Quiet in Her Bones by Singh, Nalini (mobi reader .txt) 📕

her sister’s body. She’d put up a For Sale sign instead.

“I suppose he’s still pretending he donated the money anonymously to ­domestic-­violence charities.”

“In small sums.” Part of me believed him. The rest wondered if the quarter million he’d found accidentally when he hit the wrong switch and the boot popped open had become his freedom when it came to his ­affairs—­no need to hide spending, no need to cover up a paper trail.

“It’s done.” Lily looked out at the breathtaking alpine scenery that surrounded us in the mountains of a city that had once been the residence of kings.

A fitting resting place for a woman as dazzling as any queen.

But as I looked over this landscape, I couldn’t help but wonder if my mother’s spirit would linger on in the cold green place that had been her tomb for a decade.

Oh, Ari. Laughter on the breeze, a ghost’s kiss on my cheek. I was never trapped, mere dil ka tukda. That was always you.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A very special ­thank-­you to my parents, Usha and Vijay, for checking on my Hindi. Any mistakes are very definitely mine. (A note about transliteration: Since Hindi has its own alphabet, there are often variant spellings for things in the English alphabet. I tried to choose the most common spelling where I could, but otherwise just picked one and went with it.)

The Te Reo Māori in this book is from my own ­knowledge—­most of the words are in everyday use in New Zealand.

A huge ­thank-­you to the incredible team that worked on this ­book—­and the equally incredible people who have helped spread the word about it. I can’t name you all, but I hope you know how much I appreciate you.

Thank you to Ashwini for being my sounding board even when I drive you up the wall. And to Rene, thank you for taking me on all those long and winding drives to find locations for fictional dark deeds.

Last but never least, my thanks to you, for picking up this book.

Nalini

Auckland, New Zealand

CREDITS

Nalini Singh and Gollancz would like to thank everyone at Orion who worked on the publication of Quiet in Her Bones in the UK.

Editorial

Rachel Winterbottom

Brendan Durkin

Editorial Management

Charlie Panayiotou

Jane Hughes

Alice Davis

Audio

Paul Stark

Amber Bates

Contracts

Anne Goddard

Paul Bulos

Jake Alderson

Marketing

Tanjiah Islam

Design

Lucie Stericker

Joanna Ridley

Nick May

Helen Ewing

Clare Sivell

Finance

Jennifer Muchan

Jasdip Nandra

Afeera Ahmed

Elizabeth Beaumont

Sue Baker

Production

Paul Hussey

Fiona McIntosh

Publicity

Alex Layt

Sales

Jen Wilson

Victoria Laws

Esther Waters

Rachael Hum

Ellie Kyrke-Smith

Frances Doyle

Ben Goddard

Georgina Cutler

Barbara Ronan

Andrew Hally

Dominic Smith

Maggy Park

Linda McGregor

Sinead White

Jemimah James

Rachel Jones

Jack Dennison

Nigel Andrews

Ian Williamson

Julia Benson

Declan Kyle

Robert Mackenzie

Operations

Jo Jacobs

Sharon Willis

Lisa Pryde

ALSO BY NALINI SINGH

Guild Hunter Series

ANGELS’ BLOOD

ARCHANGEL’S KISS

ARCHANGEL’S CONSORT

ARCHANGEL’S BLADE

ARCHANGEL’S STORM

ARCHANGEL’S LEGION

ARCHANGEL’S SHADOWS

ARCHANGEL’S ENIGMA

ARCHANGEL’S HEART

ANGELS’ FLIGHT

(SHORT STORY COLLECTION)

ARCHANGEL’S VIPER

ARCHANGEL’S PROPHECY

ARCHANGEL’S WAR

Psy-Changeling Series

SLAVE TO SENSATION

VISIONS OF HEAT

CARESSED BY ICE

MINE TO POSSESS

HOSTAGE TO PLEASURE

BRANDED BY FIRE

BLAZE OF MEMORY

BONDS OF JUSTICE

PLAY OF PASSION

KISS OF SNOW

TANGLE OF NEED

HEART OF OBSIDIAN

SHIELD OF WINTER

SHARDS OF HOPE

ALLEGIANCE OF HONOR

WILD INVITATION

(SHORT STORY COLLECTION)

WILD EMBRACE

(NOVELLAS COLLECTION)

Psy-Changeling Trinity Series

SILVER SILENCE

OCEAN LIGHT

WOLF RAIN

ALPHA NIGHT

Thrillers

A MADNESS OF SUNSHINE

QUIET IN HER BONES

Copyright

First published in Great Britain in 2021 by Gollancz

an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd

Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment

London EC4Y 0DZ

An Hachette UK Company

Copyright © Nalini Singh 2021

The moral right of Nalini Singh to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN (eBook) 978 1 473 22959 4

www.nalinisingh.com

www.gollancz.co.uk