TODAY IS TOO LATE Read Online Free PDF

the birth as a miracle. Since the rise of the bone lords, the Roshan had begun killing Reborns.
    The child stopped crying. It looked more exhausted than the empress. Something about the face—maybe the eyes wrinkled shut—appeared ancient.
    Ishma sniffled. “We did it, Einin.”
    “Yes, Empress.”
    Einin removed a few pillows from a window and watched the streets. Outside, no one pointed at them. No one at the door. They had done it.
    On the side of the palace, almost too far to the side to see, a blue star burst over Shinar. The brilliant light cut through the smoke and competed with the sun. Late afternoon, the star would shine brighter as the sun set. Einin marveled at the display until she realized it was for the child.
    “Empress. There is a star in the daytime. A blue star.”
    The empress talked to her baby. “That star is for you.”
    “Why would the seraphim do that? Why would they warn the bone lords?”
    “They don’t. A star always announces a Reborn.” She talked to the baby. “If we were home, in Narbor, we could have a Blue Feast. We would; everyone for miles around would want to see you at the unveiling.”
    Einin had never seen such a feast. Narbor had not had a Reborn in generations. She wanted to imagine such a thing, the capitol flying blue flags, and revelers dancing in masks, but they were surrounded by the bone lords of Rosh.
    “We need more time to prepare,” Einin said. “Do they work against us? What does it mean?”
    The empress craned her neck to see the window, but the bedposts obscured it. Einin thought about moving her and decided against it.
    Einin wrung her hands. “What do we do?”
    “What we planned. They don’t work against us. It is a gentle reminder to hurry.”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Nothing has changed.” Ishma wiped her eyes. “It’s not like it is a surprise. We must save her from my husband.”
    The royal couple had tried for over twenty years to conceive an heir, and gossip at the court couldn’t decide which of them was infertile because Azmon had no bastards and Ishma had never been pregnant. When Ishma predicted the pregnancy, Einin pitied her. At forty-four, most agreed Ishma’s childbearing years were behind her, yet the poor woman longed for an heir so badly that she became delusional.
    Then she conceived, a small miracle, and of all the ladies at the court, Ishma chose Einin to confide in. None of the sorcerers, priests, physicians or mystics could explain the pregnancy, but they all expected a miscarriage. Ishma summoned Einin to the royal apartments, alone. The empress attempted conversation, looked nervous, and Einin wasn’t sure what to do.
    “My child will have a rune. It’s a Reborn.” Ishma looked relieved to have said it. The nerves evaporated, and she continued. “I know this sounds strange, but I also know you are the one to help me.”
    “Empress—”
    “I’ve seen it. In my visions.”
    Einin forced a smile. The empress had told her of the visions over a year before. They disturbed her sleep. Ishma dreamed of seraphim and executions and dead babies. She sounded disturbed.
    “Don’t condescend to me, you idiot girl.” Ishma took a deep breath. “Do you know what this means? Have you any idea what the bone lords do to the Reborn?”
    “No, empress.”
    “They kill them; a dozen have died so far. And they don’t care how old they are. Little old men or newborns, it doesn’t matter. Those with birth runes are put to death.”
    “How can you know the child will have a rune?”
    “The same way I knew I’d be pregnant. The seraphim show me. In my visions.”
    Einin winced. Faithful or not, no one spoke like that. The seraphim and shedim played games with mortals; they impersonated each other and sought to corrupt each other’s servants. While a few cults worshipped the angels and demons, most priests agreed there was only one God, and the faithful should be wary of demons passing themselves off as angels.
    Ancient myths