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

snake around her shoulders, another with squirrels that chattered on either ends of their perch. A man spoke quietly to the bear which lumbered beside him, and Sigrid thought she caught the tail end of their conversation which had something to do with getting more logs for the great fire.

The medicine woman popped out of the crowd in front of her and gestured with her hand. “Come, come. We’re going to be late, Sigrid, and I don’t want you to miss this.”

“Miss what?”

The woman was already disappearing into the crowd again. Sigrid raced after her, apologizing to those who she shoved out of her way. One man tried to grab her, apparently recognizing that she wasn’t from the enclave, but she pointed in the direction of Eivor and that seemed to change his mind.

Who was this strange woman to them? She didn’t make sense to Sigrid at all. A medicine woman was, of course, important, but that didn’t mean she should be feared or revered. The people reacted to her existence like a king or sultan had slapped them.

They flinched out of the medicine woman’s way, soon leaving a clear path to her side. No one wanted to touch her. A few of the Beastkin even hissed when she got too close to them.

Sigrid slowed when Eivor did, then leaned over and whispered, “Why is everyone afraid of you?”

“The keeper of souls can take a soul if touched,” Eivor replied. Her face didn’t reveal any discomfort at the people’s reactions. She seemed almost… used to the odd reactions.

“That’s why you haven’t touched me,” Sigrid murmured. “You think you’ll take my soul?”

“I know Grim wants it very much, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I don’t think you can take my soul, Eivor. Thank you for being cautious but… if it pleases you, please touch me. I want you to be as comfortable as they are.”

They walked through a sea of people parting in front of them like twin waves. Eivor looked over at her, mask blank and body moving as if she could really see. “You don’t mean that, little dragon.”

“I do mean it.”

“Your soul is the most precious thing you have to offer the world. It’s the only thing which remains when you leave, and offering it to me only means you’ll remain when you do not wish to. I will use your soul as I see fit.”

“Isn’t that what my entire life has been?” Sigrid twisted her body, so she didn’t bump into a horse which looked on with wide eyes. “I have given my life, my body, my time to all Beastkin. I don’t mind if my soul stays to continue that work.”

“You’d mind after death.”

Enough with this kind of talk. She was tired of people telling her how she felt or why she should feel certain things. Sigrid reached out and grabbed onto Eivor’s wrist.

The entirety of the Beastkin around them froze as one. They all stared at the contact as if she’d done something horribly wrong, including Eivor who tilted her head down. The bones beside her head swayed in the air.

“What have you done?”

“What someone else should have done a long time ago.” Sigrid twisted her hand, twining her fingers through Eivor’s, making certain she didn’t cut herself on the long nails. “See? My soul is still intact, and is exactly where it was before. You cannot take a dragon’s soul so easily, Eivor. And now I won’t lose you in the crowd. You move much faster than I do.”

The medicine woman’s voice hitched when she replied. “The matriarch won’t like it.”

“The matriarch has not yet met me. She will like it, because I say it is fine, and that will be the end of the conversation.”

Whether it was the right thing to say or not, Eivor continued through the crowd and it was easier to follow her. Connected by their hands, she was a much better guide. Over and over, Sigrid avoided the eyes of the crowd who stared in fascination.

Sometimes she heard them speaking in the common tongue.

“Who is this newcomer? What has she brought with her?”

“Why did the medicine woman go out into the storm? For this little creature? Certainly not.”

“Is this the dragon?”

The rest was said in a language she didn’t understand in the slightest. There was something odd about it, although lyrical. It sounded as if the Beastkin around her were actually singing the words they spoke.

Finally, Eivor untangled their hands and pointed toward a large door carved into the edge of the mountain. Vines and blooming flowers made out of stone guided the viewer into a cavern that seemed almost endless.

“The matriarch awaits,” the medicine woman said, ducking her head and turning to leave.

“You aren’t coming?”

Eivor paused, and Sigrid swore a smile crossed her face. “We’ll meet again, little dragon. I promise.”

The medicine woman, Soulkeeper, disappeared into the crowd of tattooed barbarians behind her. They parted like a wave, but soon even that was too far away for Sigrid to see. She was left with their questioning stares, their wandering gazes, and the lingering question that hovered in the air between them.

Who was she?

She turned down the corridor into the mountain depths. The vine carvings continued down the narrow path, trailing up and down in waves of movement that guided her toward the center of something great. Something new.

Sigrid reached up and touched her fingers to the meandering lines. The movement soothed her. The stone was smooth under her fingers and slightly flattened, as if touched by thousands of people before her. Deep in her bones, she knew this was where she’d come from. That long ago ancestors, a great-great-grandmother, had walked these halls in the same way.

The corridor opened up into a bright mouth where water fell freely. Lush and vibrant, the waterfall was so blue it nearly burned her eyes. The music it made as it tumbled down the rocks was like the low murmur of a hundred voices lifted in song.

There was nowhere else to