The Last Sin Eater Read Online Free PDF

chest and waited, scrubbing the tears from my eyes.
    “Ye canna let words hurt ye so,” Lilybet whispered.
    Words could be sharper than a two-edged sword. They cut deep and left me bleeding. I tensed and held my breath as I heard footsteps coming my way.
    “Cadi!” Fagan stood not far from my refuge. He looked around slowly. “Cadi, where are ye, girl?” He stood quiet for a long moment, his head cocked slightly.
    Like a cornered rabbit, I remained still.
    “Cullen’s sorry. He dinna mean anything. He’s just sore because he ain’t caught a fish today. Come on out, Cadi. Ye must have a good reason to be so far afield.”
    “Say something, Katrina Anice. Maybe you and Fagan and the others can find the sin eater.”
    “I’m your friend, ain’t I, Cadi Forbes?”
    “Are you?” I said from my hiding place.
    He turned sharply, looking in my direction, but I could tell he hadna seen me.
    “Go out, Cadi,” Lilybet said.
    “Be silent,” I whispered to her.
    “Go on out to him.”
    “No.”
    “He may know something that would help.”
    “What could he know?”
    “Ye won’t know until ye ask, now will ye?”
    Pushing the branches aside, I stood up. He grinned at me. “Ye run faster than a deer, you know?”
    Pressing my way through the shrubs, I stood in front of him, my cheeks hot. “Ye dinna have to follow.”
    “No, I dinna,” he said and nodded his head in the direction of the river. “Come on back.”
    We didn’t say anything to one another on the way, and I began to regret taking Lilybet’s advice. Cullen and Glynnis were roasting fish.
    “I didn’t mean nothing,” Cullen said and handed me a long stick with a trout. It had been gutted and cleaned. I thanked him and sat down to roast it. Glynnis talked about helping catch the fish by scaring them toward the boys holding the spears.
    “Fagan’s done it before,” Cullen said. “He’s teaching me.”
    “You’ll do better next time.” Fagan tossed a fish head with skeleton attached into the brush. “I learned from my brothers. They used to plague me something awful about my aim. Took a sight of time to learn just when and how to throw. You’ll catch on, Cullen.”
    “What’re you doing so far from your house?” Glynnis looked at me with curious interest.
    Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly, hoping my heart would slow down and drop back into its rightful rhythm. “I’m trying to find out about the sin eater.”
    Cullen swore exactly like his father. “The sin eater! What’re you doing wanting to find out about the likes of him?”
    “He’s a monster.” Glynnis’s eyes were wide. “He has fire red eyes like the devil and long fangs like a wolf. And his hands are claws.”
    I knew that was not so but said nothing about it. Glynnis would want to know how I knew, and I was loath to admit I had looked at the acurst man when he was taking Granny’s sins upon himself. I had seen no fangs, but that didn’t mean he had none. He had surely eaten like a ravenous wolf. “Who told you these things?”
    “My mama did.”
    “He must’ve been a man once,” Fagan said.
    “A man who gave himself to the devil,” Cullen said. “He loves sin. He spends his whole life looking for it so he can feast on it.”
    “Maybe that isna so,” I said. “He sounded so awful sorrowful after eating my granny’s sins. And he called her ‘dear,’ as though he cared for her.”
    Fagan, Cull, and Glynnis said nothing for a long moment. Fagan was staring off toward the mountains, frowning slightly. “I wonder where he lives.”
    “No one knows.” Cullen shrugged. “Only time he ever comes into the cove is when the passing bell rings for somebody.”
    “I’d be afraid to go looking for him,” Glynnis said.
    “He must be somewhere close enough to hear the ringing,” Fagan said, still contemplating the mountains. “Maybe up there somewhere.”He pointed toward the highest mountain to the west. “My father’s always told me to keep away