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    Witch
    Witch
    Witch
    Ebook44 pages38 minutes

    Witch

    By Leslie Claire Walker

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Betrayal. Magic. Freedom.

    Erynn and her unlikely friends have dethroned their terrible master Sebastian, killing him and leaving his soul to suffer and fade into oblivion. They guard his soul to make sure he dies a true death, while keeping their revolution secret, lest Sebastian's rivals and those under his influence rise against them. After all, in Sebastian's underground criminal cult, bodies, souls, magic—and power—are the only currency that matters.

    Erynn and those she loves are nearly home-free when Sebastian stages a rebellion of his own, reaching out from beyond the grave.

    To stop him, Erynn must face her greatest fear—becoming just like the man whose all-consuming lust, greed, and twisted magic made her into a monster with a clockwork heart.

    A heroine willing to risk it all. A world where dark enchantment endangers every soul and, for the right price, anyone can live forever.

    WITCH is the second story in the Clockwork Heart Tales short story series.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSecret Fire Press
    Release dateAug 10, 2016
    ISBN9781370181131
    Witch
    Author

    Leslie Claire Walker

    I live in the lush (humid and green) and darkly magical (crazy insane) bayou country of southeast Texas with various companions, including a Doggie Ranger and two cats, one older and distinguished and the other young with hellion ambitions. I am a legal secretary by day and a fiction writer at all other times. In my rare spare minutes, I play the lever harp (mostly Irish tunes) and enjoy gluten-free baking adventures. I write in the fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and young adult genres. I love to sit in my writing chair in the early mornings with the world's biggest mug of coffee and have no idea where the story will take me next. My fiction has appeared in Fantasy Magazine, Chiaroscuro, Electric Velocipede, GUD Magazine, and DAW Books anthologies.

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      Book preview

      Witch - Leslie Claire Walker

      THE FAERY CHRONICLES

      Novels

      Hunt

      Demon

      Faery

      Short Story Collections

      Faery Tales, Volume 1

      Faery Tales, Volume 2

      THE SOUL FORGE SERIES

      Novels

      Night Awakens

      Night Rises

      Night Falls

      (Coming Later in 2016)

      NEW RELEASES

      Don’t miss a new release—subscribe to Leslie Claire Walker’s newsletter.

      WITCH

      THE MOON HUNG FULL and ripe in the velvet sky, a blue cast across its face. On the deserted sidewalk below, a dozen gas lamps burned like a dozen bright, all-seeing eyes. The chill April wind bit with sharp teeth through my dove gray wool coat and corset. It seeped through the starched fabric of my matching shirt, turning the skin on my arms to gooseflesh. Underneath the layers of my black skirt and stockings, my legs fared no better. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, the soles of my gray boots scuffing the rooftop where I belonged, an outcast in the dead of the night.

      At three A.M., all that was good in London slumbered. The streets belonged to rats and drunks and those with nefarious intent who stalked their prey from the shadows. Once, I’d been one of them. Once, I’d done the bidding of my owner, Sebastian, the evilest man I’d ever known. Now that he hovered closer to true death every day, I tasted freedom.

      Some parts of him would always remain with me, most of all the clockwork heart he’d forced on me when I refused to love him. It still turned gear by gear, second by uncertain second, animated by the magic he’d imbued. I still heard the click and whir of it, waking and dreaming. It might not be crafted of flesh and blood, but it knew how to love. And how to fear.

      I’d thought I knew what that word meant once. I’d been a fool.

      My nerves fired as I caught sight of a shadow in the far corner, beside the door to the stairs. It glided toward me like a ghost. As the shape drew nearer, it resolved into a woman’s—the most dangerous woman I’d ever known.

      She wore a black dress and a black brocade cloak buttoned to her throat. Beneath the cloak’s raised hood, a black gauze veil covered her head and face, leaving only her half-lidded eyes to be seen. I couldn’t tell their color in the dark, but I knew from memory and the sudden, intense grief that welled in my chest that once upon a time, they’d shone green.

      My voice shook as I spoke her name. Lark.

      Her own voice was gruff from the permanent damage of smoke and heat, but it couldn’t disguise the sound of surprise. Erynn.

      I cocked my head. Thank you for sending your card.

      Her face moved behind the veil. A smile? A frown?

      I didn’t realize I’d feel happy to see you, she said.

      I nodded. Survivors recognize each other.

      It was more than that, though. It was what we’d survived. No one outside of Sebastian’s immediate circle would ever understand our experiences or our feelings. We were mirror reflections of each other. Day and night.

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