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Back Black Salt Queen
Chapters (50)
  1. Praise for
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. City of Mariit: Capital of Maynara Map
  5. One
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Two
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Three
  24. Seventeen
  25. Eighteen
  26. Nineteen
  27. Twenty
  28. Twenty-One
  29. Twenty-Two
  30. Four
  31. By Order of General Ojas,On Behalf of Her Majesty Hara Duja
  32. Twenty-Three
  33. Twenty-Four
  34. Twenty-Five
  35. Twenty-Six
  36. Twenty-Seven
  37. Twenty-Eight
  38. Twenty-Nine
  39. Thirty
  40. Thirty-One
  41. Thirty-Two
  42. Thirty-Three
  43. Five
  44. A Coronation Prayer
  45. Thirty-Four
  46. Epilogue
  47. Acknowledgments
  48. Thank You
  49. About the Author
  50. Violetear Books x Bindery Books

Doubt swirled in Eti’s stomach. The palace walls couldn’t keep the Kulaws from invading the palace. Nor would the city walls keep any foreign invaders at bay. Her family was their biggest protection, but some Maynarans didn’t see it that way. Perhaps it was true what so many members of the court assumed of her: Eti was nothing more than a daft, useless child who allowed the world to fill her head with lies.

“You read the books on Maynaran history I gave you,” she said. “Do you think it’s true? What that woman said at the boardinghouse?”

“You mean about your family?” Ariel asked.

Eti chewed her bottom lip and nodded. Never had she thought of her forebears as anything more than ancestral spirits. Born to be respected. To be revered. Eti had heard no reverence in the woman’s voice as she told them what the Gatdulas had done to her grandfather. Even if it wasn’t true, Eti had heard a tremor of fear in the woman’s voice. A hatred that ran old and deep. Those convictions did not manifest the moment Imeria Kulaw stormed the palace. They had been born in a dark place where no Gatdula went.

Ariel gave her a long, weighty look before opening his mouth to reply. “I am not Maynaran, so I can’t say much about your history,” he said. “As for legacies, they’re not a footprint you press into the face of the world. Rather, they are layered, like tangled webs⁠—as complex as the creatures who weave them.”

He clasped her shoulder, a brotherly gesture that chased away Eti’s fears for a fleeting moment. They followed the canal back to the boardinghouse. The panic thrumming through the air dulled as midmorning faded to noon. Not as many people were rushing through the streets, their arms laden with whatever supplies they could scavenge. Smells wafted down from the rows of open windows overlooking the water: garlic crisping in the pan, meat simmering in thick, salty stew. People were pausing their frenzied preparations to eat lunch with their families. The ritual was familiar to Eti, and it made her shoulders relax to see it.

Some things were sacred even on the brink of ruin.

boat fleuron

Peace after the quelled riot lasted less than a day. Eti and Ariel had spent those scarce, fragile hours trying to cobble together a plan. They were sitting on the floor of their room, their heads pressed close together so they could hear each other’s whispered ideas. The walls of the boardinghouse were thin, so they had to keep their voices low.