The Mortal Heart by Kami García, Margaret Stohl Read Free Book Online Page A

and I can’t stop now. Not even if I wanted to.”
    Marian pulled off her gloves. “It’s a dangerous road, Lila.”
    “Macon said you were a Keeper. I want to be like you.”
    “Lila—”
    “It’s my choice. You said it was always my choice,” Lila Jane said, reaching to take Marian’s hand in her own.
    “It is.”
    “I feel like it’s more than that, Mare. I feel like it’s my destiny.” Lila Jane squeezed her best friend’s hand. “And you know I’ve never been afraid of the dark.”
    She looked at Marian with huge, heavy eyes.
    They were the kind of eyes that wanted to see the truth, and nothing less.

    Thirty years later and hundreds of miles away, Lila Evers Wate’s only son stared up at Marian with those same eyes.
    He clutched Marian’s hand, with Lila Jane’s mother-of-pearl watch strapped to her slender wrist. Listening as intently as his mother always had.
    Marian couldn’t find her voice.
    He’s so much like his mother. But he’s more than just Lila Jane’s son. He’s her destiny now.
She closed her eyes.
You’re not done yet, Janie, but you’re close. I can feel the road’s end. Just a bit farther, I promise.
    It was a promise Marian could make because she knew something no one else in Gatlin County did.
    Destiny wasn’t finished with this boy and his mother.
    Not yet, Janie.
    Not yet.

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About the Authors
    Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl are longtime friends and coauthors of the #1
New York Times
bestselling Beautiful Creatures novels. The first book in the series,
Beautiful Creatures
, is now a major motion picture. In addition to writing together, they have written solo series: The Legion Series by Kami Garcia includes the instant
New York Times
bestseller and Bram Stoker Award nominee
Unbreakable
and
Unmarked
; and the Icons series by Margaret Stohl includes
Icons
, which is currently in development as a feature film, and
Idols
. Kami and Margaret invite you to visit them online at kamigarcia.com and margaret-stohl.com.

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Copyright
    This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
    Copyright © 2015 by Kami Garcia, LLC, and Margaret Stohl, Inc.
    Cover design by Maggie Edkins
    Cover photograph © Andrew Davis / Trevillion Images
    Cover © 2015 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
    All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
    Little, Brown and Company
    Hachette Book Group
    1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10104
    lb-teens.com
    Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
    The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
    The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
    First ebook edition: March 2015
    ISBN 978-0-316-30314-9
    E3