Chapters (61)
- Publisher’s Notice
- Map of Crache
- Dedication
- PART ONE THREE SIDES OF A COIN
- THE MOURNING AFTER
- THE KNIGHT BEFORE
- WHERE ONLY STONE STEPS ASCEND
- A THOUSAND FACES AND NONE
- BLOOD COINS AND BLOOD COIN HUNTERS
- FALLING STARS
- CITIES BUILT IN BOXES
- STEEL FIELDS OF RUST AND ROT
- RESOLVE IS THE FORGED BLADE THAT CANNOT BE QUENCHED
- THE DEAD WHO REVEL IN LIFE
- SHAHEEN
- THE FIRST WEAPON WAS A STORY TOLD BY LIARS
- HOME STUDIES
- REQUITAL IS THE REVENGE OF THE WELL-READ
- BURIED ON THE BATTLEFIELD
- ON AND OFF
- SAVAGERY PAYS A CALL
- WHEN GHOSTS SPEAK YOUR REAL NAME
- PART TWO UNRAVELING THE EDGES
- THE BLACK EAGLE
- THE MESSENGER
- A PEBBLE IN A MAZE
- THIRTY TONGUES AND NOT A WORD SPOKEN
- TEARS MADE OF FIRE
- LATE-NIGHT CALLERS
- THE MATING CALL OF THE CRACHIAN WIND DRAGON
- ONLY FIRE AND ICE GROW IN CHARNEL HOUSE GARDENS
- SCATTERING THE ASHES
- THE JEOPARDY ROOM
- HEAVEN’S HOSTESS IS HELL’S HANDMAIDEN
- THE BONES OF THE WORLD
- THE GOD RUNG
- KNIVES SPEAK LOUDEST IN THE DARK
- THE INTEREST PAID IN BLOOD
- RIDDLES SHAPED IN STONE
- THE CALLING HOUR
- WE BURIED OUR STORIES IN THE EARTH
- PART THREE REVELATIONS OF THE THROAT
- FORMLESS, SHAPELESS, IT CAN FLOW OR IT CAN CRASH
- THE SPARROW GENERAL
- THOUGH IT BE HARSH, COME BACK TO THE LIGHT
- THE NEW DEVOURING THE OLD
- A PLOT OF CORPSES
- THE BLACK TURTLE
- MARCHING TO A HEADLESS DRUM
- SEEK NOT THE EAVES AT MIDNIGHT
- REUNION
- SLEEP, AND HIS BROTHER DEATH
- MISSIO INTERRUPTUS
- BORN ON THE BATTLEFIELD
- IN THE HOUSE OF THE IGNOBLE
- THE ONES WE KEEP CLOSE
- DAWN IS THE MOMENT YOU WAKE
- THE GRAY AFTER THE STORM
- FINAL SELECTION
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
“Taru,” Lexi addresses the retainer, forcing herself to break from her reveries.
“Yes, Te-Gen?”
“Those awful Aegins back at the Spectrum… they spoke of the Bottoms and… what did you call it? A ‘hook-end’?”
“Yes,” Taru answers, obviously uncertain where the question is leading.
“Why did you need to arm yourself so? As a child?”
Lexi can’t be sure, but she thinks she catches the barest hint of a wry grin tugging at the corner of Taru’s mouth.
“Forgive me, Te-Gen, but you have never been to the Bottoms yourself, have you?”
“No. Brio never wanted me to accompany the two of you.”
Taru nods without further comment.
“I take it had I visited the Bottoms I wouldn’t asks such questions?” Lexi presses.
“It might have… clarified things,” Taru admits.
“I know you accompanied him for a reason,” Lexi says, almost defensively. “I know it’s not like the rest of the city. I’ve met people from there. You’re from there. I don’t fear you.”
“I’ve been cultured and educated since,” Taru reminds her.
“Of course. I suppose I never wanted to believe being poor makes one dangerous.”
“It doesn’t. Being a person does. People are just animals like any other, Te-Gen. In the Bottoms they simply do not hide their teeth like in the rest of the Capitol.”
Lexi has no answer for that. She falls silent, and that seems to satisfy Taru, who clearly considers the issue settled.
“Taru?” Lexi says a moment later.
“Yes, Te-Gen?”
“Take me there.”
Taru looks down at her in surprise. “Where, Te-Gen?”
“The Bottoms.”
Taru obviously wasn’t expecting that. “What in the Bottoms do you wish to see, Te-Gen?”
“I simply… I want to see how people there live. People like the child you were when you grew up there.”
Taru’s surprised expression is replaced by alarm. “Te-Gen, Brio would not—”
“Brio isn’t here,” Lexi reminds them gently. “I am. Take me to the Bottoms. I do not need a full tour. I only wish to meet some of the people Brio tries to help. I want to see them.”
Taru’s lips tighten until they all but disappear into their mouth.
“I’ll be perfectly safe,” Lexi says. “I have you. And your hook-end.”
The retainer exhales through their nostrils. It’s an exasperated sound.
Lexi stares up at them expectantly.
Finally, Taru says, “Very well, Te-Gen. I will take you.”
THE DEAD WHO REVEL IN LIFE
IT’S NOT A FEAST; IT’S the last party before the end of the world.