It's 1918, and Matty returns home to the family farm from the trenches only to find his brother Arthur dying of an unknown illness. The local doctor thinks cancer, but Matty becomes convinced it's connected to the mysterious books his brother left strewn around the house. Rob knows something other than just Arthur's death is bothering Matty. He's know him for years and been in love with him just as long. And when he finds something that looks like a gate, a glowing, terrifying doorway to the unknown, it all starts to fall in to place. Matty's looking sicker and sicker in the same way Arthur did. What is Rob prepared to sacrifice to cure him? The answer is in the esoteric books ... and with the mysterious Lin of the Frem, who lives beyond the gate to nowhere. It's taken Matty and Rob more than a decade to admit they have feelings for each other and they are determined that neither social expectations or magical illness will part them now.

Inheritance of Shadows

Rob never raised his voice in anger. Ever. He swallowed and tried to calm down. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he said, hands flat on the kitchen table where they’d spread the books out to be warm without having to bother with lighting the sitting room fire. “I’ve stopped. I’ve stopped shouting.”


Matty’s face relaxed a bit. “It’s fine,” he said, clearly trying to mean it. “I’m scared, though.”


“Yes, me too. I don’t like things I don’t understand properly. This is a whole load of things I don’t understand. It’s making me cranky.”


“Do you want to have a try now? Just to get it over with?”


“We could?” Rob wasn’t confident he could do it. And he wasn’t confident they’d be able to do the exsanguination part if he could do the pulling part. The carnas seemed pretty tough creatures. But having a go seemed better than waiting for Matty to get weaker and weaker whilst they messed about never being quite ready to try.


Chapter 31