The Shattered Mountain (9 page)

The animagus’ answering grin is feral and slick. “Surrender yourself. If you do, we
will spare your people.”

A guard is within range now. The animagus has not noticed him. The solider quietly
feeds an arrow into his bow, aims.

Look strong, Elisa. Do not flinch. Hold his gaze.

The arrow zings through the air. The sorcerer whirls at the sound, but it is too late;
the arrowhead buries itself in his ribs.

The animagus wobbles. He turns back to me, eyes flared with pain or zeal, one shoulder
hanging lower than the other. Crimson spreads like spilled ink across his robe. “Watch
closely, my queen,” he says, and his voice is liquid with drowning. “This is what
will happen to everyone in Joya d’Arena if you do not present yourself as a
willing sacrifice
.”

Hector reaches me at last, grabs my shoulders, and starts to pull me away, even as
the guards rush the animagus. But his Godstone already glows like a tiny sun; they
will not capture him in time. I expect fire to shoot toward us, to turn my people
into craters of melt and char, and suddenly I’m grappling for purchase at the joints
of Hector’s armor, at his sword belt, pushing him along, for I can’t bear to see another
friend burn.

But the animagus turns the fire on himself.

He screams, “It is God’s will!” He raises his arms to the sky, and his lips move as
if in prayer while the conflagration melts his skin, blackens his hair, turns him
into a living torch for the whole city to see.

The scent of burning flesh fills the air as the remaining crowd scatters. The horses
rear and plunge away, trampling everyone in their path, the carriage rattling behind.

“To the queen!” Hector yells above my head.

A wind gusts through the amphitheater, extinguishing the biggest flames and flinging
bits of hair and robe into the sky. The animagus’ charred body topples off the stair
and plunges to the ground, trailing smoke and sparks.

I turn to rest my forehead against Hector’s breastplate and close my eyes as the chaos
around us gradually dissipates. The chill of my Godstone fades, and I breathe deep
of warm desert air and of relief.

Hector says, “We must get you back to the palace.”

“Yes, of course,” I say, pulling away from him and standing tall. “Let’s go.” Maybe
if I pretend hard enough, I will feel strong in truth.

My guards form a wedge of clanking armor and drawn swords. As we begin the long, steep
trek home, a bit of white robe, edged with glowing cinders, flutters to the ground
at my feet.

About the Author

Rae Carson is the author of
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
and
The Crown of Embers
.
Locus
, the premier magazine for science fiction and fantasy, proclaimed, “Carson joins
the ranks of writers like Kristin Cashore, Megan Whalen Turner, and Tamora Pierce
as one of YA’s best writers of high fantasy.”
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
was a finalist for the Morris YA Debut Award, and one of ALA’s Top Ten Best Fiction
for Young Adults. Rae Carson has dabbled in many things, from teaching to corporate
sales to customer service, before becoming a full-time writer. She lives with her
family in Columbus, Ohio. You can follow her on Twitter.

Visit
www.AuthorTracker.com
for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments,
organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and
are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents
and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed
as real.

The Shattered Mountain

Copyright © 2013 by Rae Carson

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By
payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable
right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may
be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored
in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or
by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented,
without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.epicreads.com

ISBN 978-0-06-227303-1 (ebook)

EPUB Edition FEBRUARY 2013 ISBN 9780062273031