Barb and J C Hendee [Noble De First

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.BY BARB AND J.C.HENDEETHE NOBLE DEAD SAGA—SERIES ONEDHAMPIRTHIEF OF LIVESSISTER OF THE DEADTRAITOR TO THE BLOODREBEL FAYCHILD OF A DEAD GODTHE NOBLE DEAD SAGA—SERIES TWOIN SHADE AND SHADOWTHROUGH STONE AND SEAOF TRUTH AND BEASTSTHE NOBLE DEAD SAGA—SERIES THREEBETWEEN THEIR WORLDSTHE DOG IN THE DARKA WIND IN THE NIGHTFIRST AND LAST SORCERERALSO BY BARB HENDEETHE VAMPIRE MEMORIES SERIESBLOOD MEMORIESHUNTING MEMORIESMEMORIES OF ENVYIN MEMORIES WE FEARGHOST OF MEMORIESTHE MIST-TORN WITCHES SERIESTHE MIST-TORN WITCHESWITCHES IN REDROCPublished by the Penguin GroupPenguin Group (USA) LLC, 375 Hudson Street,New York, New York 10014USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | Chinapenguin.comA Penguin Random House CompanyFirst published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library,a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLCCopyright © Barb Hendee and J.C.Hendee, 2015Penguin supports copyright.Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture.Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission.You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADALIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:Hendee, Barb.First and last sorcerer: a novel of the noble dead / Barb Hendee, J.C.Hendee.pages cm.—(Noble dead; 10)ISBN 978-0-698-15444-5I.Hendee, J.C.II.Title.PS3608.E525F57 2015813'.6—dc23 2014023981PUBLISHER’S NOTEThis is a work of fiction.Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.Version_1ContentsAlso by BARB AND J.C.HENDEETitle pageCopyright pagePrologueChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter EightChapter NineChapter TenChapter ElevenChapter TwelveChapter ThirteenChapter FourteenChapter FifteenChapter SixteenChapter SeventeenChapter EighteenChapter NineteenEpiloguePrologue.what are you.why have you come.who do you serve?Magiere lay on the cold stone floor of a locked cell beneath the imperial palace of Samau’a Gaulb, the main port city of il’Dha’ab Najuum and the Suman Empire as a whole.Shackled by her wrists with heavy chains anchored in the cell’s rear wall, her wrists had long ago torn, bled, and half scabbed from straining against her bonds.And those three questions repeated over and over in her mind.She’d heard them pressed into her thoughts rather than spoken by a voice, and they still echoed even now.Her tormentor had asked these on his first visit to her cell, though she never once heard him speak aloud.At times, she awoke thinking he stood inside the closed door, but when she opened her eyes to the complete darkness.Magiere was alone until he came again and tortured her without even touching her.Was that even possible, or did she only think so?She didn’t know anymore.She lay curled up with her long black hair lying tangled and lank across the floor stones.Strands stuck to her nearly white face, which was smudged and marred with filth.Her falchion and Chein’âs white metal dagger had been taken before she’d been locked away.How many days or nights had she been here?Hunger, thirst, cold, and pain were her existence, leaving little room to feel anything else.except fear for what had become of Leesil.She remembered her husband—and Wayfarer, and Chap, and the few others who were precious to her—but only by memories her tormentor had somehow ripped from where they hid in her mind.Memories of those she loved had become shadows in the dark.Whether she closed her eyes or not, only Leesil remained clear enough to hold on to.along with her hate for the one who’d come again and again.Hate now kept her alive more than anything else.A metallic clack echoed in the cell.Magiere flinched, shuddered, and struggled to the cell’s back wall.In the beginning, she’d risen into a crouch and watched the cell door open whenever he came.She hadn’t resisted her dhampir half when it overwhelmed her in those earliest days—or were they nights? There was no way to tell the difference in the dark.Her jaws had ached under the sudden growth of her teeth.Her irises had widened until they blotted out the whites of her eyes.And she’d lunged again and again.Chains creaked and clattered but never broke.Their anchored brackets wouldn’t rip from the wall.All she’d done was savagely claw the air halfway to that door.and him.But now she curled against the back wall, unable to summon her other half so she could at least see in the dark.Perhaps this time it was just a guard sliding in another bowl of scraps or water.When the door opened, its hinges squealed.She scrunched her eyes, shielding them with a raised hand against the sudden but dim light of a lantern.The iron door slammed shut before she lowered that hand.and there he stood.As always, he was robed in shimmering gray with shadowy but glinting strange symbols upon the fabric.That was all she ever saw of him.With his arms raised waist high, each hand was always tucked into the opposing sleeve, and the sagging hood hid his face as well.He was slender, though tall for a Suman.She’d guessed he was a he only because the robe’s thin fabric would’ve exposed a woman’s build.On the floor to his left but back nearer to the iron door sat an oil lantern with its wick turned down low.Perhaps it was the same one as before—and before—though she’d never seen him touch it in any of his visits [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Pokrewne