Glass Swallow Read Online Free

almost to the ceiling—years of her labour. Shadow slumped in an armchair near the fire, his mouth slack with shock.
    Her father blew out the taper. ‘I don’t think you understand, Timber: she does more than dabble. Rain is Torrent stained glass. Every single one of them is her vision; I’m merely the one who has the privilege of realizing it for her.’
    ‘I don’t believe you.’ Timber spun on his heel and loomed over Rain. ‘Cousin, what is this foolishness? Tell me my uncle has lost his senses. It must be a joke.’
    Rain did not meet his eyes but ran a finger over the ribbon tying the scroll containing her first design, a wheatsheaf for a local baker.
    ‘I’m not joking,’ said Torrent.
    ‘By Hollin, I wish you were!’ Timber slammed a hand down on the bench by Rain’s arm. ‘It must stop immediately, you hear. You can’t risk the family like this. You’ll ruin us as glass traders if this comes out!’
    Anyone would think I’d committed murder , not created something beautiful and unique , thought Rain, focusing on the black hairs that flourished on her cousin’s forearm like a little forest.
    ‘Rain is not going to stop,’ Torrent replied calmly. ‘She is a brilliant artist. It would be a crime to prevent her using her talent.’
    ‘It’s a crime to let her continue.’
    ‘No, it merely breaks a rule—a rule that should’ve been challenged long ago.’
    Timber paled. ‘You’re not thinking of bringing this out into the open, surely?’
    Torrent shifted uncomfortably. ‘Perhaps if I were a more courageous man, I would, but I cannot do that to Rain. More likely than not, we’d be thrown out of the guild with no means of earning a living. I would prefer it if we were simply left in peace to continue working as we have. No one has been harmed.’
    ‘I don’t believe you!’ Timber was off again, ranting as he strode. ‘You say no one has been harmed but you fail to recognize that you’ve endangered our entire family by your flagrant disregard of guild rules. And why? Because you wish to spoil your daughter. You’ve let her have her way in this household for too long.’
    Shadow chose this moment to add his weight on his brother’s side of the argument. ‘Indeed, uncle, I fear you’ve done our cousin a great disservice, taken her from the station into which she was born and tried to make her into the son you never had.’
    Torrent’s anger grew now the attacks had turned on Rain, his hands shaking as he tried to hold on to his temper. ‘I do not need a son; I have Rain.’
    ‘Rain is a girl, destined for marriage and family—that’s if any decent man will have her now,’ said Shadow piously.
    ‘It would be an honour for any suitor to marry my daughter.’
    ‘Not if you’ve been cast out of the guild and are reduced to begging in the streets because of her,’ interjected Timber.
    ‘It won’t come to that.’
    ‘It might. What if one of the apprentices informs the guild-masters?’
    ‘They don’t know it is her work; we’re very careful.’
    ‘But you are taking a senseless risk!’
    ‘There is nothing senseless about it. Look at the accounts, Timber. The stained glass is the most profitable part of my business; without her we would be just a mediocre forge.’
    Rain doubted that very much, but it warmed her to hear her father’s defence.
    ‘What are you going to do now, uncle?’ asked Timber sarcastically. ‘The Magharnan interest in your designer is likely to place you under intense scrutiny. It will be a miracle if the truth does not come out.’
    ‘Why should it? Unless one of you takes it upon yourself to reveal our secret, we can carry on as before. I had hoped by confiding in you like this, by naming you both as my successors, you will protect Rain as you would the rest of my business.’
    His declaration deflated the cousins’ indignation like a pin in a pig’s bladder balloon.
    ‘You’ve named us as your successors?’ repeated Timber.
    Torrent gave a