One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)

by Rachel Gillig

I couldn’t trust a man I could not predict.

“Alyx is too nice for his own good. He’s gotten worse from me than he deserves.” “It’s the nice ones you should look out for,” Ravyn said.

Be wary. Be clever. Be good.

“Most of the time, he doesn’t say anything. But when he does… it’s like he knows everything I’ve ever thought—ever feared. He taunts me, telling me I’m going to fail—that my efforts are meaningless.” His gray eyes met mine. “But it’s just a voice, not a creature at all.” “How do you know?” “Because when he speaks—relaying my worst fears over and over in my mind—it’s not a stranger’s voice,” he said quietly. “It’s mine.”

Tell them. Tell them the truth. When your children ask, do not lie—do not hide the risk of magic. Children are strongest when their eyes are clear. Only then can they make their own choices. Only then are they truly free. Tell them. Tell them the truth.

I may be gone, my body mortified by violence and time, but in a hundred years, it is you, Rowan, who will be forgotten. Your castle will be reduced to dust. Destrier bones will clack in the wind, strewn by children between windows to frighten crows. Your name will turn to rot,