The Heir of Shadow and Stone by Rue Volley EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Rue Volley
- Language: English
- Genre: Dark Fantasy
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
THE KINGDOM OF STONE
On a crisp day with sunlight waning, a girl, not more than fifteen
rotations of the Wintersmoon, nervously fidgets with a red ribbon
wrapping her pale fingers. Her emerald green eyes spark with
mischief, while healthy teeth gnaw at the bottom edge of ruby-red lips.
Her mouth is stained from a mélange of blood berries and lemon ginger
tea that affects the mood. It sharpens a wandering mind, quickens the heart
and eclipses the color of your eyes if consumed in large amounts.
It’s a palliative for warriors, meant for Stone Guardsman on watch, but
the girl practiced restraint, sipping a carefully measured amount from a
hidden bottle as she always did before sharing her kept words. It summons
courage even when hard to find. Which explains why it’s a tonic suited for
men of war.
Her thumb strokes the ribbon. It slowly unwinds, allowing the blood to
flow through her fingers once again before she reaches the secret door
leading into the Library of Acheron. A place that houses the history of the
world in The Kingdom of Stone.
Her heart beats like a war drum. Her ears ring to a fevered pitch.
She draws breath to extinguish the temptation of turning back. “Don’t
be a coward,” the girl chants. Fingers flexing, she pushes on the hidden
door.
The ringing stops. The time has come.
She floats across the room with grace, her white gown tied in a secure
knot above her right knee, so as to not drag the floor, until she stumbles
over what appears to be nothing. Subdued laughter accompanies her. She
takes a seat in the aging chair, willfully ignoring her unceremonious arrival.
But she isn’t like the rest. She never has been, and for that she’s secretly
grateful.
Her sisters, fellow Stone Maidens, have accepted their fates, as is
tradition. But the girl had not. She still wonders if slipping away would be a
suitable option before the night of ascension. Surely someone could be
bribed to help her escape if needed. But it’s a foolish notion. Shameful,
really, as her life had been one of luxury. She’d never wanted for anything,
had always been pampered—belly full. And the teas—oh, the sweet teas!
They seemed to quiet the mind. But not this tea. It lit her senses on fire.
She’d need to drink another to stop these unmentionable thoughts.
A measured inhale lifts her breasts, bound in a white bodice. It sits
secure against a thinning white gown. They are required to wear white—her
and her sisters, which makes it hard to do much of anything without
collecting dirt.
Bones pop with the crook of her neck. A hot bath would sooth her body
before bed as always. This day it’s needed. She fidgets. Light races across a
moistened brow. The tea has served its purpose. She feels alive. More so
than expected.
The girl seeks adventure when the others do not, making her thinning
white gowns impossible to keep clean. Why are they so thin? she wonders.
We have materials much thicker than this, and yet, we wear these gowns
that allow the chill to linger in our muscles and bones.
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