Singer's Sword by Cassandra Boyson

Author:Cassandra Boyson [Boyson, Cassandra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-10T23:00:00+00:00

17

That night, Hazel awoke to a burning in her chest. Upon peering down, she found the place from which the pain stemmed was… glowing. With a squeal, she leaped from the bed and raced to the full-length mirror. It continued to burn as she watched it work its way toward her throat. Another gasp and she was singing. It was nearly involuntary, but she found it helped, so she continued wailing out her obscure note. When it hit her throat, the note was cut off and she bent over, choking and heaving. Finally, with a guttural hack, it flew from her mouth.

Taking up the skirts of her nightdress, she raced to where she had heard it crash. Relief of being free of the unidentified object washed over her as she knelt before what appeared to be a radiant stone… a diamond? But how and when had she swallowed it? And why was it glowing? She reached for it but hissed when it seared her fingers. Nursing the burned hand, she reached for a nearby kerchief and used it to take up the stone to examine more closely. It was large and, if she knew anything about gems, pristinely cut. But how on Kaern had she ended up with it inside her? And what was she to do with it?

“Go,” the voice she’d heard in the prison earlier in the evening whispered into her ear.

“Who is it?” she cried out, frightened now.

“Go. The door.”

Hoping beyond all hope this voice meant her no harm—that, indeed, it was the god-Entity of the land—she went for the door.

Abruptly, it struck her: the day they’d discovered The Mirror had survived. There had been evidence of another room behind it. Within it had been a stone much like the one she held, but it had been broken to pieces. She still had it in the drawer of her nightside table.

“The Mirror… is that where I must take it?” she asked the air.

The stone shone hotter, sending her feet racing. It struck her that the room behind The Mirror had not been rebuilt. Who could have foreseen a purpose for it? Now, what was she to do when she got to the mirror room and could not place the diamond in its rightful place? Moreover, why was it to be put there at all?

The Mirror’s door was before her. It possessed no keeper. It was all but forgotten to them at the present. If noble eighteen-year-olds were no longer forced to enter, what was its use to anyone? Stepping in, she found a somewhat familiar feeling carpet in the center of the room.

“Great Entity, I am here. But what am I to do?”

As if lifted by the great gust of wind that followed, the far wall rose into the ceiling. Another room was revealed—one they had not built. Within it, stood something like a fireplace, but set higher so its hearthstone reached her waist.

“What on Kaern…” she whispered.

The diamond burned severely through her kerchief, so she swiftly emptied it onto the hearthstone.

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