by Alex Bledsoe
“Well, that’s it,” Liz said.
“Not quite. I still have to check it.”
“Check it?”
“Yeah, you know.”
She shook her head. “Boys.”
I put my foot on the root where so many others had stood, wrapped my hand around the hilt, and pulled. Hard.
The sword that had moments before slid in like butter now refused to budge.
I shifted my grip and braced one foot on the tree’s trunk for leverage.
“That’s cheating,” Liz observed.
I tried again. The sword remained immobile.
I rejoined Liz and put my arm around her shoulders. The wind ruffling the branches made the sun dance around the sword like little fairies of light. It must’ve looked like this when Marcus Drake first approached it as a boy, guided by Cameron Kern toward a destiny that had consumed him. Now it awaited the next Marcus Drake, who would hopefully be older, smarter, and better able to resist his own darkness.
The future king, once again.
Or something like that.
BOOKS BY
ALEX BLEDSOE
Blood Groove
The Girls with Games of Blood
The Sword-Edged Blonde
Burn Me Deadly
Dark Jenny
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.
DARK JENNY: AN EDDIE LACROSSE NOVEL
Copyright © 2011 by Alex Bledsoe
All rights reserved.
A Tor® eBook
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bledsoe, Alex.
Dark Jenny / Alex Bledsoe.—1st ed.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 978-0-7653-2743-7
1. Swordsmen—Fiction. 2. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3602.L456D37 2011
813'.6—dc22
2010036669
First Edition: April 2011
eISBN 978-1-4299-5416-7
First Tor eBook Edition: March 2011