Dawn of Cobalt Shadows (Burning Empire Book 2) by Emma Hamm (best e ink reader for manga .txt) 📕

toward a darkened corner of the room which appeared to have a corridor leading away from the mural.

“Hello?” she called out.

No one responded, but she had the distinct feeling she was being watched.

She didn't want to leave this cavern with the vivid paintings on the wall. It felt far safer than any other place she’d been on this journey. Sigrid was close to the memories of her ancestors here. She could almost feel their souls helping her, guiding her on a journey that would change everything.

And yet, she couldn’t stay here when she knew something was watching her.

Blowing out a breath, she walked away from the beautiful paintings, the first hint that she was doing something right, and made her way down the corridor.

The firelight never cast its rays on something that lived in the cave system. She was guided by the sound of stones, but never saw who made the sounds.

“Am I going mad?” she whispered.

A gust of cold air was her answer. She rounded a corner and found herself in a very similar mouth of a different cave. It had to be a separate cave, there was no way she had somehow made her way back to the exact same one. There hadn’t been any other exits other than the one with the boulder, and the one that led out into the storm.

She eyed her pack sitting on the ground next to a fire that was almost as big as the one she had left. Cautiously, she approached the pile of her things and nudged the leather bag open.

Nothing appeared to be disturbed. But something had definitely moved it.

Sigrid’s legs suddenly turned rubbery, and she sank down onto the ground next to the fire. “Thank you, whoever you are.”

Her words echoed in the chamber and nothing responded. Her body took over then, incapable of staying awake any longer.

Sigrid drifted to sleep knowing something watched her.

9

Raheem

Leaves crunched under his feet, the sounds of the forest decorating the air around him like visible pings of light. He’d never thought the sound of birds calling could ever be so beautiful that he’d think of poetry. Here, the land spoke to him like nothing he’d ever experienced.

Everything was so green. The colors flooded his eyes until he was nearly overwhelmed. How did the people here live without standing still simply to gaze upon the beauty? The Earthen folk wandered around without a care in the world. Possibly, they took the greenery for granted, but he never would.

Raheem breathed in the scent of moss and dirt. He’d thought it would smell… well, dirty. Instead, the loam smelled like the growth of land and the great reach of trees who had been in the soil for centuries.

Hefting the pack on his shoulder, he stepped over a fallen log and continued toward the keep where the other Beastkin awaited. The welcome he’d receive likely wouldn’t be all that good. His goodbye hadn’t been much more than a good riddance.

It made sense they didn’t want to trust him. He was a human, for one, and a Bymerian man for the other. They’d persecuted the Beastkin people for centuries.

Telling stories about his wife had helped. A few of the Earthen Beastkin had blushed when he’d described her dark eyes. How they’d sparkled even in the starlight, because she’d always worn her love so it was visible to everyone who looked.

Gods, he missed her every day.

Raheem reached up and patted the trunk of a tree as he rounded it. Four men wouldn’t have been able to reach around the width, it had to be centuries old. But then, everything here was. Dripping in emeralds, so vivid it burned the eyes, and so ancient that stories seemed to radiate from everything by the moment.

The keep loomed in the distance. He straightened his shoulders and kept his eye peeled for any unnatural movement. The Beastkin were hard to spot, especially in animal form.

The gates were new, he mused as he stood in front of the keep. Where had they gotten those? The last time he’d been here, supplies were hard to come by.

He touched a finger to the wrought iron, surprised to find it was sturdy and well-made. Had they picked up a blacksmith somewhere? That was the only person he knew who could do something this intricate.

Opening it, he ignored the creaking sound and strode through the gates toward the keep.

A few Beastkin loitered outside, but far fewer than he remembered. Raheem narrowed his eyes. The hairs on his arms lifted. Something was off, but he didn’t know what.

One of the Earthen Beastkin, a woman with pale skin and yellow eyes, paused in front of him. Her gaze shifting. “Raheem?”

“Quite a welcome home,” he replied, chuckling even though he felt as though a terrible change had occurred. “Where is everyone?”

The Beastkin woman twisted her hands. “In mourning.”

“For who?” His gut already knew. There was only one person who could turn the entire Beastkin population inside out with her death. When the Beastkin woman didn’t reply, he ground out a quick, “Enough.”

Raheem didn’t see much of the rest as he stalked toward the keep. His mind couldn’t focus on the details of the world around him when something so precious had been lost.

Sigrid.

She was unlike any woman he’d met other than his beloved wife. She’d fought the world head on, unafraid of what it would think or do. He’d come to think of her as a close friend. There was no question in his mind she would listen to any trouble he had and act accordingly. Now she was gone?

He couldn’t believe it. It felt wrong to imagine a woman so full of purpose and determination having fled from this life.

An old feeling of regret and pain bloomed in his chest. He’d lost a woman like her before; he wasn’t certain he’d survive it again.

The doors to the keep slammed open, barely registering that he was the one who had burst through. His despair and rage took over