“That’s a lot of fire,” Rose murmured. “Across a vast lot of space.”
“But we’ll be fighting the conflagration from a thin island just over thirteen miles long that beats with the heart of the world,” Bishop rallied. “With our connected powers, we’ve all the weight of the heavens on our side.”
Andre had procured a newspaper from a trolley in the next aisle and dropped it into Bishop’s lap. The headline asked the question on everyone’s mind:
HEART OF CITY BESET BY MADNESS AND MONSTROSITY.
DAY SAVED BY WHOLE OF LONDON’S PEOPLE.
BUT IS THIS THE END?
Clearly, it wasn’t, and Bishop’s optimism hung in the air in such harsh contrast to the last curdling scream of the train as it chugged them out from the station and on toward the port in a hypnotic rhythm, this band of inextricable souls falling into a silence with a weight as heavy as their value was priceless.
Clara pressed a hand to the talisman below ruffled lace, blessed with an old magic that rested at her sternum, and prayed she could creatively whip some new tricks up her sleeve. As industrious a spirit as her country claimed, so might the capacity for horror be matched. Noticing her hand to her heart, as Bishop was increasingly attuned to her movements, he leaned close for an additional reassurance.
“Do not worry,” Bishop added, just for her, a whisper into her ear. “You were brilliant here in England, in a country not your own, with borrowed magic on another soil. Just think of what you’ll do on yours. You were born for this fight, Clara Templeton, and I’ll not have you doubting yourself. You’ve proved you are the heart of what Eterna was meant to become. Our commission has saved lives; you have saved lives and will do so again.”
She stared up into the senator’s luminous eyes steel bright with conviction and knew he was right.
This whole ordeal had forced her to stop cursing what had gone wrong with the commission and embrace its innovations instead. It was her rite of passage, and now she could be the sort of spirit-warrior she’d always wanted to be, like her idol Evelyn Northe-Stewart, staring determinedly out the train window, inexhaustible after having led the demise of Vieuxhelles to gain victory of soul and bodily reunion.
Clara had grown into what her mentors always expected. The visitor would be proud, she thought, courage swelling within her, the energy enlivening the Ward still tucked into her corset.
She had become the storm, and the storm was headed home.
Tor Books by
LEANNA RENEE HIEBER
The Eterna Files
Strangely Beautiful
Eterna and Omega
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leanna Renee Hieber’s first novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, is a foundation work of gaslamp fantasy. The novel won two Prism Awards and is being developed for the stage as a work of musical theater. A talented actor and singer, Hieber has appeared on stage and screen, including episodes of Boardwalk Empire, and regularly leads ghost tours in New York City.
Hieber has often said that she feels she was born in the wrong time, and she is rarely seen out of Victorian garb. Her lyrical, atmospheric prose made her a finalist for the Daphne du Maurier Award for historical fiction and has earned her numerous awards, including the Ancient City Romance Authors Heart of Excellence Readers’ Choice Award. An energetic self-promoter, Hieber is one of the cofounders of the Lady Jane’s Salon reading series and often appears at conventions, bookstores, and library events.
Leanna Renee Hieber lives in New York City with her husband and their beloved rescue rabbit.
Find her at Leannareneehieber.com. Or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Tor Books by Leanna Renee Hieber
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
ETERNA AND OMEGA
Copyright © 2016 by Leanna Renee Hieber
All rights reserved.
Cover design concept by FORT
Cover art by Shutterstock
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
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New York, NY 10010
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Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-3675-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-2926-8 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466829268
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First Edition: August 2016