What Will Burn by James Oswald (ebook reader web .txt) 📕

warm like the womb. She floats in it carelessly, watching and waiting, listening to the quiet noises of the house as it breathes. It is good to be free of the pain, the weariness of long years and a body grown tired and old. She was done with being Cecily, more than ready to move on.

But not straight away, perhaps.

She has earned some respite, she thinks. A chance to rest and recover, now that her vengeance is complete. True, her nemesis died at another’s hand, but such is life, and death. His end was sweet joy to witness all the same, and it has brought with it an unexpected bonus. Blindsided, he acted foolishly, too swift in seeking his retribution. And now he is trapped. The mind he possessed was not ready, not strong enough to contain him. How long will that body survive? How long will modern medicine keep it alive? Will he live ninety years like Cecily? If so, then she is in no rush. She has time to choose, time to make plans and change the world.

Beside her the other spirit stirs, turns, settles and falls back into slumber. This is a safe place, a secure and most welcome refuge. They have both of them done well to find it. Although it is perhaps not surprising given the family that has lived here, that lives here still.

She sniffs the air, tastes the scent of those who have passed through here so recently. Some already have the knowledge, the wisdom of ages passed down from soul to soul. They see her for what she truly is, but keep that secret to themselves. Of the others, almost any would make a fine union. All but the master of the house. He is an ally, that rare thing in this world, a genuinely good man, but he is no vessel.

But the others? Which one would agree to take on her mantle? Which one would assume that great power, and with it that great responsibility? So many to choose from, and all so strong.

She is in no rush. For once, she is safe. And her old foe is weakened, trapped. She can afford to take her time.

She will wait, for now, to be reborn.

If you loved WHAT WILL BURN why not try NOTHING TO HIDE, the latest book in James Oswald’s new Constance Fairchild series?

Suspended from duty after her last case ended in the high-profile arrest of one of Britain’s wealthiest men, DC Constance Fairchild is trying to stay away from the limelight. Fate has other ideas . . .

Coming home to her London flat, Constance stumbles across a young man, bloodied, mutilated and barely alive. She calls it in and is quickly thrown into the middle of a nationwide investigation . . . It seems that the victim is just the latest in a string of similar ritualistic attacks.

No matter that she is off-duty, no matter that there are those in the Met who would gladly see the back of her, Con can’t shake her innate determination to bring the monsters responsible for this brutality to justice.

Trouble always seems to find her, and even if she has nothing to hide, perhaps she has everything to lose . . .

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