of showing them what the siren rocks did, and the disservice of using them so well that none could measure up against her. A few managed them well enough, though not with Clare’s complex blend of melodies and complements. The few that tried to match her intricacy were unmitigated disasters, their unfamiliarity with singing against a melody they were not actively in control of, without the little tells and intros provided by other musicians playing them, throwing them out of rhythm. Two did not use the stones at all, as if accepting the failure that would come of it, and simply sang; they did not impress, but they did not embarrass themselves either.

In the silence that followed the last performance, the brief reprieve in which the members of each table wrote their vote on the little card at their place setting and handed it off to the valets coming to collect them, the countess’s irritated gaze remained on her the whole time.

She ignored it, playing off Numair to keep the table’s attention occupied. When the time came, she accepted the winning of the contest with pretty words and pretty smiles, her face a beacon of shining appreciation for the honor bestowed upon her. She flitted from person to person in the mingling that followed, noting Chalen’s careful hand in no less than half a dozen of the garments worn.

She managed, throughout the endless talking, the trading back and forth of words that didn’t mean anything and yet could mean too much, to keep Numair with her. He might have to keep up his usual persona, but she hadn’t brought him here to throw him to the court wolves that liked to laugh at him to his face, thinking he was too dumb or drunk to notice they weren’t laughing with him.

When opportunity arose, she nodded him toward the door, but already she could see the vultures following, knew they weren’t going to reach the exit before they were accosted again.

She ducked her head closer to him and said, “Should we go out in…interesting style?”

“What exactly did you have in mind?”

She grinned at him, then sang that note she had instinctively known would shatter the floor. She sang it in the softest of whispers, but the lack of volume made no difference to the intensity of the sound, nor to the cold marble floor beneath her feet, which warmed and shattered with alacrity.

In the confusion that followed, they easily slipped out. She snuck only a single backward glance at the floor. She had been right; it did look better broken.

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.