Second Interlude: One Of Us
Jean woke to sunlight streaming into the room, casting bars of light and shade across a whitewashed ceiling. This wasn’t Artair’s dingy guild hall, but he knew better than to say that aloud. He needed to know where he was before he made a move.
Chapter 2: Part 7 - Two Rich Idiots
After a full day in Divinity’s Reach, Erin knew she was trying to do the impossible. There were traces of Taria Valpari everywhere she looked, but setting up a meeting with her people in the city was about as easy as climbing an ice cliff with carrots instead of picks. In other words, frustrating, glacially slow, and ultimately pointless.
First Interlude: Absolution
Oska knew, objectively, that what he was planning was a terrible idea. He’d been serious about leaving Divinity’s Reach with Auri, preferably as quickly as possible. He wanted her to be safe. He wanted his family to have no idea where he was. He wanted…
Chapter 1: Part 10 - A Coming War
Dusk had always been Oska’s favourite time of day in Divinity’s Reach. The city came alive with music and colour, the air filled with smells of cooking and smoke, and there was something new to discover on every street corner. As a child, he’d spent long hours roaming through the city as the light faded, until one household servant or another was sent to bring him home.
Chapter 1: Part 7 - Babysitting
Out of all the new recruits to her guild, Erin hadn’t expected Auri Valpari to be the most difficult. Both she and Oska were odd and not always in step with the world around them, at least at first glance. Once you got to know them better, you discovered that Oska was far sharper than he first appeared and had something of an acerbic tongue. Auri, if anything, was even more dreamy and distracted. She had a tendency to finish Oska’s sentences, but a lot of the other things she said made no sense at all.
Chapter 1: Part 6: Escape
Oska knew, as he darted towards the tapestry, that there were two ways this could go. Either he’d be caught and killed, probably by Ruby herself – or he’d escape. The latter, not surprisingly, was his preferred option.
Chapter 1: Part 4 - Gunpowder and Roses
It was as dark as a grave in the cellar Vilma left him in. There had been a candle, for a little while, but that had long since burnt away. Even the puddle of wax was now cool. Oska had traced his way around the room before it went out, finding three damp stone walls, with a heavy wooden door in the fourth. The cobbled floor sloped down into a pool of water at the opposite end, as though the whole room was sinking into the earth.
Chapter 1: Part 2 - Old Acquaintances
Reconnaissance in Divinity’s Reach wasn’t what Oska was used to. He’d grown up in the city and knew every nook, cranny, and secret there was to know – but that wasn’t helping much now. He hadn’t been sent back here to fight enemy forces, or carry intelligence, or even to learn the city’s news from his family. He was here, in the words of his new guild leader, to watch and wait.