Heart of Shadows (EMPIRE OF BLOOD AND MALICE #1) by Meg Cowley EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: Meg Cowley
- Language: English
- Genre: fantasy romance
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 8 MB
- Price: Free
HARPER
Sheer desperation bought Harper another day from death. The rabbit’s
lifeless eyes reflected late autumn’s woods. Steely skies and scudding
clouds, stretching trunks and bloody leaves—and the darkness of her
looming shadow extinguishing all from those glistening orbs. Harper eased
the snare from its neck before resetting the trap, then fastened the animal to
her belt next to two of its dangling kin. She muttered a small thank you to it
as she always did, and stroked its silken ear. Her slim fingers pressed the
cord back into the pile of sodden leaves, concealing it from view on the
game trail once again.
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She stepped back to appraise it. Invisible. Betta had taught her well. The
old woman was no longer as independent as she had once been and a
shadow of her former self. She relied on Harper to keep her safe, warm, and
fed more than she liked to admit. Harper did not begrudge it. Betta had
saved her from the streets of Glymouth as a young and hopeless waif, and
without the taciturn woman’s pragmatic kindness, Harper would have long
since starved to death. Harper’s stomach growled in anticipation. She stirred
into action. That day, it would not be empty. Her willowy figure might have
been praised as elegant and attractive in some circles—but it was no town
fashion. Her jutting bones were a testament to the slow starvation of
poverty. For a change, she had both surplus meat and hides to sell. The
pittance they would fetch were the heights of her prospects.
Harper wiped her wet palms on her breeches. It did little good. The
steady drizzle, which had persisted since that morning, had soaked through
every layer of clothing she wore. The sun soared far above, wreathed in
mist and fog—nothing more than a baleful disc that cruelly mimicked the
moon’s grace with its cool disdain. Down in the bowels of the forest, there
was no light or warmth to comfort her. Harper suppressed a groan at the
stiffness of her limbs as she stretched.
It was time to return to the village. Soon, dusk would come, and with it,
creatures she was not armed against. Her feet sank through wet loam and
layers of fallen leaves with each step. The trees were half bare, the forest
floor a kaleidoscope of oranges and browns. It made tracking both a
blessing and curse.
The mud made every print stand out in sharp relief, yet
following the game trails was a difficult wade through boggy thickets. It
was lucky she knew the woods like the back of her hand. Where the rabbits
lived, where the deer grazed, and where the denizens prowled.
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