Lichgates: Book One of the Grimoire Saga (an Epic Fantasy Adventure) by S.M. Boyce

were in danger and I could do nothing about it. I can’t help you if you do such reckless things!”
    Adele took a deep breath and glared out the window.
    “However, I can’t be harsh. You made a choice and you will forever suffer the consequences. Hopefully, you will make future decisions more carefully.”
    Kara whimpered as the guilt settled deeper into her gut. Every time she closed her eyes, she relived the distorted way his mouth opened when Deidre stabbed his spine with the barb in her palm.
    She buried her head in her knees and wrapped her arms under her legs so tightly she could hardly breathe. The lemon scent of her dad’s fabric softener clung to her jeans, mixed with the rotten stench of dried blood and sweat. The mattress shifted under the weight of another body, but she didn’t look up.
    “Forgive yourself, but learn from this,” Adele said, her voice close and quiet. “Forgive but never forget.”
    Kara sighed. Numbness seeped into her aching arms and neck until the energy, guilt, and hatred evaporated and all that remained was exhaustion. Her skin lost its feeling and its warmth. The world faded until the only thought she could sustain without the urge to cry involved taking a shower.
    “I think she needs to be alone, Adele,” Braeden said.
    “Call someone to draw her a bath, then. There is more that she and I must discuss.”
    “She needs to rest,” he said, grumbling. A second later, his warm hand rubbed Kara’s shoulder. “I’ll be back after you’ve had some time to yourself, if you would like my company.”
    She set her chin on her knees and forced a smile, but the only thing she wanted at that moment was the bath. He walked out of the room and shut the door without looking back. Adele continued speaking as if he’d never been there in the first place.
    “Has the Blood requested your presence?”
    “Come on, Adele, I just woke up.”
    “She will want to speak with you soon, regardless. Yakona royals aren’t sympathetic. You must be careful, Kara. You will not have many allies here, and I will not always be able to help you. I am not supposed to be here, even now.”
    “I’ll try.”
    Her voice softened to barely a whisper. “Garrett trusts Braeden, though I can’t bring myself to do so. I concede that he alone saved you from Deidre. It’s clear that he will protect you, but what worries me is that I don’t know why he wants you safe. I fear that it’s only because he hasn’t figured out how to control you, but Garrett disagrees.
    “Because of Garrett’s trust, I must urge you not to speak of Braeden’s past. If he were to be discovered, they would kill him without a second thought for his many years of service, and you would be without a guardian. Ourea is a vicious world. Though the two of you are unlikely friends, you must protect each other.”
    “I won’t say anything.”
    “Good. Be cautious.”
    Adele shifted in her seat and changed form. Her copper skin shrank into tawny feathers, her body rippling until she was a tiny sparrow. She chirped once, pecked at Kara’s shoe, and shot through the still-open window.
    Kara stared at the flapping shutters and ran her fingers through her hair. She threw herself backward into her pillow, dirty and sweaty and finally alone. A blue light glowed from under her chin, and when she touched her neck, her fingers fumbled across the cold clover pendant. The rays of the stone’s blue light danced as she moved her fingers over it.
    In an effort to figure out how she’d summoned it before, she imagined the Grimoire in her hands. The memory of its soft leather cover filled her palms and prickled her fingertips.
    Dust sprang from the pendant. The blue light in the gem faded to nothing as the funnel of shimmering ash pooled in her lap and congealed into the familiar and very solid red cover of the Grimoire.
    Without waiting for her to ask a question, the book flipped open to a picture of the hooded Vagabond. He leaned against a dead