Shadow Silence

“A fantastic, perfect blend of myth and modern, nightmare and dream, love and loss.”

—Rachel Caine,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Yasmine Galenorn creates a world I never want to leave.”

—Sherrilyn Kenyon, #1
New York Times
bestselling author

“Erotic and darkly bewitching . . . a mix of magic and passion.”

—Jeaniene Frost,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Yasmine Galenorn is a hot new star in the world of urban fantasy.”

—Jayne Ann Krentz,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Yasmine Galenorn is a powerhouse author; a master of the craft who is taking the industry by storm, and for good reason!”

—Maggie Shayne,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Spectacularly hot and supernaturally breathtaking.”

—Alyssa Day,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Simmers with fun and magic.”

—Mary Jo Putney,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Yasmine Galenorn's imagination is a beautiful thing.”

—Fresh Fiction

“Galenorn's gallery of rogues is an imaginative delight.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Pulls no punches . . . [and] leaves you begging for more.”

—Bitten by Books

“[Galenorn's] books are always enchanting, full of life and emotion as well as twists and turns that keep you reading long into the night.”

—Romance Reviews Today

“[Galenorn] delivers intriguing characters, intricate plot layers, and kick-butt action.”

—
RT Book Reviews
(four stars)

The Otherworld Series

WITCHLING

CHANGELING

DARKLING

DRAGON WYTCH

NIGHT HUNTRESS

DEMON MISTRESS

BONE MAGIC

HARVEST HUNTING

BLOOD WYNE

COURTING DARKNESS

SHADED VISION

SHADOW RISING

HAUNTED MOON

AUTUMN WHISPERS

CRIMSON VEIL

PRIESTESS DREAMING

PANTHER PROWLING

DARKNESS RAGING

The Indigo Court Series

NIGHT MYST

NIGHT VEIL

NIGHT SEEKER

NIGHT VISION

NIGHT'S END

The Fly by Night Series

FLIGHT FROM DEATH

The Whisper Hollow Series

AUTUMN THORNS

SHADOW SILENCE

Anthologies

INKED

NEVER AFTER

HEXED

Specials

ICE SHARDS

ETCHED IN SILVER

THE SHADOW OF MIST

FLIGHT FROM HELL

Berkley Prime Crime titles by Yasmine Galenorn

GHOST OF A CHANCE

LEGEND OF THE JADE DRAGON

MURDER UNDER A MYSTIC MOON

A HARVEST OF BONES

ONE HEX OF A WEDDING

Yasmine Galenorn writing as India Ink

SCENT TO HER GRAVE

A BLUSH WITH DEATH

GLOSSED AND
FOUND

A JOVE BOOK

Published by Berkley

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

Copyright © 2016 by Yasmine Galenorn.

Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.

A JOVE BOOK and BERKLEY are registered trademarks and the B colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

eBook ISBN: 9780698406506

Cover art by Tony Mauro

Cover design by Danielle Mazzella di Bosco

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

To my agent, Meredith Bernstein,
who has had my back for many a year.

Thank
you.

I have a usual list of suspects to whom I owe a great deal when I'm writing a book. To my editor and agent, for encouraging my vision and supporting it. To my husband, Samwise, who is one of the most supportive men I've ever met. To Andria and Jenn, my assistants who help make it possible for me to write three books a year and stay sane. To my readers, who buy the books and support my fan base—without enough readers buying the books, authors wouldn't be getting contracts. And lastly, to Ukko, Rauni, Mielikki, and Tapio—my spiritual foundation.

You can find me on the web at Galenorn.com, and all the links to my newsletter and my social networks can be found there. If you want to contact me, please e-mail me through the contact page on my
website.

Dear Reader:

And so, we come to the second Whisper Hollow book,
Shadow Silence.
I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did writing it—the world of Whisper Hollow is very near and dear to me, and it haunts my dreams and thoughts.

I hope to be writing far more Whisper Hollow stories in the future, though it will be through another venue. Be assured, I have new books and new series coming out, but you will need to check my website to find out what publisher/venue through which they will be available. If you sign up for my newsletter on my website, you will be assured of finding out about all my future releases. I do promise—no matter what—I will have more books to share with you.

Brightest Blessings,

The Painted Panther

Yasmine
Galenorn

Under the water it rumbled on,

Still louder and more dread:

It reached the ship, it split the bay;

The ship went down like lead.

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE,

“THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER”

Some places speak distinctly. Certain dark gardens cry aloud for a murder; certain old houses demand to be haunted; certain coasts are set apart for shipwreck.

ROBERT LOUIS
STEVENSON

1. If you hear someone call your name from the forest, don't answer.

2. Never interrupt Ellia when she's playing to the dead.

3. If you see the Girl in the Window, set your affairs in order.

4. Try not to end up in the hospital.

5. If the Crow Man summons you, follow him.

6. Remember: Sometimes the foul are actually fair.

7. And most important: Don't drive down by the lake at night.

Whisper Hollow:

Where spirits walk among the living,

and the lake never gives up her
dead.

The Morrígan, Night Mare Queen and Goddess of Sovereignty, Queen of Shapeshifters and Mother of the Fae, culls the dead from the battlefield and gathers them to her, under the embrace of her feathered cloak. She is mother to the Bean Nighe and the Bean Sidhe, the sirens of the spirit world, who warn of death to come by vision and by song. She is mother to the Crow Man, who haunts the woodlands of the world, surrounded by a murder of crows, carrying her messages to those to whom she would speak. The Crow Man walks before the goddess, announcing her appearance. He speaks through the raven and the crow, and to ignore his summons is to ignore the gods. Do so at your own risk.

But not all dead wish to stay in their shadowed realm, and not all dead understand the reality of their situation. And in some lands, the energy of the Veil is so strong that the dead can walk freely between the worlds. So it was that the Goddess of Crows engendered nine great families—the bloodline passing through the maternal side—of women born to drive the wandering dead back into their graves, to stand between the dead and the living as protectors. The Morrígan's daughters, known as the spirit shamans, are charged with these duties.

To each spirit shaman, a match is born—a shapeshifter
by birth. He will be her protector and guardian. They will be forever bound. And to each spirit shaman, a lament singer will arise—a daughter of the Bean Sidhe—who will work with her to complete the triad. Together, they will protect the portals of the world that lead into the realm of Spirit, and keep the dead from flooding the land of the living.