Cursebreakers by Madeleine Nakamura EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Madeleine Nakamura
- Language: English
- Genre: Fantasy Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
The day before extravagant disaster set in, I was walking alongside the
Aqua Circadia; the canal was swollen with the ongoing downpour. I barely
paid attention to where I was going. The error I’d made revealed itself when
I ran right into someone, a black streak in the rain. The streak resolved itself
into a Vigil officer; I prepared to be executed on the spot.
I said, reflexively, “Stars and saints.”
He said, equally reflexively, something unspeakably impolite.
He was a young man, only a little older than some of my students—in
his earliest twenties, I guessed. A lieutenant’s star gleamed on his uniform.
He pushed an unruly sweep of black hair out of his face and pointed his
chin at me, narrow eyes dark with scorn. He was soaked to the skin, but he
didn’t seem to care.
“Excuse you,” the officer said. “Watch it.”
True, I’d walked into him, but I bridled nevertheless, biting my tongue
to suppress a waspish response.
I stand by my aversion to the Vigil; their uniforms are designed for
intimidation, all black and sharp edges, and their rache hounds are bred to
terrorize. Strange animals, neither wolves nor lions, ill-tempered to a one.
This officer’s rache was much smaller than most, not quite coming up to his
knees, but the sight of her still drove a shiver through me. The yellow eyes
set deep in her black, foxlike face shone with a dreadful intelligence. “I said
excuse you,” the officer said. “I said watch it.” His rache lashed her tail,
sending raindrops flying.
“Yes, I heard,” I said delicately, taking a measured step back. I regretted
my choice within an instant—I should have been practical and apologized.
He scowled, one hand drifting to the hilt of his saber. I remembered my
earlier thought that he might simply run me through in the middle of the
street.
But other people had noticed there was something amiss and were
watching. The majority of passersby who had stopped in their tracks were
university students and other faculty, most of them soaked just as the soldier
was. People are unused to inclement weather in Astrum, but I’d brought an
umbrella. One of the advantages of my affinity for lightning is a sense for
storms.
The soldier looked around and noticed his audience; I saw him weigh
the situation. He sighed, and his hands went in his pockets instead.
“I could take you in for assaulting an officer,” he said.
“It was an accident.”
“Whatever.”
“It’s still the first week of the new semester,” I said blankly, not yet
processing his threat. “I really shouldn’t be late.”
He drew closer to me, and I stumbled back—right by the side of the
nearby Aqua Circadia. I managed to hold onto my umbrella. “Should I push
you in?” he asked. The question sounded almost genuine.
“Well, no,” I said.
“Why not?”
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