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I fought when they pulled me off of the body. I remembered that much. The rest of the night was a haze with grief clawing thought away from me, but I remembered the arrival of the royal guard. I remembered their foreboding quiet as they’d ducked through the v...

When they lowered a rope ladder for me, I climbed out of the pit, rolling over its edge to lie on the stone. My body hadn’t stopped protesting the damage that had been done to it, so as I caught my breath, aching hurt turned the hand reaching for me into a swi...

I waited for what was coming, both needing to escape it and wonderfully, blissfully relieved that I couldn’t. Too many royal guardsmen were standing between me and freedom, ready to incapacitate me if I tried. So, I lay on the floor with one arm thrown over m...

Voices fill the black, so disjointed and scattered, and I float among them. “The crown prince has caused another scene, sir. He-” “I told you to call me Raimie when we’re alone, Oswin. What did Eri do this-?” And another set. “Are you sure, madam? A loyalt...

Wind whipped through my hair while strands of it lashed against my face. Heat swelled around me in an explosion of steam, and a hated face hovered above, smirking. Why did this seem familiar? I was falling into earth’s blood again, and as I realized the dept...

Zhao had done well for himself since retiring. His modest, two-story home reminded me of a mid-level guild member’s domicile, one that spoke of coziness and comfort. Its outer walls had been painted to resemble the wood found in the trees of old, and inside, ...

Brennan returned once light had faded from the world. After hours spent cooped in Zhao’s house, I’d become a storm cloud of energy, threatening to burst free at any moment. Desperate for an outlet, I was buzzing about the kitchen, helping my old mentor prepare...

Arita’s estate seemed modest for a guild’s chairman. It didn’t have a yard, not with its entrance directly abutting the street, but the building itself loomed over the ones beside it with its upper reaches disappearing into the low-hanging smog. In addition, ...

In my dreams, two voices rattled, incessantly arguing. “He bears the whole’s touch. Can you feel it?” “As clearly as you do, insufferable moron. It doesn’t mean we can touch him.” “Says you.” “Yes. Me and the rules. You know them. We can only take one host...

After we’d reached Zhao’s home, I almost climbed to my room’s window, hoping to sneak into bed. If Brennan had come home while we’d been visiting the community center, she’d know that I hadn’t followed her instructions, and I'd rather not face her when her tem...

There was no security waiting for us at Taro’s estate. The modest building lay quiet beneath diffused moonlight. The streetlamps’ light was the only illumination splashed over brushed metal. When Brennan and I entered the place through its front door, no one ...

“Remind me why we’re here again?” Korix asked. The city's lights cast a glowing corona around the towers on all sides of us, but none of them stretched upward as far as the one Korix and I were standing on. Well, none of them but the six House headquarters, t...

The wall buckled while a groan conveyed the threat of its collapse. Based on the howling in my fingers, I’d say I’d fractured a few bones, and when I retracted my fist, it left a dent behind. All proof of my foolishness. I didn’t care. With my shoulders heav...

Even with an undercurrent of worry following her, Jayla looked good, much better than she had as Jastin, but then, I’d only met her once before she’d transitioned, and that meeting hadn’t… gone… well. Why was I doing this again? Once we’d reached an abandone...

The air around Korix hung heavy on the shuttle ride home, and given how much they’d pulled away from us, our fellow passengers must have  felt it too. He didn’t seem to notice, keeping his forehead plastered to the glass as he stared out at the city, passing u...

Again, two antagonistic voices boomed in my dreams, continuing their never-ending argument. “This one? Again? Why are we revisiting HIM?” “Why do you think, moron? He’s been busy today. By the whole, I’ve never come across a human who’s so enticing before, n...

When we reached Zhao’s home, the old man pulled me to the side while Brennan led Himi deeper into the house. True to her word, that girl had been a ghost while we’d been on the street, completely unnoticeable, but as soon as the door had closed behind us, she...

Because of the increased police presence I’d spawned across Takanai, making and preparing a plan to confront Sunada took several days. In that time, I got to know Himi better, more than I’d have liked to in fact. Many were the times that I regretted sparing he...

Finding Leski didn’t take me long. When I stormed into my parents’ garden, she was examining the arrangement of its azalea bushes, exactly where the recorder system had said she’d be. As I approached, she glanced up with her face brightening. “Zae, hi! I didn...

I pulled Korix to me, pressing our lips together, and as I entangled my body with his, I tipped us backward, relinquishing our perch for a free fall. As we plummeted toward the ground, Korix shoved his hands beneath my clothing, and for a moment, I relived the...