Robin LaFevers - Grave Mercy - Chapter Preview & Trailer

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Andersen (7 Jun 2012)
• ISBN-10: 184939413X
• ISBN-13: 978-1849394130                
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•                                                                             CHAPTER - 7 

“Careful!” Sister Serafina scolds. “Don’t let it boil or it will

turn to resin and be of no use.”

“yes,sister.”I keep my eyes fixed on the small flask I hold

over the flame. Tiny bubbles have begun to form along the

sides of the glass, but it is not boiling. Not yet.

“excellent,”she says from just behind my shoulder.“Now

put it over here to cool.”

Using iron tongs, I lift the flask and set it on a cooling

stone.We are brewing up a fresh batch of night whispers.In

its current volatile state, it will kill anyone who breathes its

fumes, causing the lungs to harden and become rigid and

brittle as glass.

Anyone except for Sister Serafina and me.We are immune.

“once it cools,” she says, “we’ll add it to this candle wax,

and then—”A knock on the door interrupts her.“Don’t come

in!”she calls out in alarm.

“I won’t.” It is Annith, who surely knows better than to

enter.

“Reverend Mother has asked that Ismae come to her office

right away.”

The thrill of this summons makes my heart flutter. The

only time I have been called to her office since I arrived is toreceive news of an assignment.Without waiting for the nun

to dismiss me, I hurry to the stone basin, where I begin

scrubbing the last traces of poison from my hands.

Sister Serafina heaves a sigh of annoyance.“How the holy

mother expects me to supply all our poisons without help is

surely one of Mortain’s great mysteries.”

I glance sideways at her. “you’d think she would send

Annith instead.”

Sister Serafina pins me with a severe look.“The reverend

mother has her reasons. Now go. Do not make her wait.”

I go, being sure to curtsy so as not to antagonize her

further. She thinks she has told me nothing, but it is just

the opposite. I now know that there is an actual reason

that Annith has not been sent out. And if Sister Serafina

knows what it is, surely Annith and I can find out as well.

on my way to the reverend mother’s office I straighten

my veil and brush a bit of dust from my skirts.I pause at the

door, take a deep breath and compose my features, then

knock.

“enter.”

When I step into the office,the sight of a man sitting there

is as shocking as a clap of thunder in the quiet room.His hair

is white, as is his neatly trimmed beard. A heavy gold chain

with a bejeweled pendant winks at me from the fur collar of

his thick brocade robe.

“Come in, Ismae,” the abbess says. “I’d like you to meet

Chancellor Crunard. He is a patron of our convent and acts

as the liaison between us and the outside world.”