Frost & Filigree: A Shadow Council Archives Urban Fantasy Novella (Beasts of Tarrytown Book 1) by Barron Natania

Author:Barron, Natania [Barron, Natania]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Falstaff Books
Published: 2017-06-06T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

It does not get easier. Yvan stays out later and later, arriving dangerously close to dawn on more than one occasion, meeting with Christabel Crane. He calls her odd, yet fascinating. Worth grows more and more concerned for the vampire, but when he brings up the issue, Yvan shuts him out and says he is being possessive.

This is not the creature he fell in love with. Without the open road between them, without the promise of adventure, their differences are so much clearer. Worth wants to get to know the lay of the land, to discover the patterns of the town. He spends hours plotting the comings and goings of millers and bakers and merchants, noting the strange habits of errant husbands and housemaids. He finds it so curious that they would live their lives so in the open, so easily left to discovery. Yvan, however, wants nothing to do with anyone else in Sleepy Hollow. He wants only to speak with the Circle, but despite his better efforts, he is never truly allowed into those secrets.

They fight. Many times. When Worth makes a passing comment about seeing whether or not Nerissa Waldemar might be a good resource, the vampire flies into a jealous rage. Worth is not physically hurt—his blood draws substance from the air and sun, much like a flower, and no amount of loss would cause his death—but he is bruised within. Yvan leaves in a fury.

Then, after waiting up all night, Yvan does not return home to his apartment. Beyond exhausted, Worth falls asleep on the chaise longue in the vampire’s parlor and sleeps right through the day. The sunlight refreshes him, but so deep his melancholy that he slips into a near hibernation.

A scratching sound awakens Worth, and he quickly draws up his glamour. He is so used to doing it in moments of discovery that the act is more of a reaction than conscious. He pulls on a nearby bathrobe and listens at the door, unable to find the tie and instead leaving the garment displaying his most natural human state, if it can be called such a thing.

Leaning into the door, Worth senses the urgency behind it. It’s a skittering, whimpering sound. Like dog nails scrabbling on the floor.

Then a moan, and a curse: “Caulisse. They took the book… wretched woman… Aberrants… ledger…”

Two things wind through Worth’s mind: one is that he knows the sound as Yvan’s voice, the other is that he did not sense him. A Questing Beast always knows the feeling of his captor. His scent, his presence, his unique energy imprint. It has always served him well and alerted him, even when sleeping.

But it isn’t working.

Then there is the matter of the ledger. They have spoken at length of its value, all whilst avoiding the subject of its author. He must be desperate to be bringing it up.

When he opens the door, he understands why.

Yvan is covered in boils and scratches. The sun is not up, but even so, those burns are different—he had seen them once when they timed an expedition wrong.

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.