Excerpt of The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne

Nobody noticed her dying. Every door was closed. Every curtain drawn. She passed low walls, punctuated by stone posts. Then she was at Number Seven. She knew the way even when she couldn’t see very well. The door was painted green. The knocker was a bronze rose. She covered it with her bloody hand and banged down hard and went back to holding her blood in. She leaned on the door, her forehead against the green paint. It is strange that it does not hurt. I have been in pain so many times. This final time it does not hurt at all. Really, she was not ready to die. She had a long list of things to do. The door opened and she had nothing to lean upon. The ground crested upward to meet her. The rug was scratchy on her cheek, surprisingly hard. She felt herself rolled over. She was looking up at a woman, not much more than a girl. She didn’t know this one, did she? Hands pushed her own hands away and came down strong around her arm, at the wound. Someone shouted. She could tell it was shouts from the urgency of it. It sounded distant in her ear. When she opened her eyes again, he was there. Black hair and a thin face, dark as a Gypsy. Serious eyes. She said, "Hello, ’Awker." "Hello, Justine," Hawker said.