Read Online The Sin Eater by Sarah Rayne - Free Book Online

steps are uneven. There’s hardly any natural light, so I’ll light lamps and you follow me.’
    As they stood together at the head of the steps, waiting for the flare of light from below, Declan said in a furious whisper, ‘Colm, you can’t do this.’
    â€˜I can. Didn’t we always vow we’d come up here one day and challenge Sheehan to a chess game and win the devil’s powers off him?’
    â€˜We were children, for pity’s sake. Can you even play chess?’
    â€˜I can,’ said Colm, his jaw set stubbornly.
    â€˜But he’ll trick you.’
    â€˜He will not. He’s all show. No substance.’
    â€˜Yes, but this is the chess set that—’
    â€˜That’s just an old legend and Sheehan probably spread it around to make himself more interesting. So will you shut up?’
    â€˜But—’
    â€˜He’s got the lamps lit,’ said Colm as light flared below them, and he began to descend the steps. After a moment Declan followed.
    The steps spiralled round and were treacherously narrow. At the bottom, a door had been propped open, and beyond it was a stone-lined room. Colm and Declan had been expecting a conventional cellar, but this chamber was situated on the open side of the cliff face and one section of wall had a tiny barred window, barely two feet square, looking straight on to the ocean. Dull light came through it and there was the sound of the sea moaning against the rocks.
    â€˜You’re in one of Ireland’s deepest pockets of memory,’ said Sheehan, who had set three oil lamps around the room. ‘This place is drenched in ancient memories – sometimes, on a still night, it’s almost possible to hear them. There are chords within the mind, you know. If you know how to pluck them they go on resonating for far longer than you’d imagine.’
    At the centre of the room was a small round table with two chairs drawn up to it. Nicholas Sheehan tilted one of the lamps slightly and light fell directly on to the table’s surface. Colm and Declan caught their breath, for set out on the table, reflecting fathoms deep in the polished surface, was the sinister chess set from the legend.
    It was the most beautiful and yet also the most repellent thing either of them had ever seen. The black pieces were ebony and jet, studded with tiny iridescent chips of something they did not recognize, the pawns about five inches high, the kings and queens two or three inches more. The white figures were ivory, crusted with what looked like tiny pearls. The carved armour gleamed and the crowns sparkled and it was easy to think the figures moved in the lamplight – that a fold of a king’s cloak twitched, that a prancing knight tightened his rein.
    For a moment no one spoke, then Sheehan said softly, ‘Yes, they are beautiful, aren’t they? The white pieces are ivory and white jade, with seed pearls. The black are ebony and black jade with black diamonds. But it’s said they bring ill luck,’ he said, and Declan suddenly had the impression that Sheehan was afraid.
    â€˜I’ll risk that.’ Colm was staring at the chess figures, and Declan was aware of a growing unease because Colm’s eyes held something he had never seen before. But Colm seated himself at the table, and Nicholas Sheehan took the chair facing him.
    â€˜Declan, are you going to stay?’
    â€˜I am,’ said Declan to Sheehan, and sat down where he could see the faces of the two combatants.
    â€˜And,’ said Colm, with an edge to his voice, ‘we’ll both take another glass of wine.’
    Storm clouds were gathering outside as they began to play, and the light from the lamps cast pools of light. But outside of those pools, Declan had the increasing feeling that something hid in the thick shadows and that it watched from sly narrow eyes.
    Sheehan’s expression was unreadable. He played the black pieces, and when