Free The White Forest by Adam McOmber Page A

asked.
    “Honestly, there isn’t. Are you looking for information about Master Nathan?”
    “I want one of his possessions,” I said, “for something I am attempting. I’d like a domestic to bring one to Stoke Morrow for me.”
    A familiar look came over Miss Anne’s face—the look thatsaid she considered me poorly raised despite her best efforts. “You wouldn’t ask someone to steal from Ashe High House, would you?”
    I glanced away. If she was going to be of no help, there was no point continuing the conversation.
    “If you’re simply wanting for one of Master Nathan’s possessions, I have something that will fit the bill.”
    I was startled by this bit of information. “How could you have something belonging to him?”
    “He gave it to me,” Miss Anne said. “Not too long ago. I’ll go and get it.”
    When she reappeared in the library, she was carrying a black leather Bible with a gold cross on the front. I recognized it as Nathan’s. The cover was brittle and one corner had broken off. The Bible made a low whistling sound, like a kettle beginning to boil.
    “He gave that to you?” I asked.
    “That’s right,” Miss Anne said. “It was the oddest thing. Happened not more than a month ago. You girls were upstairs getting ready, and Master Nathan was waiting in the parlor. He simply handed me the Bible and said he had no use for it anymore. I tried to argue, saying everyone had want of a Bible. But he said that wasn’t true for him. He thought I’d find some better use. And so I took it, but the fact that he gave it away left me worried. I’ve always liked Master Nathan—he’s so awfully regal and well appointed.”
    “Put the Bible on the desk, Anne,” I said, uninterested in hearing her opinions about Nathan.
    She put it down and slid it toward me, as if I was some hungry animal that might bite her hand.
    “That’s all,” I said. “You can go.”
    “May I have it back when you’re finished with it?” she said. “I feel so terrible about what’s happened. I’ve been praying for him, you know. Praying each and every day.”
    “I’m sure wherever he is, Nathan appreciates your prayers. Now close the door behind you.”
    Miss Anne did as I asked, and I sat for a moment, listening to the spitting and whistling of the Bible in front of me. I had no love forholy books after having been labeled a devil for most of my childhood, and I particularly feared what this one might reveal to me.
    Finally, I took the book into my hands, and in the next moment, I was once again in the dark of the painted forest. The scene unfurled before me—skeletal trees and a sky full of glittering glass stars. It was the same carefully decorated chamber I’d seen when I touched the button, and once again I heard the distant note of the hunter’s horn. Then a shadow shifted behind the false trees. It was the creature, terribly frightened and stumbling. I could feel its uncertainty as I willed the animal to come forward.
    Finally, the beast stepped into the light of the clearing, revealing itself in full. It was a great stag—muscular with powerful and woody antlers. I was in awe of its strength, and there was such intelligence in the stag’s eyes that I felt it might open its mouth and speak. The stag’s pelt was matted with blood about its neck and shoulders. I thought the hunters must have already harmed it.
    The animal looked as though it wanted my help, even though I sensed the hunters were far away. It took me a moment to realize there was someone else in the painted forest, someone who did not emerge from the tree line but who remained hidden and watched the stag. I strained to make out the figure, and finally I saw it was a woman.
    I could discern the outline of her long robe in the darkness, and her skin was moon-colored—so pale I thought she might be a dead thing. She swayed as she stared at the stag, utterly transfixed. Her eyes were like twin black skies, gleaming in the woods. And then she