Wings of Sorrow and Bone by Beth Cato Read Free Book Online

academic standards, she was yet another ignorant Caskentian refugee. To Grandmother’s dismay, Rivka’s writing skills were abysmal. She had a knack for mathematics and machines, true, but had no comprehension of the advanced skills required to work on a behemoth chimera. That entailed decades of training under a true master craftsman.
    â€œYou might regret this, though,” he said. “Working on the chimera won’t be pretty. This is surgery, of a sort.”
    â€œI’ve seen blood. Death, too. That’s why I don’t like to see others suffer.” She shrugged away images of her bloodied past. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
    Tatiana awaited her in the hallway, beaming like an electric light. “That went well!”
    Rivka grabbed her by the arm, looming over her. “You had no right to imply Miss Leander would instruct him. You could have just asked him to help us.”
    â€œI could have, and he would have said no. What else would we do? Approach Mr. Cody directly? How do you think he’d respond? We have to get him to like us again—­or even better, respect us—­before we dare ask him for anything. Besides, if you’ve been around Miss Leander, you know she’d help him. She helps anyone ,” she said with a sneer.
    Tatiana was like a feral cat Rivka once knew on a tower roof—­pretty as could be, and claws quick to swipe if you got too close.
    Rivka released her hold. “She helped your mother, too.”
    Tatiana’s eyes narrowed. “Do you want to save the gremlins or not? And Lump. What kind of name is Lump ?”
    Rivka felt so tired all of a sudden. Tired of Tatiana and her manipulations, of the sneer that crept into her voice. Tired of wondering if every whisper was about her face. She wanted to bury herself in her projects and books—­even the damned grammar exercises from her tutor sounded pleasant at this point. At least she’d be home.
    But the gremlins needed her. She wasn’t sure how to save them, but she knew she couldn’t do it alone. She didn’t want to do it alone.
    â€œLump is just a name,” Rivka said, looking away.
    â€œJust a name.” Tatiana harrumphed. She walked by, then turned, sudden worry crinkling her eyes. “Are you coming?”
    Tatiana was scared to walk back to the tram alone. Good. She should be scared. Maybe on some level she knew that she couldn’t bend everyone to her whim.
    â€œCan you meet me downstairs in a few minutes?” Rivka asked as she switched the parasol hook to her other arm.
    â€œWhat, are you going to talk to Broderick without me?”
    Was that jealousy in Tatiana’s eyes? Rivka shook her head, loose hair lashing her cheeks. “No. I’m going to buy something here. Give me a minute.”
    Rivka waited until she heard the stairs creak beneath Tatiana’s weight, then she opened the door to the bakery. The full smell smacked her: bread, yeast, sugar, and so many childhood memories.
    â€œCan I help you?” The woman in the kitchen had to be Grandmother’s age, her skin like mahogany, her hair white and unconstrained like a halo. A table was laid out with the usual Mendalian flatbreads of the southern nations, and speckled egg rolls, and . . .
    â€œIs that . . . a Frengian maple-­sugar cake?”
    â€œYes, yes! Used up the last maple sugar I took as a barter. You Frengian?”
    â€œMy mama was. I’ll buy a loaf.” She fingered the coins in her pocket as the baker wrapped a block in paper.
    As she headed downstairs, she heard heavy footsteps ascending. Tatiana’s expression was anxious, angry, but upon seeing Rivka, she shifted to her usual haughtiness. “Oh. You really were buying something.”
    Had Tatiana really been so sure that Rivka would desert her here, without so much as a parasol for defense? Rivka paused on the steps. She broke the small loaf in half and