A Stranger in the Garden Read Online Free Page A

for some reason, it felt like too much to bear. He was tired of dealing only in death.
    It matters little whether she is asleep or awake, the Grue said. Make her sleep if you are too cowardly to look into her eyes.
    “Charles . . .” He heard his mother’s voice as if he was lost again in yesterday.
    Do it, the Grue snapped.
    Charles pulled the garden shears he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying from his coat pocket. They were small and neat, the sort used to trim off small roots. They were also extremely sharp.
    Your blood first, the Grue said. That is the way this begins.
    He turned away from Gwen. He didn’t feel the stab at first, but then the black blood flowed from his left ring finger. The Grue had poisoned his blood with his magic.
    He bled steadily onto the earth while Gwen hummed to herself behind him. Soon, the drops formed ripples. The ripples opened into a door with stairs that led down.
    He used the blood to weave sleep around Gwen. She curled up on her side like a child in the womb, her knees tucked up under her, her petticoats peeking out from under her skirts. One untied bootlace trailed over the edge of the stone.
    Corinna. Corinna. Corinna. The Grue chanted Her name at last. There was power and pleading, revenge and despair in that voice. And love. Above all things, there was so much love and yearning that Charles fell to his knees with it.
    Who would have guessed a creature of such immense evil could love another so fiercely?
    Charles had never known such love in all his life, except…
    This is not about you. I will rid myself of you in short order, the Grue growled.
    He called her name again. Nine times he called while Charles’s blood flowed.
    He couldn’t be sure when the light began or whether it was a trick of the fog, but soon enough a woman stood before him. He could barely make out her face. She was like the moon and water and mirrors all at once. A billion stars concentrated into a single being.
    “Great Goddess,” she whispered, looking down at Charles. He couldn’t look directly into her face. “You poor wretch!” she said to him.
    Now, the Grue said. She will not be able to resist what you offer her. Now!
    Charles lifted his still-bleeding hand. Her eyes fell on it and she sighed. Her longing matched the Grue’s.
    “It has been long since Darwin buried me here. It’s been even longer since last I truly feasted,” she said.
    Charles leaned forward, ready to plunge the shears into Gwen’s neck. The Grue was nearly insensible with joy. With this, he believed he would open the way to have his revenge on Corinna. His long quest was almost ended. He would have her again, down there in the dark, and she would be his slave.
    Then her hand was around Charles’s wrist. Her touch seared like ice. “By whose magic do you summon me from my sleep?”
    She reached down and pulled Charles’s chin upward so that she could see into his eyes. He tried not to meet her gaze. The Grue did not want him to.
    She hauled Charles to his feet. They were almost face to face. Her scent was like the pure breath of stars.
    “Who hides within your skin? There is a resonance, a memory . . .” She trailed off.
    The Grue realized the game was up.
    “Corinna.”
    Her gaze practically burned through Charles’s eyes clear to the back of his skull. He cried out with the pain of it, but even that did not deter her.
    “MacDougal,” she said in wonder and disgust.
    She brought Charles’s face so close he feared she would bite him. But the Grue subsumed his fear and took his voice.
    “Yes. I am here again.”
    “You have broken free of all the bonds that held you. Despite our threats, despite your own vows, you have come here again.” She dropped Charles at her feet in utter revulsion. “You promised,” she said, looking down. Her eyes were midnight blue, like the inside of a sea cave.
    “What did I promise you? Do you remember?”
    “Aye,” she said. “You promised to go into exile or else be