Calm swept over me. Suddenly I knew what to do.
Unsheathing my dagger and pressing a palm flat to the tree’s trunk, I gathered my nerve, inhaled several quick breaths, and dropped down from the tree. I struck the sodden ground on my knees. Mud splattered me in the face, sticking thick in my eyelashes. I wiped at my eyes with the back of one hand.
An eerie quiet surrounded me. I moved quickly, frantically, covering a wide area, distaste coating my mouth as I patted the surrounding ground for remains of Fowler. As I suspected, they took him. They had all gone back below with their quarry. He could still be alive—for a little while anyway.
I continued crawling, rushing until I found where the ground was the softest. Not even ground anymore, but more like a pool of mud. This was where so many of the dwellers had emerged.
I flexed my hand around the hilt of my dagger, sucked in the deepest breath my lungs could hold, and dove headfirst.
Into the abyss.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
..................................................................
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
[acks TK]
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
..................................................................
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SOPHIE JORDAN is the New York Times bestselling author of Avon historical romances and the Firelight series. She lives in Houston with her family. You can visit her online at www.sophiejordan.net.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
..................................................................
BOOKS BY SOPHIE JORDAN
[ad card?]
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
..................................................................
COPYRIGHT
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
REIGN OF SHADOWS. Copyright © 2016 by Sharie Kohler. 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 hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.epicreads.com
[horizontal rule]
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
[tk]
ISBN 978-0-06-237764-7 (trade bdg.)
EPub Edition © August 2015 ISBN 9780062426475
[horizontal rule]
FIRST EDITION
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON M4W 1A8, Canada
www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF, UK
www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
www.harpercollins.com