Reign of Shadows by Sophie Jordan Read Free Book Online

didn’t press for more. Perla was in no mood for it. The air felt strained and tenuous enough, brittle like the ancient parchment of the few books we possessed.
    I held silent as Perla gathered what she needed. Sivo hummed lightly from the chair where he sat. She banged through the cupboards, searching for something.
    â€œWhat are you looking for?” I asked tentatively.
    â€œThe large bowl with the chip in it.”
    I automatically reached for it behind the basket of root truffles Sivo had gathered yesterday.
    She grunted again as I handed it to her, her chapped fingers brushing mine. This grunt translated to: “thank you but I’m still angry with you.”
    She returned to the chamber, her tread heavier than usual.
    â€œShe’s not happy with me,” I murmured.
    Sivo stopped humming. “What makes you think that?”
    He was teasing. I smiled and shook my head. “Oh, just a feeling.”
    â€œShe’s scared. She loves you more than herself. We both do. We worry about what will happen to you when we are . . .”
    My smile slipped as his words faded, but the rest was there. I heard it even if unspoken.
    I thought of Fowler’s words. Only the selfish survive this world.
    They rang ominously, an echo that I couldn’t banish. If that were true, then Sivo and Perla had long outlived their life expectancies. That should disprove his statement and not make me feel like their demise was an impending fate chasing them like a bloodhound. It shouldn’t make me feel like my own time was slipping through my fingers like water through a sieve. My throattightened at the notion. It wasn’t so much that I could die. Everyone died. I wasn’t afraid of death.
    It’s that I would die with so little to show for my life. A long stretch of days spent trapped in a tower.
    I was afraid that was all I would ever have.

SEVEN
Luna
    T HAT EVENING I ventured into my bedchamber. Slinked really, pressing flat against the wall, hugging a fresh pitcher of water to my chest—my excuse for entering the room.
    Madoc was awake, thrashing and pleading for relief in a voice that cracked. I could smell the earthy bite of sweat beading his skin. The copper of his blood tainted the room.
    Dagne sniffed softly from beside the bed and adjusted her weight in the chair. “What’s your name again?”
    â€œLuna.”
    We were both quiet for a long while until her chair creaked again and she said, “You’re lucky to have this place. I don’t thinkI’ve ever been anywhere so clean and warm. So safe. I didn’t know places like this exist.”
    A sudden laugh had my head whipping around.
    â€œNo place is safe.” Fowler sat in the corner. He had been there all along. His body was utterly still in a chair near the balcony. I’d occupied that seat for countless hours with the balcony doors open to the outside world, listening to the winds and drone of insects and the distant sounds of dark dwellers. Occasionally, I could hear the death of some poor animal as it fell victim to their ravenous appetites. We weren’t the only things they fed upon.
    The seat cushion bore a permanent indentation from my weight, and now he filled it, altering its shape so that the next time I sat in it I would only think of him and remember the boy—man—who wore his selfishness like a badge of honor.
    My awareness of him burned a path through me. I brushed a stray strand of hair back from my cheek and tried to pretend I didn’t feel his stare. And yet, like an animal aware of something else in its orbit, I knew he was there, watching me, thinking about our last encounter and the truth of my existence. A girl without sight in a world where we lived as prey.
    I could feel him thinking about me, the knowledge whispering in the space between us like a ghost’s breath. Sivo and Perla would panic when they learned this vulnerability had been exposed. And then they would