by C. L. Polk
“You’re nervous,” Avia said. “You ride herd on Parliament members, you can stop a media scrum in full bawl, you literally run the country, and you just rescued me from Kingsgrave Prison.” She set the novel on the small table and poured us each a puddle of brandy. She handed me one and watched me over the edge of her glass.
“I’m fine.”
“Mm.” She tipped her glass back, downing the brandy in three quick swallows. She set the glass down and pulled on one tail of the satin sash that held her dressing gown closed, one shoulder slipping free. “Do you know how long I’ve admired you?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Do you remember the Kingston Charity Wicket Championship of ’81?”
“I do,” I said. “I won.”
“You were brilliant. You played the most cutthroat game of wicket I had ever seen. You were merciless. And when you won, I wanted to go to you so badly it ached. I wanted to congratulate you. I wanted to take you away to get ice creams and then you would have liked me, even if I was just a grocer’s daughter.”
“You cut your hair shortly after I got engaged,” I said. “You cut it to the way it looks now, and dyed it shining black, and you were surrounded by people—I was, too, but it wasn’t the same. They were Ray’s friends, not mine. I wanted to tell you how glamorous you looked. How captivating you were. How you caught my breath with every smile. But we never crossed the floor.”
Avia shook her head. “We never crossed the floor. And then Father threw me out—”
“And you flew,” I said. “And to the void with what the world expected of you. That freedom, to do exactly as you wanted—do you have any idea how much I wanted to do the same?”
The other shoulder of Avia’s dressing gown slid away. “You can do exactly what you want right now. What do you want, Grace?”
I remembered the brandy glass, cradled in the warmth of one hand. I set it down before I drew closer, before I traced the curve of her cheek with my fingers and tilted her chin a little higher.
Avia’s robe puddled to the floor. Borrowed silk slid off my shoulders and spilled at our feet. She led me to the wide, cool bed, and allowed me to show her exactly what.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing your first book is hard, but nothing really prepares you for the roller-coaster ride that is the second book in a series. Drafting was an experience, and I want to thank A. J. Townsend for reading every draft she could before MAXI J1820+070 started getting ornery and interesting. Eaving Hardy’s observations on my first draft helped shape the revisions. Elizabeth Bear saw the beginning and its consequences before I did, and Stella Sauer and Alex Haist read the final draft and kept me going to the end. Mary Robinette Kowal’s monthly Patreon lessons were eerily prescient about what I was facing in drafting so many times it’s like she knew what was going on.
No one writes a book alone, and I’d like to thank Kimberly Bell, Alexis Daria, and Robin Lovett for our Friday chats where we kept each other steering toward what we wanted. Online for me every day, the zoo and the isle joined me in the daily ins and outs of writing a novel: keeping up accountability, breaking through stuck points, and reminding me that work/life is supposed to be balanced.
When the story is done, there’s a whole team of people waiting to make the work everything it can be. I’m grateful to Tor.com and their genius, excellent people, especially Carl Engle-Laird and Ruoxi Chen, for vision and insight. Together we dug deeper into the story, its settings, its themes, and had great conversations about what this book should aim for. Irene Gallo, for the clear direction and unwavering belief in the Kingston Cycle series and the gift that is Will Staehle’s breathtaking covers. Thanks to the production team for their expertise and making the book look great: production editor Megan Kiddoo, production manager Steven Bucsok, and interior designer Nicola Ferguson. I’m grateful for Mordicai Knode’s tireless work in promotions and that excellent story from forensic science that inspired a scene in the book. Thank you to Amanda Melfi, whose efforts promoting Stormsong on social media kept me enthusiastic and cheery. I owe much to Deanna Hoak’s precise and skillful copy editing, and explaining that that thing I do is called a misplaced modifier.
Finally, I want to thank Caitlin McDonald, my agent and champion, who was there every time I emailed just one more question, explained everything I didn’t understand, and who kept it all together even when I thought I couldn’t.
Also by C. L. Polk
Witchmark
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C. L. POLK wrote her first story in grade school and still hasn’t learned any better. After spending years in strange occupations and wandering Western Canada, she settled in Southern Alberta with her rescue dog, Otis. She has a fondness for knitting, bicycles, and single-estate coffee. Polk has had short stories published in Jim Baen’s Universe and Gothic.net, contributed to the web serial Shadow Unit, and spends too much time on twitter at @clpolk. Her first novel is Witchmark. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
One. To Fly a Kite
Two. The Spider’s Web
Three. To Serve Aeland
Four. An Election
Five. Articles of Incorporation
Six. The Lady of Oaks, Attempt Seventeen
Seven. Sing Down the Storm
Eight. A Wall of Secrets
Nine. The Strings on her Wrists
Ten. A Tangle of Hair
Eleven. Examination in Progress
Twelve. To Summon the Dead
Thirteen. Edge of Night, Falling
Fourteen. An Attempt at Strategy
Fifteen. Mrs. Sparkle
Sixteen. A Better Bargain Than Marriage
Seventeen. The Promise of Destruction
Eighteen. Tea and Correspondence
Nineteen. The Cabinet
Twenty. Birdseed
Twenty-One. Four Paths Cross
Twenty-Two. Plans and Preparations
Twenty-Three. Crimes and Justice
Twenty-Four. The Strings on His Wrists
Twenty-Five. Escape
Twenty-Six. Mending
Acknowledgments
Also by C. L. Polk
About the Author
Copyright
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.
STORMSONG
Copyright © 2020 by Chelsea Polk
All rights reserved.
Cover art and design by Will Staehle
Edited by Carl Engle-Laird
A Tor.com Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
www.tor.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Polk, C. L. (Chelsea L.) author.
Title: Stormsong / C.L. Polk.
Description: First Edition. | New York: A Tom Doherty Associates Books, 2020. | Series: The kingston cycle; 2 | “A Tor.com Book”— Title page verso.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019042696 (print) | LCCN 2019042697 (ebook) | ISBN 9780765398994 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780765398987 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Witches—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. | GSAFD: Fantasy fiction | Science fiction.
Classification: LCC PR9199.4.P6563 S77 2020 (print) | LCC PR9199.4.P6563 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23
>
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019042696
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019042697
eISBN 9780765398987
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First Edition: February 2020