The Book of Life - Deborah Harkness

ALSO BY DEBORAH HARKNESS

A Discovery of Witches

Shadow of Night

VIKING

Published by the Penguin Group

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First published in 2014 by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Copyright © Deborah Harkness, 2014

All rights reserved

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

ISBN 978-0-670-02559-6

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Harkness, Deborah E.

Shadow of night / Deborah Harkness.

p. cm. — (All souls trilogy ; bk. 3)

1. Witches—Fiction. 2. Vampires—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3608.A7436S53 2012

813’.6—dc23 2012005843

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

For Karen, who knows why.

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives.

It is the one that is most adaptable to change.

—ELIZABETH I, PHILLIPE DE CLERMONT,

often attributed to Charles Darwin

Contents

Cover

Also by Deborah Harkness

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraph

Sol in Cancer

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Sol in Leo

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Sol in Virgo

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Sol in Libra

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Sol in Scorpio

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Sol in Sagittarius

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Sol in Capricorn

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Sol in Aquarius

Chapter 40

Sol in Pisces

Chapter 41

Sol in Aries

Chapter 42

Sol in Taurus

Chapter 43

Sol in Gemini

Chapter 44

Acknowledgments

Sol in Cancer

The Signe of the Crabbe pertains to houses, lands, treasures, and whatever is hidden.

It is the fourth house of the Zodiak.

It signifies death and the end of thinges.

—Anonymous English Commonplace Book, c. 1590, Gonçalves MS 4890, f. 11v

1

Ghosts didn’t have much substance. All they were composed of was memories and heart. Atop one of Sept-Tours’ round towers, Emily Mather pressed a diaphanous hand against the spot in the center of her chest that even now was heavy with dread.

Does it ever get easier? Her voice, like the rest of her, was almost imperceptible.

The watching?

The waiting?

The knowing?

Not that I’ve noticed, Philippe de Clermont replied shortly. He was perched nearby, studying his own transparent fingers. Of all the things Philippe disliked about being dead—the inability to touch his wife, Ysabeau; his lack of smell or taste; the fact that he had no muscles for a good sparring match—invisibility topped the list. It was a constant reminder of how inconsequential he had become.

Emily’s face fell, and Philippe silently cursed himself. Since she’d died, the witch had been his constant companion, cutting his loneliness in two. What was he thinking, barking at her as if she were a servant?

Perhaps it will be easier when they don’t need us anymore, Philippe said in a gentler tone. He might be the more experienced ghost, but it was Emily who understood the metaphysics of their situation.

What the witch had told him went against everything Philippe believed about the afterworld. He thought the living saw the dead because they needed something from them: assistance, forgiveness, retribution.

Emily insisted these were nothing more than human myths, and it was only when the living moved on and let go that the dead could appear to them.

This information made Ysabeau’s failure to notice him somewhat easier to bear, but not much.

“I can’t wait to see Em’s reaction. She’s going to be so surprised.” Diana’s warm alto floated up to the battlements.

Diana and Matthew, Emily and Philippe said in unison, peering down to the cobbled courtyard that surrounded the château.

There, Philippe said, pointing at the drive. Even dead, he had vampire sight that was sharper than any human’s. He was also still handsomer than any man had a right to be, with his broad shoulders and devilish grin. He turned