Page 37 of The BoneKeeper's Daughter

“Of course, Father,” Raek replies, oily and serpent slick. “We just didn’t want to bother you as you have only just returned. It is a simple discussion of the silos and the Storms. Not worth your time, I’m sure. But we welcome your presence, your making space for these small problems.” He has a way of speaking that makes it seem as though he’s permitting the Father to be there, as though the Father does not care about the village, as though power here is in Raek’s hands. I can seeSilas’s shoulders tense at the condescending tone. He waits a beat, perhaps two, debating, perhaps, how to answer, then notices I have not followed him, and turns to command me.

“Hmm. BoneKeeper? Attend.” It is sharp and biting compared to his tone from moments before, but even a lifetime of following orders cannot force me through the arch. I feel sick to my stomach even being this close, wavering on my feet.

“You have brought the BoneKeeper?” Nickolas’s words are a hiss, venomous and flashing. For the first time, Raek looks truly concerned, but I don’t have time to consider the meaning.

“I…” Swallowing hard, I try to make my feet move, doanything, but I cannot. Silas is frowning, as though I’m doing this purposefully to test his patience, ignoring his advice. The rest watch through considering eyes, and I’m unsure of the best play in this moment.

“Keeper?” Silas starts toward me, but is pushed aside by Nickolas, who stalks from the tree to my side.

“This is no time for your insolence, woman,” he snarls, lips curling into a sneer. “You would do well to keep your mouth shut and not get involved in men’s issues.” Grabbing my arm in bruising fingers, he twists the skin and yanks me forward through the gate in a violent, careless motion.

The bones of the village scream as one — high-pitched, agonized wails of sound, a tortured, crazed shriek of noise loud enough to shatter eardrums, and then, all at once, fall silent.

THE BLOODIED TREE

WREN

When I come back to myself, I am on the ground by the tree, the Councilmen hovering over me with scared faces and wide eyes. Somewhere in the distance Raek is berating Nickolas in a low, steady stream of words that are unending despite several meek attempts at protest. The Father is standing above me, hands clenched in tight fists at his sides, and Rannoch is kneeling in the dirt beside me, pouring water in my mouth.

“Cease…” I say sputtering weakly, and the relief breaking on his face is like the first sunrise after the storm season.

“You stopped breathing.” He doesn’t try to hide the panic in his voice, perhaps because it is echoed on the faces of the men around him. “You stoppedbreathing, Keeper.”

“He should not have forced her!’

“She knew something was wrong!”

“It’s a sign…”

“It’s a sign…”

The Council, Protectors, Renders, and Reapers are all murmuring amongst themselves, a combination of disgust at my treatment, and something darker, more insidious. I don’t have time to consider theirreactions though, because it is so loud out here, beyond the wall, and yet so quiet.

It is…tooquiet.

Sitting up in dawning terror, I look around frantically, creeping hysteria freezing my heart. The only sounds in the world are from the men around me, the wind, the tree branches, the birds…but no bones.No bones!

Grabbing Rannoch’s arm, I pull myself to my feet shakily then stumble toward the wall, falling into it, uncaring that I cut my hands and arms pressing into the skeletons.

Hello? Hello?

I know where I am, inches from my family, and I turn to them.

Hello? Hello?

There is no answer. The bones here are empty.

Empty.

They were not when they went through the archway, that much I know, and I’m gutted with a reborn loss, long-shelved grief dusted and polished and placed before me, bright and new again. What has happened? Whereiseveryone?

A sickening thought strikes me — if fear were a flame before, it is now an inferno, flowing through my veins like Everfire — and I raise a violently trembling hand to my hair. I cannot touch my neck yet. I simplycannot.

Hunter?I ask, hope choking my throat, tears stinging across the bridge of my nose.

Silence.

HUNTER?I scream, but still. Silence.

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