Welcome to stories from Among the Stars. You're listening to The Book Eaters by Sunyi

Dean, narrated by Katie Eric.

Chapter 16. Prince Charming plays Tomb Raider six years ago.

Knowing nothing of darkness or stars or moon,

Photogen spent his days in hunting.

On a great white horse he swept over the grassy plains, glorying in the sun,

fighting the wind and killing the buffaloes. George MacDonald, the history of photogen and night terrace.

Memory was an anchor. It could ground you in a storm, keep you from drifting. But anchors could also weigh you

down and keep you from sailing free. Devon's memories of Salem were both, keeping her sane, yet also

weighing her spirit with heaviness. She would wake alone each morning and lie in bed for several

moments just breathing, just thinking about

her daughter. Some days, breathing was all you could do. Matley Easterbrook never stayed the

entire night, and Devon was grateful for that, because she could not rest with that man in her room.

Pray did not relax when predators lurked. Easterbrook Manor was large and lush

and modern. Many roomed and fashionable. It had gardens and fields and a cultivated forest.

It had stables with six horses and hired humans carefully vetted to look after them. Somewhere,

there was even an indoor swimming pool and a gym.

Devon had no interest in any of it. She hadn't left her quarter since the marriage night two

weeks ago, and today would be no different. There was nothing to leave it for. She was only here to

endure matty, pregnancy, childbirth, the loss of her second child.

Today felt particularly lethargic and pointless, for no particular reason she could name.

After a while, she crawled out of bed, taking a long shower to scrub the stink of Matley

...