One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)

by Rachel Gillig

darkness that bled out of the Shepherd King’s words. “The Cards. The mist. The blood,” my mother had said, her voice so gentle it came as a whisper. “They are all woven together, their balance delicate, like spider silk. Unite all twelve Providence Cards with the black blood of salt, and the infection will be healed. Blunder will be free of the mist.” “But the Shepherd King did not lift the mist, nor heal the infection,” my aunt had said, her voice heavy. “The Spirit tricked him, telling him how to lift the mist only after he’d bartered his Twin Alders Card. Without his final Card, the Shepherd King could not unite the Deck. And so he never lifted the mist. No King ever has.” “No King ever will,” my mother had mused. “Not until someone finds the Twin Alders Card and the Deck is completed. Until then…” Ione and I had shared a somber glance. “The mist will continue to spread.”