A House's Dissolution

Elliot, So, you’ve stayed, despite all the horror I’ve shown you. What would it take to drive yo...

Emotionally drained, I sprawled beside Cambris with her wife, Liala, on the other side of her. Af...

When an alarm roused me, the Southern Fells’ moors were racing below my skycruiser with the river...

Leski, as usual, cuddled Korix and I just as fiercely as we always did with her. She and Korix mi...

From the many pilots available to me, Third Stratus Damari had been my favorite for years. I like...

As I glided onto the street, I hoped my desperate need for my partners’ imparted comfort hadn’t b...

Mother Time, I hated assembles. They were pointless, a complete waste of time, but even still, th...

Nerves set in when our guests started arriving. It was strange for me because I loved social gat...

As I drained my drink, a mixture of cheering and laughter blended with the first chords of a whim...

I decided that my emotions didn’t matter. How I was feeling could never matter, so instead of dig...

Or that was what I thought until Damari crouched beside me and my partners. “Looks like I was wr...

Talira made me join her in a public place for most of our meetings. I thought it was a reminder o...

When I reached my floor, I found an unoccupied room, locking the door after I’d entered it. Makin...

It always went like this. Life intruded on my emptiness in bursts, the times when Maikle or his a...

While I traveled across the park to my next mission, I examined the two people I was supposed to ...

I was already awake when my alarm went off, working on the problem that had become my obsession i...

Amelise left me alone, and pasting the connector’s pads to either side of my neck, I sank into a ...

Talira made me a whiskey sour as soon as I walked into her office. Shortly after I became the Lok...

With a shuddering gasp, I straightened in my seat. A blanket fell over my senses as I fumbled for...

When I returned to the nursery, Korix was sprawled on the floor while Leski was transfixed by her...

It was amazing how much time compressed when you were panicking. I could swear that I’d just been...

I hadn’t gotten far with Pheniks’ defense when the skycruiser landed in our grandmother’s hangar....

Is… is that why he hated me? Fucking hell, is that why he kept himself so distant over the years?...

When I walked into her office the next day, Talira took one look at me before wincing. “Did you ...

With my lung’s contents bursting from me, I lowered my rifle. “Damnit, Feena, you can’t do that,...

Unfortunately, I had one more stressor to handle before I could get started on this mission. Les...

Ahead of me, Third Stratus Laylah glided down the hall, drawing stares as she talked in an almost...

“You think that Alan would surrender to those from beyond the stars?” I said, staring at Damari. ...

When I entered Laylah-Feena and Rylan’s private cubicle, Damari was doing a good job of maintaini...

I ran into Laylah-Feena near our cubicle. “There you are!” she said. “Where did you go? I couldn...

For what seemed like the thousandth time, I read the fifth line of this process again, somehow ke...

After Feena had left, I wrote up my daily report for Talira, like I’d told her I would. I hadn’t ...

The state I was in concerned me. I wasn’t fuzzy, and this evening’s events had continued in a seq...

I watched Leski leave the library, and once she was gone, my hand fell away from Korix as swiftly...

When I reached House Kolb’s headquarters, I entered as if I belonged, even with my status declari...

When I reached Feena’s apartment, I entered it without announcing my presence. “Get dressed, dea...

Harvel just would not make this easy for me. I had to give him credit. He’d most definitely been...

Once we were inside Drav’s headquarters, we headed for a receptionist, sitting behind a welcome d...

So, now you’ve met one of the few people I’d sacrifice everything for. My child. By now, you’ll ...

I wasn’t going to make it. My blasted P.I.G. had given out too far from rescue, succumbing to the...

Korix had been right, as usual. Jak truly was a decent cook. After enjoying a last bite of my me...

I led the way through my home, wondering why my sister was keeping quiet. Usually, she’d be chatt...

Somehow, I made it into the house before I completely lost it. I sprinted for an enclosed space, ...

After I’d reached my study, Feena waited in a corner while I made the room secure. She only relax...

I found Baely first. Sitting in a hall, she was leaning against the wall across from Leski’s stud...

Talira was making me stand for this meeting. I’d walked into her office, and not a single chair h...

On stepping inside House Cerullis’ headquarters, I headed straight for the welcome desk with Feen...

Feena started surging for her feet, but my fingers, hooked in her belt loop, sent her crashing ba...

When we reached Feena’s apartment, I hardly registered it, although I was surprised that my uncon...

I was still considering today’s events when I reached my destination. Fortunately, Damari was the...

In the small room I’d rented, Gretchen and Luisa tangled ever tighter around each other, fighting...

“You must promise to keep this to yourself,” Orin said. Having never seen Kirst’s shukusen so se...

While Sanya found a spot to sit amongst the pillows surrounding the holodrama plate, I poured mys...

I hated assemblies. I might have mentioned this before, but it was doubly true today. Tension wa...

I don’t have much to say this time. I’m sorry, Elliot. Even remembering this part of my life take...

It was too loud in this room. Around me, shukusenth and First Strata filled the air with their sh...

Turning on my heel, I headed back toward a room full of self-important people, all of whom were f...

When someone sat on the bench beside me, it was enough to drag me out of my lethargy. Most people...

When I met Pheniks at his apartment, I said nothing to him. I said nothing as I led the way to a ...

Glancing at the empty moors around us, Pheniks frowned. “We’re here? But there’s nothing… wait. ...

Forgive me for the interruption, Elliot, but there’s something I should explain before we get int...

At the scientist’s nod, I stepped into the lift, quickly descending, but when I stopped, I was su...

I was impressed by the lab that Talira had confiscated for the scientists to work from. Deep in H...

For the one hundred and forty-sixth time, I stared down the display of a cannister, identical to ...

Leaving Feena and my mother behind, the rest of us traveled to House Drav’s headquarters in silen...

After the assembly had concluded, I wandered to the lobby of House Drav’s headquarters in a haze....

From an initial scan of the hangar, I’d say the Chosen kept a neat base of operations. Everything...

An hour or two into the flight, I was still agonizing over whether leaving my family behind had b...

For a supposedly irradiated to hell part of Lutov, the Tainted Lands seemed to be thriving, to my...

I stumbled toward the dropship, only now noticing how much my body had started trembling. That wa...

Throughout my life, I’d speculated about what the Collective would be like, but who wouldn’t do t...

I’ll skip a few months here. I honestly don’t have much to tell you about them. When it came to ...

My current set of targets was playing it exceedingly safe, which had made hunting them down diffi...

When I came back into view, my target was trying to escape, but of course he was. In his situatio...

Korix and Leski looked… I didn’t know how to describe how they looked. I couldn’t focus on their ...

Something unexpected dragged me out of my dreams, but then, dealing with the unexpected had becom...

Before investigating Calia’s safehouses, I had to finish my hunt for the targets I’d been trailin...

Leski followed me as I made for where Kolb scouts had last spotted my targets. I wasn’t sure how...

It was quiet when we arrived. No one was outside of their homes, and there was no breeze to stir ...

When we reached House Kolb’s headquarters, Korix took one look at us before pulling Baely into a ...

It took quite some time, but eventually, I extracted myself from the apartment, heading for House...

Two months had passed, and once again, I found myself exhausted beyond measure. This time, howeve...

The person making the connection request must understand why my answer had been so delayed becaus...

After three months of repeating it, I was getting sick of having this conversation. Over my palm,...

When Baely and I arrived at the dissenter’s island, Korix was waiting for us with his hands folde...

So, now you know, or at least, you should. I suppose I was vague enough that you might not unders...

Leski was waiting in the hangar for us when we got home. If the outline of a familiar hallucinati...

I couldn’t move. If I did, I was afraid I might collapse into a puddle on the floor, and I didn’t...

Absolute chaos had been unleashed at this most momentous of gatherings, and it wasn’t helping me ...

Unlike in the chamber I’d just left, a deadly quiet infected this assembly. Each of the shukusent...

I placidly waited while my grandmother secured the room, although I couldn’t stop myself from dou...

We started our search for Sanya on the outskirts of Xygek. To my great surprise, Korix led us to ...

Our next destination was on the other side of the city. As we set down, I wondered why Korix had ...

We’d set down a while ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to find out where we were. Throughout Kori...

Writing up the report didn’t take as long as I’d thought it would, if only because Korix had made...

When it came to Damari’s formal Dispersal, their sister had been exceedingly kind to me. She’d de...

I’m sorry if that got too sappy for you at the end, Elliot, but I need you to understand this par...