Read Of Shadow Born for Free Online

Miranda’s mind.
    She had fought with every last inch of her will to free herself from their grasp and run back to the roof, but she was too weak, too weak from blood loss . . . she couldn’t remember what she had felt first, the explosion or . . .
    “No . . .”
    She remembered. She had felt it. She had felt the life draining out of her, out of them both, felt the hammer fall . . . the impact of her body with the cold ground, her soul being torn from her, ripped in half, that kiss of warmth she had felt in her mind for the past four years violently torn away, the wound ragged, bleeding, bleeding . . .
    She felt a hand on her shoulder. “Miranda, are you okay? What—”
    All around her she could hear things falling off shelves. Her shields were starting to crumble. One of the girls cried out.
    She pulled the energy back in, forced the barriers back up, but the fall continued in her mind, a hammer falling, shards of scarlet thrown in all directions, one last breath, she felt it . . . she felt it . . .
    The world grew very still. Everything went completely silent, allowing her words to be heard, to make the impossible, the desolation, real.
    “He’s dead,” she whispered. “David is dead.”
    Grief took her body in great racking sobs, and all she had to grab on to were the arms that wrapped around her, one pair, then two . . . human and fragile, perhaps, but strong enough to hold the broken heart of a Queen.
    * * *
    Jonathan woke with a start, his eyes on fire with tears, and struggled to straighten himself from the position he had slouched into in the armchair.
    He had to fight with all his strength not to break down weeping—the sorrow was overwhelming, so deep it felt like his soul had been rent in two.
    The book on his lap fell onto the floor. The noise was jarring enough to throw him out of the trance . . . and trance it had to be, because he felt almost exactly the same way when he came out of a precog episode. But this . . . this was different . . . this was something happening now .
    The door of the suite flew open, and Deven stumbled in, ghostly pale. He fell back against the door as it shut, and Jonathan saw he was shaking, breath coming in tortured gasps.
    He felt it, too.
    Just like that night, by the car, when they—and across the ocean, Jacob and Cora—felt David die.
    Only this time . . .
    Prime and Consort’s eyes met, shared pain yielding to shared realization, and they both spoke at the same time:
    “Miranda.”
    * * *
    Stella had never seen the look on Lark’s face before, and she didn’t say anything about it until they had helped get Miranda into Stella’s bed and the Queen had collapsed into an exhausted sleep. Stella pulled the bedroom door shut, confident that even with the sun up outside the bedroom was in near-total darkness.
    Lark sank onto the couch. She was staring off into nothing.
    “Is it too early for tequila?” Stella asked, attempting a smile.
    After a moment Lark reached into her bag and pulled out an Altoids tin; inside was a lighter and half a joint. She shot Stella a questioning look.
    For once, Stella just nodded. Now was not the time to argue with her.
    Stella went into the apartment’s microscopic galley kitchen and put on a pot of coffee, ignoring the stink coming from the living room. She’d never been a big fan of marijuana, mostly because of the smell; it reminded her of dirty gym socks, which was why she didn’t usually let Lark smoke at her place. The only time she’d ever enjoyed it was in brownies, but she and Lark had gotten the munchies and ended up eating half the pan, so she was sick as a dog for days. After that she’d lost her appetite for the stuff.
    She stuck her favorite mug directly under the coffeemaker’s spigot to catch the first strong cup. Foxglove had given it to her last Halloween; it was painted to look like a cauldron and said Witches’ Brew on the side.
    In here, everything was so normal. Stove,