One Small Echo (Shadowsong)

Because she couldn’t work, he had to support them both, and with the Lord of Stonesigh increasing taxes these past few years to fund his growing purity army, Kaito had been forced to spend more time down in the mines than ever before. It was the Lord of the Stones who first sang the “Song of Shadows.” Eiko loved the way her older brother sang the famous tune most of all; the way he plucked the thin, frayed strings of his lute with such careless grace. She was too stubborn for freedom, and she was going to forcefully follow this path she had set herself upon, learning everything she could cram into her hard head, until she was changed from the girl who dreamed of glory into a silent and deadly weapon. But finally, he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.