Prince of Shadows by Annette Marie EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Annette Marie
- Language: English
- Genre: Mythology
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
For as long as he could remember, he had sought refuge in the darkness
—but never a darkness like this.
An everlasting twilight hung over the barren landscape, plains of
cracked dirt and scattered rocks, of jagged boulders and wind-worn
outcrops. Skeletons of trees, their broken branches weathered, stretched
toward the dark sky in vain. The endless night had leached away all color,
perception reduced to the meager difference of shadow upon shadows.
A dry, cold wind scoured the earth, its whistling voice among the rocks
the only sound besides his own harsh panting.
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Flight was beyond him. One wing dragged as he fled across the
featureless dirt in the awkward, hopping gait of a bird. His small talons
scraped the arid, packed earth and caught in its cracks. With his dark beak
open for air, he weaved through the sharp rocks, pushing deeper into the
lifeless desert.
Blood dripped from his feathers. As crimson droplets scattered in his
wake, the earth drank them in. And the darkness deepened.
Somewhere behind him, pursuers followed the scent of his blood. It had
been his error. Starvation had driven him to desperation, and he had stolen
from those far more powerful than he.
It wasn’t the first time. Thief. Scavenger. Both were names others had
called him, but he was more. Clever and cunning. Swift and decisive.
Where his cousins had fallen, he had survived. For a long time, he had
survived. But no longer. This time, he had been caught—and the
punishment had been swift.
When he could no longer run, he walked, then staggered through his
growing weakness. Perhaps they would not follow him this far. Perhaps he
could die unmolested and intact. His stumbling movements slowed as his
strength failed.
The darkness surrounding him was deep, impenetrable … alive. In the
crevices between the rocks, in the cracks webbing the parched earth, the
shadows stirred. Restless and hungry, they darkened, growing denser,
reaching out.
When he could continue no farther, he stopped, each hoarse breath
burning his lungs. The throb of bleeding wounds, the sharp agony of torn
flesh, were but distant irritants. His blood dripped, dripped, dripped, feeding
the earth. It pooled beneath him, a shimmering mirror that revealed ragged
feathers clinging to a damaged body. Silver eyes gleamed, pale amidst his
dark reflection.
The shadows seeped from chinks and fissures of the landscape. Rippling
and expanding, they drew closer.
You are different.
His legs trembled, wings splayed for balance, but he raised his head,
denying the weakness in his body and spirit. He would meet death standing,
not lying upon the ground waiting for it to take him.
You are special.
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