Read Online Wings of Sorrow and Bone by Beth Cato - Free Book Online

anyone that gremlins weren’t tools to use and discard?
    The wind dried tears on her cheeks, stiffened her skin. She barely flinched as a gremlin landed on her shoulder. Then another. One perched atop her head, its feet struggling for purchase in her hair. Her sob turned into a giggle.
    Then, with a mad flutter, they took to the air. Rivka heard a throat clear behind her.
    Broderick stood there, long and lanky in his white medician garb. “I—­you don’t mind if I join you?”
    She turned away. “What, don’t you have work to do?”
    He snorted. “You saw how much actual magic I get to do. I set things up, then stand there. I happened to knock over the mechanist’s wrenches just now. Miss Arfetta ordered me away, full of reminders that I’m a terrible apprentice, that I’ll never be a full medician.” He leaned on the railing where the gremlins had been a moment before.
    â€œYou shouldn’t believe her.”
    â€œOh, I don’t, most of the time. She’s a leaky gasbag, never pleased with anyone. You should see her go shopping. She makes clerks cry.” He gazed out on the plaza. His hair, done in a hundred tight braids with metal beads, chimed softly beneath the wind. “I know I’m not a good medician. Not simply because of the lack of practice but because the work she does ask of me, it’s . . . bad .”
    Rivka stilled. “She has you do the dirty work. You’re the one who harvests from the gremlins and eventually kills them.”
    He flinched, not meeting her eye. “They’re not human, but they’re alive. I can hear the life in them, the way it fractures with each limb, each wing. Did you know an arm by itself in a circle still sings for a while?”
    Horror silenced her. He shifted uneasily, and Rivka realized she should speak. “I didn’t know that. The only medician I’ve been around is Miss Leander, and she was . . . different. She could hear body songs without a circle.”
    â€œI would go mad,” Broderick whispered.
    Rivka stared out at the city. “The color tags denote what stage the gremlins are in, right? The ones missing wings are labeled red today . . .”
    â€œBlue means they are new and need a full examination. Green designates that’s done, they are healthy, and I can proceed.” His voice sounded empty. “Red notes the primary harvest is done. Yellow means I need to do a final culling. Organs and skin. If a cage has that tag, I need to finish the task as soon as possible.”
    Rivka tasted bile. “The gremlins in the cart were considered yellow, then?”
    The gremlin who clutched her fingers the other day had been so alive, and she had wiggled free of its grip and abandoned it there. She had assumed the medicians knew best.
    She was an idiot.
    â€œYou saw the cart?” asked Broderick. “Of course you did. Yes. It preserves them for the evening’s work. Miss Arfetta wants to keep a lot of skin ready in anticipation of Arena injuries. That’s going to be my major duty once Lump’s attachments are done.”
    â€œYour major duty. You’re going to kill all of them ?”
    â€œIf they’ve contributed any parts, yes. It’s more . . . merciful than releasing them. I’m trying . . . you see . . .” He took a deep breath to compose himself. “There’s a group that fights against gremlin abuse. Not a very popular cause around here. I get some gremlins to them, but they don’t have much money or enough space. And I can never sneak out enough of them. There are so many that . . .” He seemed to lose the ability to speak.
    â€œI guess you expect me to ask how you can stand it since you know what you’re doing is wrong.” Rivka stared into her hands. Her fingers had turned ruddy with cold, but she welcomed the brisk air. “I’m not going to judge you