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A bond torn thin enough to break. And a debt only a traitor can repay.","text",1,null,"paragraph",{"children":30,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[31],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":32,"type":25,"version":26},"I've been fighting to hold my new family of mates together. But then Torin vanished into the bond and the only person who might know how to bring him back is the one mate who betrayed us all.",{"children":34,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[35],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":36,"type":25,"version":26},"Jack chose the sorceress over us, over me, and I still don't fully understand why.",{"children":38,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[39],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":40,"type":25,"version":26},"I hate that we need him. But every step closer to saving Torin reveals more, and I'm starting to realize Jack might not have been as free as I believed.",{"children":42,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[43],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":44,"type":25,"version":26},"Meanwhile, ghosts from Aster's past are stirring, hunting the sorceress but they’re as wild and unpredictable as the rest of the pirate crew. ",{"children":46,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[47],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":48,"type":25,"version":26},"We might be low on both trust and time, but I refuse to lose another mate to the sorceress’s games. ",{"children":50,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[51,53,55,57,58,60,61,63,64],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":52,"type":25,"version":26},"Tides and Treachery is a fast-paced why choose fantasy romance. It’s the final book in a trilogy with:",{"type":54,"version":26},"linebreak",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":56,"type":25,"version":26},"✔ A fractured mate bond and a rescue against the clock",{"type":54,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":59,"type":25,"version":26},"✔ Betrayal that's not as simple as it seems",{"type":54,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":62,"type":25,"version":26},"✔ Old wounds and old favours coming due",{"type":54,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":65,"type":25,"version":26},"✔ A found family fighting to become whole again",{"children":67,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[68],{"type":54,"version":26},"root",[71,224],{"id":72,"chapterNumber":12,"title":73,"body":74},"6ab7ec673e5d03f04c0695de","Prologue | Reva",{"root":75},{"children":76,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":69,"version":26},[77,84,88,92,99,104,108,112,116,120,124,128,132,136,142,146,150,154,158,162,168,172,176,180,184,188,192,196,200,204,208,212,216,220],{"children":78,"direction":27,"format":81,"indent":12,"type":82,"version":26,"tag":83},[79],{"detail":12,"format":26,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":80,"type":25,"version":26},"Prologue","center","heading","h4",{"children":85,"direction":27,"format":81,"indent":12,"type":82,"version":26,"tag":83},[86],{"detail":12,"format":26,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":87,"type":25,"version":26},"Reva",{"children":89,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[90],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":91,"type":25,"version":26},"For a terrible moment, it feels like I’m falling from a great height. ",{"children":93,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[94,97],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":96,"type":25,"version":26},2,"Torin?",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":98,"type":25,"version":26}," Noush whimpers at the biting ache in our chest when there’s no answer. Someone has scooped out my insides and left them raw and bleeding and my legs no longer seem strong enough to hold me upright.",{"children":100,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[101,102],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":96,"type":25,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":103,"type":25,"version":26}," She tries again, more frantically this time. I’m used to Noush being impulsive and getting me into trouble more than she gets me out of this. But I’ve never felt this kind of soul-deep panic from her before.",{"children":105,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[106],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":107,"type":25,"version":26},"He’s gone. ",{"children":109,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[110],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":111,"type":25,"version":26},"She’s right. I can’t feel him at the other end of the mate bond. He’s just… not there any more. Snuffed out. When I try to tug on one end of the bond, it’s no longer connected to anything and I’m just pulling and pulling at a loose thread. The end that should attach to him is untethered, cut into pieces. ",{"children":113,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[114],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":115,"type":25,"version":26},"That’s how I feel right now; untethered. I’m lost in deep water with no idea which way is up. Exactly like I was when Torin fought Finch’s kraken to protect me just over a week ago. He pitted himself against a monster of legend without reservations, all for me. ",{"children":117,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[118],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":119,"type":25,"version":26},"My growly, grumbly, wonderful mate. We haven’t had anywhere near enough time together. ",{"children":121,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[122],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":123,"type":25,"version":26},"“Reva?” Finch is here beside me where I’m kneeling in a dirty alleyway in the middle of the capital city. I’m barely aware of the cold seeping through my trousers as his stormy grey eyes peer at me with concern. “Talk to me. What’s happening, love?”",{"children":125,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[126],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":127,"type":25,"version":26},"I open my mouth to explain, even though I can barely wrap my head around it. All I know is that it feels like Torin is gone. Gone from the world. Gone from my life. ",{"children":129,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[130],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":131,"type":25,"version":26},"“I don’t know,” I rasp. “Something is wrong with Torin, or with the bond. It’s difficult to tell.”",{"children":133,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[134],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":135,"type":25,"version":26},"And then I feel something new. ",{"children":137,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[138,140],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":139,"type":25,"version":26},"Jack’s voice fills my head, steely with resolve. ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":141,"type":25,"version":26},"“Not on my watch.”",{"children":143,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[144],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":145,"type":25,"version":26},"I haven’t felt him in the mate bond since he cut me off after announcing his engagement to the sorceress. Right now though, he’s wide open and I can feel everything from his side.",{"children":147,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[148],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":149,"type":25,"version":26},"His terror. Regret. Determination.",{"children":151,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[152],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":153,"type":25,"version":26},"I gasp as a surge of unadulterated power floods the bond, it leaves my insides glowing so brightly I feel scorched by the sheer force of it. I can’t tell exactly what’s happening, but somehow I know that all of the power is coming from Jack. He’s forcing it into the bond. I had no idea he had this amount of power inside him, and for him to force it through the bond is… uncomfortable, close to painful. ",{"children":155,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[156],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":157,"type":25,"version":26},"Then I feel a ghostly hand grasping beneath my ribs, it’s searching for something that isn’t there. I’ve never felt anything quite like it before and it’s as though someone is rooting around inside my internal organs and shifting them about. ",{"children":159,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[160],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":161,"type":25,"version":26},"“Jack, he’s gone.”",{"children":163,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[164,166],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":165,"type":25,"version":26},"“I said… not. On. My. Watch.” ",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":167,"type":25,"version":26},"He pants the words and something shifts inside me. ",{"children":169,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[170],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":171,"type":25,"version":26},"—and then, just as rapidly as he went dark, Torin flickers back into the bond.",{"children":173,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[174],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":175,"type":25,"version":26},"If I hadn’t already been on my knees, my legs would give out. Two strong, invisible arms wrap around me, and I suck in a lungful of Torin’s unique clove scent.",{"children":177,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[178],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":179,"type":25,"version":26},"“I’m here, my heart. I’m here,” he says.",{"children":181,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[182],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":183,"type":25,"version":26},"Raw relief floods my system as I reel through a dozen emotions, landing on a muddled mix of relief and confusion. “You weren’t, though. You were gone.”",{"children":185,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[186],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":187,"type":25,"version":26},"I squeeze my eyes shut, fighting to regulate my breathing as Jack’s portion of the bond cuts off before I can even thank him for whatever he just did.",{"children":189,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[190],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":191,"type":25,"version":26},"“I’m not leaving you,” Torin murmurs, sitting on the cold ground and folding me into his lap. He then cradles me firmly against his chest; squeezing like he doesn’t dare to let me go. ",{"children":193,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[194],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":195,"type":25,"version":26},"“Never. Not if I can help it.”",{"children":197,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[198],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":199,"type":25,"version":26},"Finch crouches in front of the two of us, tentacles reaching out to stroke my head and tug gently at Torin’s bun. I clutch Torin’s arm to my chest, as though that’ll stop him from fading away again. ",{"children":201,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[202],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":203,"type":25,"version":26},"“What happened to you?” I rasp, resting my forehead against his invisible chest. ",{"children":205,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[206],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":207,"type":25,"version":26},"“I’m not sure,” Torin replies, speaking in a low voice, like he’s afraid to tempt fate and be snatched away again. “I was here one minute and then there was… nothing. It felt as though I was floating in a tunnel, and I didn’t know which way to go. Then I felt Jack—”",{"children":209,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[210],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":211,"type":25,"version":26},"“He did something through the bond.”",{"children":213,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[214],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":215,"type":25,"version":26},"“He flooded the tunnel with light, and suddenly I could see my way back to you.”",{"children":217,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[218],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":219,"type":25,"version":26},"I glance up at Finch, who is already nodding, his face set. “We need to find Jack.”",{"children":221,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[222],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":223,"type":25,"version":26},"Because we can’t risk that happening again. I’ve only just found my mates, and I don’t want to lose any of them. Even if that means tracking down the one person I’m bonded to who lied to and betrayed us all.  ",{"id":225,"chapterNumber":26,"title":226,"body":227},"6ab7ec823e5d03f04c0695df","Aster",{"root":228},{"children":229,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":69,"version":26},[230,234,238,242,246,250,254,258,262,266,270,274,278,282,286,290,294,298,302,306,310,314,318,322,326,330,334,338,342,346,350,354,358,362,366,370,374,378,382,386,390,394,398,402,406,410,414,418,422,426,430,434,438,442,446,450,454,458,462,466,470,474,478,482,486,490,494,498,502,506,510],{"children":231,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[232],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":233,"type":25,"version":26},"I never thought I’d pine for the days where I couldn’t understand anyone around me, but here I am. Twelve hours in the sleeper carriage of a train with just Kit for company has led to just that.",{"children":235,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[236],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":237,"type":25,"version":26},"We’ve already spent five days on the road together. Five days of being bounced around on coaches and trains, and now our final leg of the journey has us traveling through the night. For some reason, neither of us can sleep and so Kit has taken it upon himself to describe each and every piece from his collection of oddities. ",{"children":239,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[240],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":241,"type":25,"version":26},"I don’t know how, but the collection seems to be growing by the hour. Whenever I think he might be done, he plucks something else from his bag. And each one seems to have a more and more elaborate story attached to it. ",{"children":243,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[244],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":245,"type":25,"version":26},"“Now, this one is a real corker,” he says with a fond grin, thrusting a candlestick under my nose. “I found it as part of a box that I came across in a haunted house.”",{"children":247,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[248],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":249,"type":25,"version":26},"I glance out the window and then at the clock on the wall before taking a deep breath. After all this time travelling together, we’re only a few hours from our destination.",{"children":251,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[252],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":253,"type":25,"version":26},"Home.",{"children":255,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[256],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":257,"type":25,"version":26},"Or… the place that used to be my home, anyway. The place where I grew up.",{"children":259,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[260],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":261,"type":25,"version":26},"The train judders along, our carriage swaying from side to side, and my stomach lurches once again. It’s difficult to tell whether it’s from the movement of the train or from my nerves as I consider what’ll greet us when we stop moving. I’ve felt unsettled for days now, with this lingering anxiety and unease tugging me down. ",{"children":263,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[264],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":265,"type":25,"version":26},"“This set of spoons is all solid gold,” Kit continues blithely while I gulp down my third ginger tea of the night, glancing with aching eyes at the dark window as the country flies by. “I was given them by a gentleman who worked as a gravedigger. All of them had a particularly interesting curse on them that meant the next holder would end up in an early grave.”",{"children":267,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[268],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":269,"type":25,"version":26},"I peer mournfully at the beds on one side of the carriage, wondering if I might just be able to sleep away this last portion of the journey. It’s been a long day and an even longer night, but recently, sleep hasn’t come easily to either of us. Most of my nights are haunted by nightmares or interrupted by random spurts of feeling via the mate bond in our chests. ",{"children":271,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[272],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":273,"type":25,"version":26},"There must be a way of switching it off, considering that’s what Jack did almost as soon as it formed. But I don’t think either of us wants to. Not when it’s our only link to Reva. A connection that tugs painfully at the space between my ribs the further we travel away from her. ",{"children":275,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[276],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":277,"type":25,"version":26},"It feels unnatural to be separated like this. But it’s necessary. For all of us.",{"children":279,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[280],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":281,"type":25,"version":26},"“And of course, there’s this engraved spoon. This one had a jewel embedded in it that unfortunately turned to dust as soon as I could lift the curse.”",{"children":283,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[284],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":285,"type":25,"version":26},"Thankfully, Kit doesn’t seem to require a response other than a nod here and there. He eyes me as I take another swig of cooling tea, squeezing my eyes shut as I swallow it down. ",{"children":287,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[288],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":289,"type":25,"version":26},"“Feeling any better?”",{"children":291,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[292],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":293,"type":25,"version":26},"I shrug, resting my head in my hands. ",{"children":295,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[296],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":297,"type":25,"version":26},"“Worried about what you’ll come across when we get there?”",{"children":299,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[300],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":301,"type":25,"version":26},"I pop my head up to peer at him through my aching eyes. That’s the thing about Kit—he might be going off on one about his collection of spoons—but he’s observant.",{"children":303,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[304],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":305,"type":25,"version":26},"Kind, too.",{"children":307,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[308],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":309,"type":25,"version":26},"It strikes me that he doesn’t usually blabber on like he has been all day. He’s usually more interested in trying to pick my brain, even though it takes me forever to formulate a response in the right language. ",{"children":311,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[312],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":313,"type":25,"version":26},"Ah. He’s distracting me; he has to be.",{"children":315,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[316],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":317,"type":25,"version":26},"“I’m terrified,” I admit with a little laugh. I don’t know what I’m more scared of: that my family has sorely missed me, or that they’ll barely have noticed my absence. ",{"children":319,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[320],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":321,"type":25,"version":26},"“Well, whatever happens, I’ll be there,” he says, leaning forward with a warm look in his eyes. “And we can stay as long as you like. Hours. Days. Weeks. Whatever you want.”",{"children":323,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[324],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":325,"type":25,"version":26},"I nod, letting out a heavy sigh. “Thank you.”",{"children":327,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[328],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":329,"type":25,"version":26},"“I’ve got nothing but time,” he says.",{"children":331,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[332],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":333,"type":25,"version":26},"Neither of us do. ",{"children":335,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[336],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":337,"type":25,"version":26},"Another rogue surge of concern hits us both simultaneously and Kit rubs his chest with a grimace. ",{"children":339,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[340],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":341,"type":25,"version":26},"“Can’t say I’m going to get used to that in a hurry,” he says. “Is she worrying about Torin again, do you think?”",{"children":343,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[344],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":345,"type":25,"version":26},"I nod. “I can’t blame her.” ",{"children":347,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[348],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":349,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s been a couple of weeks since Torin disappeared from the bond. He was only gone for a little over a minute, but that was plenty long enough. We all felt it equally, like a string got cut loose or like Torin had… faded from existence, or at least gone somewhere that none of us could reach him. ",{"children":351,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[352],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":353,"type":25,"version":26},"And no one felt it worse than Reva. ",{"children":355,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[356],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":357,"type":25,"version":26},"When I focus on the tangle of bonds in my chest, I find the link to her singing with energy despite the late hour. She seems to notice my attention, sending back a zing of sheer joy to connect with me, chased by curiosity and another dose of concern that seems just for me. I send her reassurance right back. ",{"children":359,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[360],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":361,"type":25,"version":26},"“They’re in the city,” Kit murmurs, and I nod again. It certainly feels that way. While it’s difficult to pinpoint exact locations now that we’re miles from each other, the sensation in Reva’s bonds with Jack, Finch, and Torin changed over the past day, as though they’re all quivering with proximity. In contrast, ours are duller, strained by physical distance. ",{"children":363,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[364],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":365,"type":25,"version":26},"We all felt the moment that Jack interfered with Torin’s bond and dragged him back from wherever he’d drifted. And ever since Torin returned to the land of the living, Reva has been convinced that she needed to track Jack down and discover exactly what he did, just in case the same thing happens again. ",{"children":367,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[368],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":369,"type":25,"version":26},"We quickly worked out that Jack had travelled to Mistlemarch, the city filled with sorcerers where he and Torin both grew up. And the thought of heading into that city, where we could bump into the sorceress or Jack’s family, was too much for both me and Kit to handle. ",{"children":371,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[372],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":373,"type":25,"version":26},"So we separated. The rest of them headed into the city, while we travelled in the opposite direction, going north to my family’s farm. ",{"children":375,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[376],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":377,"type":25,"version":26},"Kit didn’t need to accompany me. He could easily have gone anywhere, just like many of Finch’s crew have now that the warrants for their arrest have been lifted. I understand his reticence to head into the sorcerers’ city after their kind spent weeks messing with his head, leaving him a confused mess. But he definitely doesn’t need to be here with me on this seemingly endless journey home.",{"children":379,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[380],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":381,"type":25,"version":26},"“Reva asked you to look after me, didn’t she?” I say, instantly knowing I’m right. It’s taken me an embarrassingly long time to put the pieces together and come to this conclusion. ",{"children":383,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[384],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":385,"type":25,"version":26},"“Hmm?” His look of innocence has me choking on a laugh. He quickly gives in, though, his shoulders slumping as he gives a little sigh. “Fine. She didn’t ask me to come with you. That was all me.” He gives a little shudder. “It’ll be a long while before I’m ready to come face to face with another sorcerer, Jack or his new fiancée, especially.”",{"children":387,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[388],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":389,"type":25,"version":26},"“And this?” I ask, gesturing to the wild collection of items in front of us, which he starts to carefully return to his bag. ",{"children":391,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[392],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":393,"type":25,"version":26},"“She asked me to distract you,” he admits with more than a little reluctance. “Especially as we got closer.”",{"children":395,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[396],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":397,"type":25,"version":26},"“Well, it worked,” I tell him, earning myself a bright grin. ",{"children":399,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[400],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":401,"type":25,"version":26},"“Good. I don’t know how many more hours I had left in me,” he says. I raise an eyebrow, and he snorts. “Fair enough. I probably had a few more hours left in the tank.”",{"children":403,"direction":27,"format":81,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[404],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":405,"type":25,"version":26},"*  ",{"children":407,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[408],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":409,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s in the early hours of the morning when we eventually reach my family’s farm in a taxi that we catch from the nearest town. My heart is pounding as we turn the corner onto the long driveway and I catch the first glimpse of the place. I’m expecting more jostling from all the usual set of potholes, but the driveway is smoother than I remember. Then we turn another corner and the entire farm opens up in front of us, cracking my chest wide open.",{"children":411,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[412],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":413,"type":25,"version":26},"Sheer longing fills me, for all the memories of this place and all the others I’ve missed over the years I’ve been away. ",{"children":415,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[416],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":417,"type":25,"version":26},"As the taxi halts in front of the house, the sheep in the nearest field all turn their heads to peer at us in unison. ",{"children":419,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[420],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":421,"type":25,"version":26},"“Well, that’s more than a little unsettling.” Kit whistles under his breath as he takes a long look around before paying off the taxi driver. “I didn’t picture it to be like this when you said you were a farm boy.”",{"children":423,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[424],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":425,"type":25,"version":26},"I shake my head. “It wasn’t like this when I left.”",{"children":427,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[428],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":429,"type":25,"version":26},"Everything looks different, and I can’t tell if my memory is playing tricks on me or if the farmhouse really is taller than it used to be. It’s now painted a gleaming, perfect white, instead of the odd yellow it used to be. The fields are filled with grazing animals instead of the handful of ragged sheep I left behind. ",{"children":431,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[432],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":433,"type":25,"version":26},"“Really? No fields or barns or sheep?” he replies drolly.",{"children":435,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[436],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":437,"type":25,"version":26},"“We had all of those things,” I say slowly. “They just didn’t look like this. I know I’ve been gone for a while, but—”",{"children":439,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[440],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":441,"type":25,"version":26},"“When you’re young, you don’t have perspective on the size of things. Maybe you’re just seeing it with adult eyes.”",{"children":443,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[444],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":445,"type":25,"version":26},"“I wasn’t six when I left and telling people my dad’s bigger and tougher than their dad,” I tell him, slipping back into Valmorian and earning myself a bemused look. “I wasn’t a child when I left,” I repeat slowly in Kit’s own language. “And the house definitely didn’t have three stories,” I continue. “Or a porch either.”",{"children":447,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[448],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":449,"type":25,"version":26},"It sounds crazy to point out, but it looks almost like the entire farmhouse has been rebuilt. ",{"children":451,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[452],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":453,"type":25,"version":26},"“This is the right place, though? We’ve not stopped at the wrong farm, have we?”",{"children":455,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[456],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":457,"type":25,"version":26},"I shake my head slowly, the rest of my body having frozen at the sight of a familiar figure passing by the downstairs window of the farmhouse. “That’s my mother.”",{"children":459,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[460],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":461,"type":25,"version":26},"From here, she looks the same as she always did. The same slightly ruddy cheeks and dark hair haphazardly piled on top of her head. The same vaguely distracted look about her, like there’s always a million and one things on her mind. ",{"children":463,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[464],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":465,"type":25,"version":26},"My palms are sweating as we step up to the porch. I can’t say exactly how many years have passed since I was last here. All the years trapped with the sorceress kind of blurred into one terrible, never-ending stream of darkness in my memory. Whether it’s been two years or ten, I feel positively ancient and like entire lifetimes have gone by since I last laid my eyes on my mother. ",{"children":467,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[468],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":469,"type":25,"version":26},"“Ready?” Kit squeezes my arm as I feel a surge of reassurance from three different directions, all landing directly into the bond in my chest. It sends an almost dizzying wave of sensation through me, and I rub my chest, trying to disperse the overwhelming feeling while Kit chuckles.",{"children":471,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[472],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":473,"type":25,"version":26},"“Sorry about that,” he says. “We’re all a little overeager for this to go well.”",{"children":475,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[476],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":477,"type":25,"version":26},"Their support might be a little excessive, but it helps calm my racing heart. It’s another reminder that I’m not alone here.",{"children":479,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[480],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":481,"type":25,"version":26},"I give two sharp raps on the door, followed by a pause, and then add a third lighter tap. My usual knock.",{"children":483,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[484],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":485,"type":25,"version":26},"Kit turns to me with a raised eyebrow. “That’s odd, right? I might not know much about animals, but they’re giving me the willies.”",{"children":487,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[488],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":489,"type":25,"version":26},"I glance in the direction he’s looking, back at the field of sheep that all seem to be watching us still. Before I can reply, the door is flung open behind us. ",{"children":491,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[492],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":493,"type":25,"version":26},"And there she is. ",{"children":495,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[496],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":497,"type":25,"version":26},"My mother. ",{"children":499,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[500],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":501,"type":25,"version":26},"The shriek she lets out leaves my ears ringing and my bones rattling, as I’m dragged into a crushing hug. ",{"children":503,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[504],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":505,"type":25,"version":26},"“Aster, my boy. You’re home, finally.” Her voice comes out muffled against my chest. “Come in, come in. I’ve so much to show you. And of course, I’ll have to let her know you’ve returned immediately. 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And I'm left with nowhere else to turn to other than a ship full of chaos and a crew that defies everything I know about shifters.",{"children":567,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[568],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":569,"type":25,"version":26},"They're too powerful. Too strange. Like someone broke the rules of magic when they were made.",{"children":571,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[572],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":573,"type":25,"version":26},"They're dangerous, damaged, and probably going to get me killed. But they're also my best shot at finding everything taken from me. And if the way they look at me is any indication, this voyage is going to get complicated.",{"children":575,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[576,578,579,581,582,584,585,587,588],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":577,"type":25,"version":26},"A fast-paced fantasy romance with:",{"type":54,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":580,"type":25,"version":26},"✔ Shifter pirates and a selkie heroine",{"type":54,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":583,"type":25,"version":26},"✔ Fated mates, forced proximity, and found family",{"type":54,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":586,"type":25,"version":26},"✔ Magic, betrayal, humour, and slow-burn steam",{"type":54,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":589,"type":25,"version":26},"✔ A reverse harem that develops over the series",{"children":591,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[592],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":593,"type":25,"version":26},"Perfect for readers who love swashbuckling adventures, morally grey antiheroes with surprising sweetness, and romance that's worth the wait.",[595],{"id":596,"chapterNumber":27,"title":597,"body":598},"6a7a28d3672efd060b4105e7","Prologue | Jack",{"root":599},{"children":600,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":69,"version":26},[601,605,609,613,617,621,625,629,633,637,641,645,649,653,657,661,665,669,673,677,681,685,689,693,701,705,709,713,717,721,725,729,733,737,741,745,749,753,757,761,765,769,773,781,785,793,797,801,805,813,817,821,825,829,833,837,841,845,848,851,855,859,863,867,871,875,879,887,891,895,899,903,907,911,915,919,923,927,931,935,939,943,947,951,955,963,967],{"children":602,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[603],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":604,"type":25,"version":26},"“Don’t you just want to kiss the ground right now?” I pant at Torin. He strides up the steep, winding hill ahead of me with lungs that apparently don’t need oxygen and thighs that aren’t currently screaming at him to slow down.",{"children":606,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[607],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":608,"type":25,"version":26},"“Only if you like the taste of rat piss on your lips,” he replies without missing a beat. ",{"children":610,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[611],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":612,"type":25,"version":26},"“You have to admit, a month at sea without docking is too long,” I continue before gesturing around. “And I doubt there are many rats around here.”",{"children":614,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[615],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":616,"type":25,"version":26},"The town is too quaint for that. There’s a single pub on the corner and a coffee shop down the street, along with the usual butchers and bakery. ",{"children":618,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[619],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":620,"type":25,"version":26},"In other words, it’s mind-numbingly mundane. ",{"children":622,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[623],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":624,"type":25,"version":26},"I have no idea how Kit stomachs living here without dying of boredom. ",{"children":626,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[627],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":628,"type":25,"version":26},"“Doesn’t matter what the place looks like, there are always rats somewhere,” he replies. ",{"children":630,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[631],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":632,"type":25,"version":26},"“So wise.”",{"children":634,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[635],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":636,"type":25,"version":26},"I charge on with a Torin-like grunt and elbow him, earning myself a tingling funny bone for the pleasure, since the man is built like a marble statue. ",{"children":638,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[639],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":640,"type":25,"version":26},"“Shit, did you get bigger?” ",{"children":642,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[643],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":644,"type":25,"version":26},"He ignores me, so I continue panting alongside him, flapping my shirt collar like it’s my wings to send some air circulating to my chest. “You think we’ll persuade Kit to stay on the ship for longer this time?”",{"children":646,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[647],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":648,"type":25,"version":26},"The wind takes that moment to shift direction, hitting me in the face with freezing drizzle, and I groan as it hits my overheated skin. ",{"children":650,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[651],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":652,"type":25,"version":26},"“He’ll manage a couple of days at most,” Torin replies. “As long as it takes for him to remove the curse, and then he’ll be on his way. Remind me to head to the apothecary on the way out too, I’ll grab some potions to stop him from throwing his guts up the entire time.”",{"children":654,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[655],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":656,"type":25,"version":26},"That’s Torin for you, always with a plan of how to take care of everyone. He’s like a clucking mother hen with a fearsome glare and biceps made of stone. ",{"children":658,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[659],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":660,"type":25,"version":26},"“I hope so. The crew are going to lose their minds if they’re stuck on the ship for much longer.”",{"children":662,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[663],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":664,"type":25,"version":26},"That’s where our man Kit comes in. Not only is he an expert cursebreaker, despite being Captain Finch’s brother, he’s also somehow the most level-headed bloke in all the six kingdoms. ",{"children":666,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[667],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":668,"type":25,"version":26},"We could do with his calming energy on the ship right now. Something about him always calms the frenetic buzzing of our captain, and we’re hoping that’ll extend to the rest of our cursed crew. ",{"children":670,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[671],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":672,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s too bad Kit’s terrible on water, so much so, he probably gets motion sick in the bath. We’ve tried everything: potions, spells, even a ritual performed by the famous Ballylach witches, but nothing’s worked. ",{"children":674,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[675],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":676,"type":25,"version":26},"Kit can barely stomach a day at sea, and Cap’s refused to step onto land in over a decade. So the two of them are at an impasse, which sucks for two brothers as close as the two of them.",{"children":678,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[679],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":680,"type":25,"version":26},"But, as per usual, I digress. My mind’s working a mile a minute as I scan the street and the handful of people making their way along with their heads ducked to avoid getting a faceful of drizzle. ",{"children":682,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[683],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":684,"type":25,"version":26},"“You think he’ll have any more of those little cakes he had last time?”",{"children":686,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[687],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":688,"type":25,"version":26},"Torin snorts and shoots me his favourite judgemental look. “Is that the real reason you agreed to come to pick him up?”",{"children":690,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[691],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":692,"type":25,"version":26},"I shrug. It’s that and the fact my legs felt more jelly than flesh over the past couple of days. And since Tor and I are the only crew able to move freely, I wasn’t going to miss my opportunity to feel solid ground beneath my feet. ",{"children":694,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[695,697,699],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":696,"type":25,"version":26},"“You can fly whenever you want, so why not do it more often?” Torin mutters. I hear the silent ‘",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":698,"type":25,"version":26},"so you don’t keep complaining at me’",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":700,"type":25,"version":26}," behind his words and snort a laugh.",{"children":702,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[703],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":704,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s true I could switch into my raven form whenever I choose. But since I’m not exactly a seabird, I struggle with the high winds and the distance when we’re miles from land. ",{"children":706,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[707],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":708,"type":25,"version":26},"Not to mention that I’m stark naked whenever I shift back. And while I might not mind the attention, us folk with animal forms aren’t exactly popular in these parts. ",{"children":710,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[711],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":712,"type":25,"version":26},"I’m not what they call ‘beast-borne’, which is someone born with the ability to shift into an animal. Instead, I am a half-baked, low-powered sorcerer who has tried a whole bunch of magic over the years and whose only consistent form of magic is to turn myself into a bird. ",{"children":714,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[715],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":716,"type":25,"version":26},"But angry mobs don’t tend to listen to semantics when they see you transform from bird to person. Not when they’ve decided that beast-borne people are a scourge on society, classless and barely intelligent enough to hold down a job. ",{"children":718,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[719],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":720,"type":25,"version":26},"We finally reach the top of the hill, and Torin starts moving stiffly. I eye him with concern, trying to work out if his back’s paining him again, or maybe the stiffness is a result of the stick that’s lodged firmly up his bum.",{"children":722,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[723],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":724,"type":25,"version":26},"It turns out it’s neither. ",{"children":726,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[727],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":728,"type":25,"version":26},"We approach the centre of the town’s market square and its twee painted shopfronts and waterless fountain. That’s not what’s got Torin’s attention, though. He gives a jerky, broken marionette’s bow to the image of King Wildrake and the crown of gold coins plastered on the side of the library wall. ",{"children":730,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[731],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":732,"type":25,"version":26},"I quickly turn my head like I haven’t noticed his unwilling display of respect and start up whistling a jaunty tune. It makes even less sense to me why Kit chooses to live here if he’s surrounded by a bunch of throne-sniffing royalists. Maybe it’s a good thing we’re taking him away for a few days before the rot can sink into his brain.  ",{"children":734,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[735],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":736,"type":25,"version":26},"We step off the main street and head for the shop around the corner, where Kit lives and works. His shop window displays the usual clutter of skulls, books and cutesy trinkets all shoved together. Somehow though, he always has customers, and often when we show up first thing, there’s a queue of people waiting for him to open. People must make a special journey here, considering the size of this town. ",{"children":738,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[739],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":740,"type":25,"version":26},"Not today, though. ",{"children":742,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[743],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":744,"type":25,"version":26},"The shop is entirely empty and there’s no one hanging around outside, either. ",{"children":746,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[747],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":748,"type":25,"version":26},"Huh.",{"children":750,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[751],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":752,"type":25,"version":26},"We try the door, but it’s locked up tight. ",{"children":754,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[755],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":756,"type":25,"version":26},"“You think he didn’t bother to open the place since he knew we were coming to pick him up?”",{"children":758,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[759],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":760,"type":25,"version":26},"Torin grunts. “Let’s head around to the back.”",{"children":762,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[763],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":764,"type":25,"version":26},"We stride through the alleyway that leads to Kit’s apartment, and Torin pounds his meaty fist on the door. The drizzle takes this opportunity to redouble its efforts until we’re both blasted in the face with freezing rain as we wait for Kit to open the door. ",{"children":766,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[767],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":768,"type":25,"version":26},"Seconds tick by. Torin pounds harder on the door, letting out a frustrated huff before striding off back to the shop front where I can hear him hammering on the glass. ",{"children":770,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[771],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":772,"type":25,"version":26},"I hold off for a moment before following him back around to the front. If the racket Torin’s making doesn’t get Kit’s attention, then I’m fairly sure he’s not at home.",{"children":774,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[775,777,779],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":776,"type":25,"version":26},"“Where in all the netherworld is he? Do you think he’s gone to the bakery?” I try not to sound ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":778,"type":25,"version":26},"too",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":780,"type":25,"version":26}," hopeful, but from Torin’s huff, I’m pretty sure I’m unsuccessful. ",{"children":782,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[783],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":784,"type":25,"version":26},"An older woman passes by the shop, clutching a tiny dog in her arms, when Torin slams his hand against the glass, making it rattle. She lets out a disapproving humph, shaking her head while her little dog barks furiously at Torin. ",{"children":786,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[787,789,791],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":788,"type":25,"version":26},"I take the chance to dart forward and accost her. “Hey, excuse me. Do you know where the owner is?” I ask in my very stilted Yarrovian. I can say that much along with, ‘",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":790,"type":25,"version":26},"an ale please and another for my grumpy friend.’ ‘Thank you.’ ‘Saints above, your eyes are like starbursts.’ ",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":792,"type":25,"version":26},"Those three phrases have been enough to skate by whenever we’ve visited these parts in the past. But the woman starts chattering away and I have not the faintest clue what she could be saying. I manage to pick out ‘closed’ and that’s about it.",{"children":794,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[795],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":796,"type":25,"version":26},"I wait her out until she finally seems to run out of air before asking, “So that’s a no, then?”",{"children":798,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[799],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":800,"type":25,"version":26},"She shakes her head, which at least is fairly universal around here.  ",{"children":802,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[803],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":804,"type":25,"version":26},"“Right, well. Thank you.” I blast her with my most charming grin and tip an imaginary hat. ",{"children":806,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[807,809,811],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":808,"type":25,"version":26},"Torin’s grinding his teeth so loudly I can ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":810,"type":25,"version":26},"hear",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":812,"type":25,"version":26}," it, but the woman doesn’t get the message that she’s exceeded her usefulness. She continues to chatter on as we peer through the glass, and Torin’s shoulders grow closer and closer to his ears with every word that comes out of her mouth. ",{"children":814,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[815],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":816,"type":25,"version":26},"He then lets out a rumbling growl, and the tiny dog yips in her arms, baring his teeth in a snarl at Torin, who rolls his eyes in response. Tor lets out another chest-deep growl, and the dog whimpers in response, cowering in her arms. ",{"children":818,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[819],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":820,"type":25,"version":26},"The woman falters in her rambling, peering up at him with a familiar gleam in her eye. Whatever words she comes out with next, they’re the usual mix of fear and lust that Torin seems to elicit. ",{"children":822,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[823],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":824,"type":25,"version":26},"Tor just straight up ignores her, and she finally seems to notice the dog in her arms is now shaking like a leaf. ",{"children":826,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[827],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":828,"type":25,"version":26},"“Thank you,” I say to her again, wishing I knew any other words. Or maybe that I had mind-control powers I could employ right about now. ",{"children":830,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[831],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":832,"type":25,"version":26},"She gives one last lingering look at Torin’s stiff back before bustling off, leaving behind the lingering scent of sickly sweet magnolias.",{"children":834,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[835],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":836,"type":25,"version":26},"Tor and I share a look before heading back to the alleyway.  ",{"children":838,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[839],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":840,"type":25,"version":26},"“How do you want to do this?” I ask him, eyeing the door. It’s solid wood and locked up tight. I don’t have a whole lot of magic, much to my family’s shame. But maybe I could summon enough to pick the lock, if—",{"children":842,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[843],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":844,"type":25,"version":26},"BANG.",{"children":846,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[847],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":844,"type":25,"version":26},{"children":849,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[850],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":844,"type":25,"version":26},{"children":852,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[853],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":854,"type":25,"version":26},"Torin smashes his beefy ol’ shoulder against it until the doorframe splinters and the door goes flying. ",{"children":856,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[857],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":858,"type":25,"version":26},"“That’s one way to do it,” I say. “Kit’s going to murder you.”",{"children":860,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[861],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":862,"type":25,"version":26},"But Tor’s already stepping inside, sniffing the air and letting out another low growl. “Is it me or does it smell weird in here?”",{"children":864,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[865],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":866,"type":25,"version":26},"“He’s definitely going to murder you,” I mutter as he tracks wet footprints through Kit’s hallway and up the stairs that lead to his dwelling above the shop. ",{"children":868,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[869],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":870,"type":25,"version":26},"Torin ignores me yet again, still sniffing like a bloodhound. ",{"children":872,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[873],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":874,"type":25,"version":26},"“Do you think he’s ill?” We clomp up the stairs to Kit’s sitting room. I yank open the curtains, filling the room with marginally more drizzle-diffused light before heading into the bedroom.",{"children":876,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[877],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":878,"type":25,"version":26},"“He’s not here.”",{"children":880,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[881,883,885],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":882,"type":25,"version":26},"The place is as filled to the brim as ever. There is ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":884,"type":25,"version":26},"stuff",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":886,"type":25,"version":26}," covering the book shelves, the numerous endtables, the coffee table and even the floor. It’s like the shop has spilled out its contents all over his house. Or maybe it’s the other way around and Kit had to open a shop to justify his love of all this crap. ",{"children":888,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[889],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":890,"type":25,"version":26},"We head through to the kitchen where there’s the faint scent of cinnamon in the air, and Torin’s already testing the kettle with the back of his hand.",{"children":892,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[893],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":894,"type":25,"version":26},"“Stone cold.”",{"children":896,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[897],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":898,"type":25,"version":26},"On the wooden counter sits a tangle of chains, attached to two wrist cuffs. I poke them with my index finger before thinking better of it. “Part of his collection, do you think?”",{"children":900,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[901],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":902,"type":25,"version":26},"“His collection of what?”",{"children":904,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[905],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":906,"type":25,"version":26},"“I dunno.” I shrug. “Kinky stuff?” ",{"children":908,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[909],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":910,"type":25,"version":26},"On the scrubbed kitchen table, beside an unwashed mug, there’s a little golden safe covered in unfamiliar markings. ",{"children":912,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[913],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":914,"type":25,"version":26},"“I guess I don’t need to tell you not to poke that one,” Torin grumbles. ",{"children":916,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[917],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":918,"type":25,"version":26},"I hold my hands up as the picture of innocence. Considering Kit’s secondary profession as a cursebreaker, there’s no chance I’m going to risk touching it. ",{"children":920,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[921],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":922,"type":25,"version":26},"“Just the bedroom left to check.”",{"children":924,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[925],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":926,"type":25,"version":26},"This place isn’t exactly expansive. If Kit were here, we’d know by now. But I suppose there’s the chance he left a note for us somewhere to let us know when he’d be back. ",{"children":928,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[929],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":930,"type":25,"version":26},"Inside his bedroom, I yank open the wardrobe and reveal dozens of pairs of jazzy trousers and neatly ironed shirts. On the bed sits a fat duffle bag that Tor unzips, sifting through the contents.",{"children":932,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[933],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":934,"type":25,"version":26},"“Enough clothes for a few weeks,” he mutters. ",{"children":936,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[937],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":938,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s colder in the bedroom than in the rest of the flat, and there’s a dampness in the air, like the weather has seeped in.",{"children":940,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[941],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":942,"type":25,"version":26},"“Window’s open.”",{"children":944,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[945],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":946,"type":25,"version":26},"I step closer to the window and get hit with a scent that drags me straight back to my childhood, forcing a knot to form in my gut. “D-do you smell that?” My voice cracks like a pubescent boy, earning me a sharp look from Torin. ",{"children":948,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[949],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":950,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s rancid, metallic, and herbal all at once. The smell hits the back of my throat and I have to gird myself not to throw up all over my shoes. ",{"children":952,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[953],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":954,"type":25,"version":26},"“There’s blood.” Torin prods the window and it swings further open. “Smells wrong somehow, though. “You think someone came in by the window or that they left that way? There’s no sign the place has been gone over, or you’d think they’d have taken some of the gold stuff in the other room.”",{"children":956,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[957,959,961],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":958,"type":25,"version":26},"Typical that ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":960,"type":25,"version":26},"now",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":962,"type":25,"version":26}," Torin’s decided to be verbose, right when I’m struggling to stop myself from descending into panic. ",{"children":964,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[965],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":966,"type":25,"version":26},"This room smells like dark magic that lures and binds, trapping you until you’re mired in sludge.",{"children":968,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[969],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":970,"type":25,"version":26},"“Sorcery.”",{"id":546,"alt":972,"updatedAt":973,"createdAt":973,"url":974,"thumbnailURL":27,"filename":975,"mimeType":524,"filesize":976,"width":977,"height":978,"focalX":528,"focalY":528},"Cover for Salt and Sorcery by Essie Suter. A woman stands looking windswept and holding magic in her hands. The background looks like blue waves.","2026-08-10T19:41:59.499Z","\u002Fapi\u002Fmedia\u002Ffile\u002FThe%20Cursed%20Tides%20-%20Kindle%20-%20High%20Resolution%20-%20Book%201.jpg","The Cursed Tides - Kindle - High Resolution - Book 1.jpg",3978678,1600,2560,"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.amazon.com\u002Fdp\u002FB0GJCLL3GR",[],[],"2026-02-27T12:00:00.000Z",{"title":984,"description":985,"image":986},"Salt and Sorcery: A Selkie Pirate Romantasy | Essie Suter","A selkie with no skin and no mate has only a crew of dangerous shifter pirates to turn to. 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The fog in my head means I'm not sure what the truth is.",{"children":1018,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1019],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1020,"type":25,"version":26},"Then, after a deathbed confession turns out to be a little premature, I find myself in a whole heap more trouble.",{"children":1022,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1023],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1024,"type":25,"version":26},"We need each other, so it should be easy enough to work together, right?",{"children":1026,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1027],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1028,"type":25,"version":26},"I couldn't be more wrong.",{"children":1030,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[1031],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1032,"type":25,"version":26},"Shadow Chaser is part one of a completed reverse harem paranormal romance trilogy, meaning that the heroine will end up with a happily ever after with more than one man.",{"children":1034,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[1035],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1036,"type":25,"version":26},"Featuring:",{"children":1038,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":1057,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"listType":1058,"start":26,"tag":1059},[1039,1044,1048,1052],{"children":1040,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":1043,"version":26,"value":26},[1041],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1042,"type":25,"version":26},"Enemies to lovers","listitem",{"children":1045,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":1043,"version":26,"value":95},[1046],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1047,"type":25,"version":26},"Alpha males",{"children":1049,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":1043,"version":26,"value":8},[1050],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1051,"type":25,"version":26},"Grovel",{"children":1053,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":1043,"version":26,"value":1056},[1054],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1055,"type":25,"version":26},"A strong, magical FMC",4,"list","bullet","ul",[1061,1415],{"id":1062,"chapterNumber":26,"title":1063,"body":1064},"6a78f302bae7e4fc30a87fd5","Manon",{"root":1065},{"children":1066,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":69,"version":26},[1067,1071,1075,1079,1083,1087,1091,1095,1099,1103,1107,1111,1115,1119,1123,1127,1131,1139,1143,1147,1151,1155,1159,1163,1167,1171,1175,1179,1183,1187,1191,1195,1199,1203,1207,1215,1219,1223,1227,1231,1235,1239,1243,1247,1251,1255,1259,1263,1267,1271,1275,1279,1283,1287,1291,1295,1299,1303,1307,1311,1315,1319,1323,1327,1331,1335,1339,1343,1347,1351,1355,1359,1363,1367,1371,1375,1379,1383,1387,1391,1395,1399,1403,1407,1411],{"children":1068,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1069],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1070,"type":25,"version":26},"There’s no two ways about it. I’m cursed.",{"children":1072,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1073],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1074,"type":25,"version":26},"Hence the reason I’m stuck in yet another basement, eyeing the scowling faces of my three stupidly handsome protectors. The three men who are bound to protect me.",{"children":1076,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1077],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1078,"type":25,"version":26},"Who also happen to be three guys that hate my guts.",{"children":1080,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1081],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1082,"type":25,"version":26},"I’m late to the job, so late that I show up to a room which is empty apart from their grumpy butts. I look around the basement. It's pretty dark and more than a little grim, but since we’re below one of the city’s municipal buildings, it’s still a lot nicer than my apartment. ",{"children":1084,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1085],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1086,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s not difficult considering I live in a real shithole. ",{"children":1088,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1089],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1090,"type":25,"version":26},"“Nice of you to show up, Manon. Turns out you aren’t needed,” Nico says. “Or wanted,” he adds in a barely lowered tone, because he’s a real prick like that. Particularly as he was the one to text me the location with less than an hour’s notice and I had to make a mad dash across the city. Traffic was grid locked thanks to an incident on the road—some kind of protest from a bunch of angry witches, which the Beta team were dealing with—so I wound up running the last couple of miles. ",{"children":1092,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1093],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1094,"type":25,"version":26},"That’s typical Nico, though. A misanthropic dickhead who can count the number of people he tolerates on one hand. Surprise, surprise, I’m not on that list. He can also do some frankly terrifying stuff to people’s brains, which makes me grateful we got the protection bond in place, or I probably would have been ‘persuaded’ to walk into traffic a long time ago. ",{"children":1096,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1097],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1098,"type":25,"version":26},"“What happened?” I try to control my breathing so that I’m not panting like a dog. Shame I can’t do much about the fact there’s sweat dripping all down my back and my feet are burning in my boots. My outfit is all black and a mix of leather and denim, good for defending myself against wayward blades and whatever nasties we’re fighting, but not exactly the thing to wear while sprinting through the streets.",{"children":1100,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1101],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1102,"type":25,"version":26},"They don’t bother answering, instead turning to the door to head out again.",{"children":1104,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1105],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1106,"type":25,"version":26},"I haven’t quite caught my breath when another feeling takes over my body. A full-body tingle, so strong my skin is practically vibrating. ",{"children":1108,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1109],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1110,"type":25,"version":26},"“Hold on,” I say. ",{"children":1112,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1113],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1114,"type":25,"version":26},"Remember, I said I was cursed? Well, this is reason number two. I have an actual curse, a living thing inside of me that flares up whenever I’m around someone’s physical pain. ",{"children":1116,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1117],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1118,"type":25,"version":26},"That’s not all, the thing inside me also likes to eat that pain. It gulps it down like it’s a tasty treat. ",{"children":1120,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1121],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1122,"type":25,"version":26},"I’m like a quarter demon or something. Not sure on the specifics, since none of my family stuck around long enough for any chats on my ancestry. It’s not all that uncommon for people in this city to be something other than human, ever since they tried to build an underground station back in the late sixties to fix up Stoneraven’s terrible transport system. Turns out that not all old cities suit having a load of underground works going on. There were a lot of ancient burial grounds dug up, plus a good ol’ fashioned portal into another world. ",{"children":1124,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1125],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1126,"type":25,"version":26},"It wasn’t like they dug straight through into Hell or anything, but they did somehow make a hole big enough for demons and other non-humans to make their way through from one of the Underworlds. ",{"children":1128,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1129],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1130,"type":25,"version":26},"Stoneraven is a bit of a dump and it always has been. But it got worse after the portal opened and all the Supers started treating it like a port, never sticking around for too long but ruffling plenty of feathers while they’re here. It’s a small place, barely big enough to be called a city. We have a lot of empty buildings, a lot of violent crime, plus a lot of Super\u002Fhuman tension going on. ",{"children":1132,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1133,1135,1137],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1134,"type":25,"version":26},"These days there’s maybe eighty percent of the population that are straight up human. A lot of the incoming Supers took one look at this place and moved as far away from the hellhole as they could get. There are even fewer hybrids, like me and Nico, since it turns out humans didn’t take too kindly to anybody that is ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1136,"type":25,"version":26},"Other ",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1138,"type":25,"version":26},"coming into their city, mostly because they were shit scared of the lot of them. It led to a lot of unrest over the years and is the reason that me and the guys have the job we do.",{"children":1140,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1141],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1142,"type":25,"version":26},"The guys are the Alpha team of Stoneraven.  ",{"children":1144,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1145],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1146,"type":25,"version":26},"The routine goes like this: someone (generally human) makes a complaint about a Super who is causing trouble, sometimes they’re chewing too loudly or something, or disturbing them because they stick to a different sleep-cycle. Sometimes they’ve abducted their grandmother or are making a necklace out of the bones of kittens. ",{"children":1148,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1149],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1150,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s a real mixed bag.",{"children":1152,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1153],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1154,"type":25,"version":26},"Anyway, most of the time another team comes in to check it out and then we’re sent along to make sure that the problem goes away. Pretty often, the Supers aren’t all that eager to be moved on and Nico has to use his powers of persuasion on them. If that doesn’t work, the other two get to flex their skills. Cass can destroy any creature of the shadows without even blinking—that’s vampires, wraiths, ghouls, even some types of demon. And August, well, August can tear down walls with his bare hands, so he can just as easily tear a Super apart if that’s what the situation calls for. ",{"children":1156,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1157],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1158,"type":25,"version":26},"I’m the resident healer and pain-eater. When I came to the guys and bound myself into their protection three years ago, I also bound myself into working with them. ",{"children":1160,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1161],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1162,"type":25,"version":26},"Inside this basement, which doesn’t seem to have seen any action at all, my skin is tingling like crazy and the thing inside my chest is reaching out to take the pain away. ",{"children":1164,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1165],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1166,"type":25,"version":26},"I take a step toward the guys. “Did one of you get injured?”",{"children":1168,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1169],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1170,"type":25,"version":26},"Again, I don’t get a reply. Nico continues yacking on about some bar or club he’s been to or is planning to go to, but at least they all hold in place to let me check them over.",{"children":1172,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1173],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1174,"type":25,"version":26},"I skim my hands over theirs, trying to work out the source of the tingling. Nico glares at me the whole time, and I get a small nod of acknowledgement from August. ",{"children":1176,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1177],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1178,"type":25,"version":26},"Cass barely acknowledges my presence. He never does. He’s a lot like a zombie, dead-eyed, disinterested. It’s ironic, considering his special skill is that he can light up a room with the markings that cover his skin; he can bend light and create illusions just as easily as he can fry your retinas and leave you blinded. ",{"children":1180,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1181],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1182,"type":25,"version":26},"“Something else is here,” I tell them, flashing my phone’s torch to all the darkest corners of the room and confirming it to be empty. “They must be in pretty awful shape for me to feel it through the walls, unless they’re invisible or something?”",{"children":1184,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1185],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1186,"type":25,"version":26},"It takes some nudging, but eventually Cass breaks out of his stupor for long enough to blast the entire room in a pure white light that would apparently pick up anyone that was cloaking themselves.",{"children":1188,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1189],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1190,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s empty. ",{"children":1192,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1193],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1194,"type":25,"version":26},"I stride around the room and it’s not until I reach the back wall that the feeling intensifies. Feeling around with one hand, I use my torch with the other, since Cass isn’t exactly offering his services. In fact, the only one of them who isn’t holding up the wall, showing a complete lack of interest, is August, who comes up right behind me.",{"children":1196,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1197],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1198,"type":25,"version":26},"“So you got here, and the room was empty like this?” I ask him. “Do you know what we got called out for?”",{"children":1200,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1201],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1202,"type":25,"version":26},"He just grunts. Luckily, by now, I’m pretty good at interpreting the various noises August makes instead of deigning to engage in conversation. I glance up at his gigantic frame—he has to be six foot six, and he’s built to bring down entire cities and tear through hordes of warriors. It’s a bit like talking to a mountain. A very tall, sexy mountain.",{"children":1204,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1205],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1206,"type":25,"version":26},"“There’s like a hatch-type thing down here in the wall,” I say, giving it a little flick with my booted toe. “I can’t make it budge, though.”",{"children":1208,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1209,1211,1213],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1210,"type":25,"version":26},"August doesn’t hesitate to put his foot against the metal hatch and ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1212,"type":25,"version":26},"kicks ",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1214,"type":25,"version":26},"with a show of brute force. The hatch doesn’t stand a chance and goes flying with a screech of metal on metal. ",{"children":1216,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1217],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1218,"type":25,"version":26},"“Thanks.”",{"children":1220,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1221],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1222,"type":25,"version":26},"He just grunts again.",{"children":1224,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1225],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1226,"type":25,"version":26},"The space is only just big enough for me to fit through, so I crawl through alone. It’s on my hands and knees that I come face to face with the reason for my curse freaking out on me.",{"children":1228,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1229],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1230,"type":25,"version":26},"“Fuck.” I gag at the smell and the taste in the air, before raising my torch since it’s dark as hell in here.",{"children":1232,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1233],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1234,"type":25,"version":26},"“See anything?” August’s gravelly voice travels through from the other room.",{"children":1236,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1237],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1238,"type":25,"version":26},"“Yep.” I stuff my sleeve into my face to try and stifle the smell. “Wraiths have been here.”",{"children":1240,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1241],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1242,"type":25,"version":26},"Fucking wraiths. We don’t deal with them all that often, but when we do, it’s always nasty. ",{"children":1244,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1245],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1246,"type":25,"version":26},"You know those juicers where you push an orange’s flesh into them and give a little squeeze and out comes all the juice? Yeah, that’s what wraiths do. Except instead of an orange, it’s a person’s body. They absorb everything they can from living flesh in order to feed. ",{"children":1248,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1249],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1250,"type":25,"version":26},"I know, I know, I’m not happy with that imagery either.",{"children":1252,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1253],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1254,"type":25,"version":26},"Nor am I happy about the sights and smells in this room.",{"children":1256,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1257],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1258,"type":25,"version":26},"“There have to be twelve bodies in here,” I call through to August. We’re too late to help most of the bodies littering the floor. But the fact that my skin’s still tingling shows there’s hope for at least one person here. ",{"children":1260,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1261],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1262,"type":25,"version":26},"I see the woman curled up on the dirty floor and I also recognize the state she’s in. The wraiths must have got halfway through draining her and then just stopped. Maybe the guys interrupted her, or maybe they just decided that they were full.",{"children":1264,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1265],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1266,"type":25,"version":26},"She looks dehydrated, malnourished, and absolutely terrified. From the look of total fear on her face, I can tell there’s no way I can do this alone.",{"children":1268,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1269],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1270,"type":25,"version":26},"“Manon,” August calls. “You got a live one?”",{"children":1272,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1273],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1274,"type":25,"version":26},"I head back over to him, keeping my voice low. “Yes, but there’s no way she’ll let me near her without calming her down first.”",{"children":1276,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1277],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1278,"type":25,"version":26},"“Can’t shove her through this hole either,” he rasps. As much as he looks like a sexy mountain, he also sounds a bit like one, too. His voice has this whole gravelly tone to it, and whenever I’ve heard him laugh, it sounds like two huge boulders being pushed together. ",{"children":1280,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1281],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1282,"type":25,"version":26},"Not that I should be thinking about any of that. But in this job, you need to compartmentalize a lot of the horrible stuff we witness, and that means my mind is in about ten different places at once. ",{"children":1284,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1285],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1286,"type":25,"version":26},"I nod at August, realizing he’s waiting for me to respond. What he’s said is accurate enough. I haven’t even thought about how I might cart her damaged body out of here. ",{"children":1288,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1289],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1290,"type":25,"version":26},"“Hold on,” he says and there’s the telltale slam of a body against the brick. Whether it’s August’s fist or foot, I can’t tell. “Might want to move back.”",{"children":1292,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1293],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1294,"type":25,"version":26},"He’s surprisingly gentle for a berserker. Over six and a half feet tall and built like a brick shithouse, enough that he could tear down walls with his bare hands. But he’s always been the least dickish of this band of merry assholes, not just because he speaks a lot less than anyone else. August is definitely the nice one of the group. Unless he’s in the middle of a fit of rage, but even then, you can’t take it personally if he tries to bring a building down on your head when the red mist descends. He’d do the same to anyone. ",{"children":1296,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1297],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1298,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s a comforting thought. ",{"children":1300,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1301],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1302,"type":25,"version":26},"Who needs a demolition expert when you’ve got a berserker on your team? It takes a staggeringly short amount of time for him to widen the hole until it’s big enough to fit through without having to get onto my hands and knees.",{"children":1304,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1305],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1306,"type":25,"version":26},"“Shit, man. What if that’s a load-bearing wall?” Nico’s voice is raised to a yell.",{"children":1308,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1309],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1310,"type":25,"version":26},"“It is.” But by the sounds of it, August doesn’t give a shit.",{"children":1312,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1313],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1314,"type":25,"version":26},"“We could have the entire building come down on us, not to mention the city won’t be too happy if we destroy the building.”",{"children":1316,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1317],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1318,"type":25,"version":26},"“Gotta get her out. Need light.”",{"children":1320,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1321],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1322,"type":25,"version":26},"I take a step closer to the hole in the wall, since the situation could do with sentences that include over two words in explanation and clearly Nico hasn’t been paying attention to what’s going on.",{"children":1324,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1325],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1326,"type":25,"version":26},"“Shit, Manon, don’t creep around in the shadows like that. Your face gives me enough nightmares as it is.”",{"children":1328,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1329],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1330,"type":25,"version":26},"“Fuck you, Nico,” I reply as easily as breathing. It’s almost a catchphrase at this point. “I need you to work your magic and calm a very frightened woman down. Can you shut your mouth for five minutes and help me?”",{"children":1332,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1333],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1334,"type":25,"version":26},"“Not if I’m ‘working my magic’. Need my tongue for that.” He waggles it at me like a fucking lech, showing off the piercing that is one reason he’s nicknamed the ‘silver-tongued devil’. ",{"children":1336,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1337],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1338,"type":25,"version":26},"I roll my eyes and give an exaggerated shudder. “Save it. Please. She’s hurting.”",{"children":1340,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1341],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1342,"type":25,"version":26},"“Yeah, yeah. I’m on it. Could do with some light, though, Cass?”",{"children":1344,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1345],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1346,"type":25,"version":26},"We step into the room and, thankfully, Cass only lights up a portion of it with soft light, so we’re not faced with the full horror of what’s down here. The last thing we need is the poor woman seeing what she’s been surrounded by and getting traumatized even further.",{"children":1348,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1349],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1350,"type":25,"version":26},"Nico hunkers down an arm’s length away from the woman, speaking in a low, honeyed tone. I can’t hear any of what he’s saying but whatever it is does the trick. Within a couple of minutes he gives the nod and I take my place beside the woman, sliding my palm against her bare forearm. My curse flares into life as our skin connects, and it begins to feed on her pain, slowly drawing it out of her body and into my own. ",{"children":1352,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1353],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1354,"type":25,"version":26},"There are plenty of reasons I don’t flaunt my curse, not least because it’s pretty intimate. I feel the moment it hits her system, and she slumps with a faint sigh. While I’ve never felt it myself, I’ve had enough people describe it to me. It’s a shot of morphine, of pure joy, a wave of gentle comfort taking away every bad moment that’s come before. ",{"children":1356,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1357],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1358,"type":25,"version":26},"I’m basically an opioid in human form. ",{"children":1360,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1361],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1362,"type":25,"version":26},"I know that for a lot of other demons; they get energy from extracting from others. But most of them deal with the big five: anger, fear, sadness, joy, and lust. ",{"children":1364,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1365],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1366,"type":25,"version":26},"For me, it’s a little different. It actually takes energy away from me to take away the pain, and even more energy if I have to repair any damage while I’m there. But I just can’t help myself. The curse inside me is always ravenous, and I get weirdly twitchy and uncomfortable if I don’t take it. ",{"children":1368,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1369],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1370,"type":25,"version":26},"I suppose you could say that my curse needs feeding. ",{"children":1372,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1373],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1374,"type":25,"version":26},"Time passes with my skin connected to the woman’s. Closing my eyes and gritting my teeth, I can feel the familiar pull in my chest, like I have strings inside of me that are being pulled taut and plucked by invisible fingers. ",{"children":1376,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1377],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1378,"type":25,"version":26},"Once the pain is all eaten away, I move on to the things I can do to heal her. It’s not much. I can knit a broken bone back together, or fix internal damage, but I can’t do anything against dehydration, and I can’t give this woman her flesh back. Pulling myself away from her for long enough to glance up at the guys, I see August is keeping guard over me while I’m in such a vulnerable position. I catch his eye and then Nico’s and shake my head.",{"children":1380,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1381],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1382,"type":25,"version":26},"“I don’t think there’s anything I can do,” I whisper.",{"children":1384,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1385],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1386,"type":25,"version":26},"Even though Cass is meant to be our fearless leader, we all know that Nico is the one who makes most of our decisions, like he has ever since Cass checked out three years ago. ",{"children":1388,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1389],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1390,"type":25,"version":26},"“Okay then.” Nico meets my eye and for a second, I see a glimmer of something more than hatred and disdain. He then turns away and does his thing with the woman, persuading her brain that her body no longer needs her heart to beat. ",{"children":1392,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1393],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1394,"type":25,"version":26},"See, like I said, he can do some pretty scary stuff. ",{"children":1396,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1397],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1398,"type":25,"version":26},"August helps me to my feet and steadies me as I wobble slightly on shaky legs. And for a moment, it feels like we’re all on the same side. ",{"children":1400,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1401],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1402,"type":25,"version":26},"Then Nico turns back to me, and I can see that the shutter has come down over his eyes. They’re back to being ice cold. ",{"children":1404,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1405],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1406,"type":25,"version":26},"For a moment there, I got carried away and let myself feel like I was part of a team. But his expression is enough to school me that I’m not welcome here. The guys might be bound to protect me, and I might be technically a part of their team, but that’s not because they want me here.",{"children":1408,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1409],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1410,"type":25,"version":26},"We’re bound together, yet they hate me. Wish I could say that I feel the same about them. ",{"children":1412,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1413],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1414,"type":25,"version":26},"Told you I was cursed.",{"id":1416,"chapterNumber":95,"title":1063,"body":1417},"6a78f337bae7e4fc30a87fd6",{"root":1418},{"children":1419,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":69,"version":26},[1420,1424,1428,1432,1436,1440,1448,1452,1456,1464,1468,1472,1476,1480,1484,1488,1492,1496,1500,1504,1508,1512,1516,1520,1524,1528,1532,1536,1540,1544,1548,1552,1556,1560,1564,1568,1572,1576,1580,1584,1588,1592,1596,1600,1604,1606,1610,1614,1622,1626,1630,1634,1638,1642,1646,1650,1654,1658,1662,1666,1670,1674,1678,1682,1686,1690,1694,1698,1702,1706,1710,1714,1718,1722,1726,1730,1734,1738,1742,1746,1750,1754,1758,1762,1766],{"children":1421,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1422],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1423,"type":25,"version":26},"I head inside the library with my backpack over one shoulder, using my long coat to hide the fact I’m packing maybe twenty small throwing knives on my person.",{"children":1425,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1426],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1427,"type":25,"version":26},"Head Librarian Irene rolls her eyes at me from behind the front desk, but I just shrug as I make my way past her. We’ve had words plenty of times before about me coming in dressed for a job, but today I can’t help it.",{"children":1429,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1430],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1431,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s been a couple of days since the whole situation with the wraiths in the basement and Nico texted me an hour ago to say that we have a job on, but that August was nowhere to be found. I’m not entirely sure why he was telling me, since we’re not exactly texting buddies, but I have a pretty good idea of where August might be holed up. ",{"children":1433,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1434],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1435,"type":25,"version":26},"Back to the scene of the crime. The place where I first approached these guys with my crazy idea to make a deal between all of us. ",{"children":1437,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1438],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1439,"type":25,"version":26},"The place where I decided that binding four scary alphas to me would be a good way forward for my life. ",{"children":1441,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1442,1444,1446],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1443,"type":25,"version":26},"A few things I should explain before I get into the whole ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1445,"type":25,"version":26},"binding the guys to protect me",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1447,"type":25,"version":26}," thing. My dad was a real shithead. He spent a lot of time in the gambling houses, always losing money. I used to be the lucky one that got to go and fetch him since it was that or sending JJ and there was no way my baby brother was going near those places. Not if I could help it. ",{"children":1449,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1450],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1451,"type":25,"version":26},"It was always just the three of us. My mother died when I was a baby and JJ’s decided she didn’t want anything to do with either him or her freakshow step-daughter. ",{"children":1453,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1454],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1455,"type":25,"version":26},"Anyway, one night when I was fetching him back, I got unlucky. He was on a real losing streak, which was pretty obvious to see by his bloodshot eyes and ashy complexion. He just so happened to look up as I came into the dingy backroom. Our eyes met, and even though I was fourteen and barely more than a kid, I knew I was royally fucked. I saw his eyes light up, practically witnessed the cogs turning in his brain as he went double or nothing.",{"children":1457,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1458,1460,1462],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1459,"type":25,"version":26},"Betting ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1461,"type":25,"version":26},"me",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1463,"type":25,"version":26}," as his stake.",{"children":1465,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1466],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1467,"type":25,"version":26},"Predictably, he lost, and that was how I found myself owing a life debt to a seedy backroom gambling joint.",{"children":1469,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1470],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1471,"type":25,"version":26},"Not my father. Me. ",{"children":1473,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1474],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1475,"type":25,"version":26},"I was the one who owed the debt. Which meant that even when he got into a fight a few months later and ended up bleeding out on the street, the debt didn’t dissolve. I was still the one on the line to pay it off. ",{"children":1477,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1478],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1479,"type":25,"version":26},"For once, I got pretty lucky with the logistics of what I had to do to pay off my debt. I know that for a lot of teenage girls, it would have been a death sentence. For ten years I worked there. Paying off what I owed bit by bit in the tiniest increments imaginable. Every day I was accruing interest on the debt, so it barely seemed to decrease at all. ",{"children":1481,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1482],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1483,"type":25,"version":26},"It wasn’t so bad. I mostly kept my head down and helped to clean the place, avoiding grabby hands and leery looks. Not that my cleaning ever did much good. It was a real dive, the kind of place where people weren’t opposed to spitting on the floor or drinking themselves into a state where they lost control of their bladders.",{"children":1485,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1486],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1487,"type":25,"version":26},"Real nasty.",{"children":1489,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1490],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1491,"type":25,"version":26},"The guy who owned it had a chronic back problem, which he wanted me to help him out with, but otherwise was pretty inoffensive as the owner of such a seedy shithole. He could have pimped me out, hired by the hour for a bit of underage pain-eating and more.",{"children":1493,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1494],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1495,"type":25,"version":26},"But I think more than anything, I freaked him out a bit. He was a human and not all that used to dealing with part-demons, so I got the impression he thought I had a few tricks up my sleeve—maybe a tail or a penchant for eating human flesh—so mostly I got left alone. ",{"children":1497,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1498],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1499,"type":25,"version":26},"About three years ago, I was helping out in the back office like I did every Thursday. The guy who managed the place was cooking the books, and I was just hanging out, when I came across some papers about the sale of the place. ",{"children":1501,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1502],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1503,"type":25,"version":26},"Someone had bought out the joint, along with every other dodgy game room, gambling house, and bookies in the city. They’d also bought out every existing debt owed to each of these places.",{"children":1505,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1506],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1507,"type":25,"version":26},"Including mine.",{"children":1509,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1510],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1511,"type":25,"version":26},"That wasn’t the worst of it. When I saw the details of who it was that now owned my debt, a full-body shiver went through me. ",{"children":1513,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1514],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1515,"type":25,"version":26},"Kitos: I’d heard the name before. Everyone had.",{"children":1517,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1518],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1519,"type":25,"version":26},"He was a crime lord, known for having his fingers in as many illegal pies as he could get hold of. He was also a ruthless fuck and anybody that went against him wound up in the river. And I just knew that things were going to change a lot for me if I had to start paying my debt off to Kitos. ",{"children":1521,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1522],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1523,"type":25,"version":26},"As soon as I found out that he was the new owner, I should have gotten far, far away from Stoneraven. But stupid me stuck around. My little brother, JJ, wasn’t doing too well at that point. He was making some pretty shitty choices and generally on the way to fucking up his life and I couldn’t just abandon him. ",{"children":1525,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1526],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1527,"type":25,"version":26},"I wasn’t a total idiot. Straight away, I stopped going to work at the gambling house and moved out of my apartment into a series of increasingly crappier and crappier places, trying to get anyone off my tail who might be interested in my whereabouts. I even closed my bank account and ended up hoarding cash under my mattress, like a lazy dragon. ",{"children":1529,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1530],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1531,"type":25,"version":26},"That lasted for a few months, with me constantly looking over my shoulder, expecting to get caught at any moment. I had barely any money and was just scraping by with somewhere to live and enough to eat; I wasn’t sleeping much and was a total wreck. ",{"children":1533,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1534],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1535,"type":25,"version":26},"When I finally couldn’t take it anymore, I came and found August in the library and begged him for protection. ",{"children":1537,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1538],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1539,"type":25,"version":26},"I’ll admit I wasn’t in the best frame of mind when I made the decision to approach him about protecting me. ",{"children":1541,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1542],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1543,"type":25,"version":26},"That’s a minor understatement, in case you can’t tell, since I was fucking terrified for my life, in full panic mode. My brain went, ‘huh, who do I know that looks big and tough like they might stand in the way of a creepy loan shark slash crime lord who owns my ass’. ",{"children":1545,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1546],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1547,"type":25,"version":26},"I racked my brains for all of five minutes and came up with the image of the scariest motherfucker I’d ever seen, who just so happened to visit the city library at the same time as me every Saturday afternoon. ",{"children":1549,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1550],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1551,"type":25,"version":26},"Anyway, I offered myself (not in a sexy way, more in a ‘I’ll work with you and eat your pain and heal you guys whenever you need it’) if he and his team bound themselves to help shield me from Kitos and his minions. I do not know whether it was the pure panic in my eyes, or something else, but August agreed.",{"children":1553,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1554],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1555,"type":25,"version":26},"They made a deal. Completed a binding ritual and everything. And I don’t know if you know anything about making a deal with a demon, but it’s not something you take lightly. Even if that person is only a quarter demon blood. ",{"children":1557,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1558],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1559,"type":25,"version":26},"The deal was: I work with them as their resident pain-eater and healer, and they provide me with protection from Kitos if and when I ask for it. ",{"children":1561,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1562],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1563,"type":25,"version":26},"None of us know exactly what will happen if they break their end of the deal, but I’d imagine it wouldn’t be pretty. ",{"children":1565,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1566],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1567,"type":25,"version":26},"Fortunately for the guys, it’s now been three years and so far, I’ve not needed to ask for their help. Either Kitos isn’t all that interested in finding me, or I’ve got lucky so far.",{"children":1569,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1570],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1571,"type":25,"version":26},"I’m not holding my breath that my luck will hold out.",{"children":1573,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1574],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1575,"type":25,"version":26},"Cursed, remember?",{"children":1577,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1578],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1579,"type":25,"version":26},"No one breaks away from Kitos while owing him money. No one. ",{"children":1581,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1582],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1583,"type":25,"version":26},"He always gets paid.",{"children":1585,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1586],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1587,"type":25,"version":26},"He’s gotten even bigger and badder over the past three years. Supposedly, even his most loyal workers wind up in the river so that they can’t sell him out. These days he doesn’t just own all the gambling houses—both demon and human owned—but any number of dodgy businesses: drug running, smuggling, money laundering. ",{"children":1589,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1590],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1591,"type":25,"version":26},"He's got a wide reach and a lot of eyes all around the city. And although I’m nothing, no one important, I don’t for a second think that I can hide from him forever.",{"children":1593,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1594],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1595,"type":25,"version":26},"I also know there aren’t many pain-eaters out there and I know there are a lot of unsavory possibilities of how someone might use my particular skill set.",{"children":1597,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1598],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1599,"type":25,"version":26},"The last thing I want is to be pimped out to his rich buddies for a smooth business deal, hired out by the hour, eating people’s pain to make him money.",{"children":1601,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1602],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1603,"type":25,"version":26},"No, thank you.",{"children":1605,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[],{"children":1607,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1608],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1609,"type":25,"version":26},"Most of the time, I like to give off the impression that I’m unflappable, or at least that I’ve got my shit handled. Yet here I am, searching the city library, ready to admit to our berserker that I need him.",{"children":1611,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1612],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1613,"type":25,"version":26},"This week I’m feeling flapped… flappable… whatever. I’m jumping at every shadow, convinced that someone is watching me.",{"children":1615,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1616,1618,1620],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1617,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s not that I’ve ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1619,"type":25,"version":26},"seen ",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1621,"type":25,"version":26},"anyone per se, more like a feeling of eyes on me. ",{"children":1623,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1624],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1625,"type":25,"version":26},"Which sounds paranoid. Possibly a little insane.",{"children":1627,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1628],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1629,"type":25,"version":26},"That’s why I find myself back where this all started in the city library. I know exactly where August will be and what he’ll be doing. It’s the same thing he’s done every Saturday afternoon for years.",{"children":1631,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1632],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1633,"type":25,"version":26},"I spot his gigantic body on the floor in the corner, head resting against a chair that he wouldn’t fit his tree trunk thighs on for more than ten minutes before it cut off circulation. I take my place on the other chair, the one that’s always in the same position opposite him, just like I do every other Saturday.",{"children":1635,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1636],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1637,"type":25,"version":26},"Typically, we don’t speak. We barely acknowledge each other’s existence, but we sit here together once a week for a good five hours. In winter, he walks me most of the way home, without ever acknowledging that’s what he’s doing.",{"children":1639,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1640],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1641,"type":25,"version":26},"I eye the pile of romance novels resting beside his knee. He’s got at least four books in one pile and another couple in another, plus the one he’s currently reading, a slight furrow in his brow as he concentrates.",{"children":1643,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1644],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1645,"type":25,"version":26},"He’s masking his emotions by distracting himself. Forcing his way into other worlds where everything ends happily so that he doesn’t need to think about his own life or his own feelings.",{"children":1647,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1648],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1649,"type":25,"version":26},"I know, because it’s what I do too. August and I don’t eat our feelings, we read our way through them.",{"children":1651,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1652],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1653,"type":25,"version":26},"August likes historical romances, all that chivalry and bodice ripping—not a surprise since I think he’s a secret gentleman behind the gruff, silent exterior. He’s less of an asshole than either Nico or Cass. That’s not exactly difficult, though. ",{"children":1655,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1656],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1657,"type":25,"version":26},"“You all right?” I murmur. He grunts in response, and I reach out to kick his shin, just hard enough that he flicks his attention from the book to my face.",{"children":1659,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1660],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1661,"type":25,"version":26},"He levels me a flat look as I fight a grin. ",{"children":1663,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1664],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1665,"type":25,"version":26},"“Need something?” he asks in a voice so deep and gravelly he’s physically incapable of whispering. Not that any of the librarians mind. I’m sure they’d love to have him in residence. Reading out loud in his raspy voice, he’d be flocked with starry-eyed admirers hanging onto his every word.",{"children":1667,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1668],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1669,"type":25,"version":26},"“We’ve got a job on,” I say.",{"children":1671,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1672],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1673,"type":25,"version":26},"He nods and turns his attention back to the book. This isn’t news to him.",{"children":1675,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1676],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1677,"type":25,"version":26},"I clear my throat as I struggle to form the words. “Will you walk me home after the job, please?”",{"children":1679,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1680],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1681,"type":25,"version":26},"He glances up, pauses like he’s waiting for me to add details, and, when I don’t, August gives a single nod and casts his eyes downward again.",{"children":1683,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1684],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1685,"type":25,"version":26},"That was easier than I expected. I thought it would take longer or that maybe I’d have to explain myself. Instead, I settle down in my chair and grab my own book. ",{"children":1687,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1688],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1689,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s silent for a little while until August speaks without looking up. “You worried?”",{"children":1691,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1692],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1693,"type":25,"version":26},"“I just have a feeling,” I say, and he nods again, like that’s enough for him. The churning anxiety in my gut settles for the first time in days.",{"children":1695,"direction":27,"format":81,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1696],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1697,"type":25,"version":26},"*",{"children":1699,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1700],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1701,"type":25,"version":26},"The job is pretty straightforward. Something that seems to be getting rarer and rarer. More often than not, we’re seeing some pretty weird stuff going on—people acting even crazier than usual—and it feels like there’s something bubbling beneath the surface and we’re just waiting for it to all boil over.",{"children":1703,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1704],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1705,"type":25,"version":26},"Today, it’s just a bunch of fox shifters that need to be persuaded that hanging around inside the train station isn’t such a great idea. They’re a rowdy bunch but harmless, but they have this whole obsession with marking their territory. I can kind of see the humans’ point, considering the whole area reeks of piss. ",{"children":1707,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1708],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1709,"type":25,"version":26},"We’re done in record time, which is fine by me. I’m itching to get back home to see if I get the same feeling of being watched as I had earlier. ",{"children":1711,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1712],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1713,"type":25,"version":26},"I’m pretty sure it’s time for me to move again and it’ll take me a couple of days to find somewhere with my very limited budget. ",{"children":1715,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1716],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1717,"type":25,"version":26},"“I’m walking Manon home,” August says as he heads for the exit, with me hurrying along to match his stride.",{"children":1719,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1720],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1721,"type":25,"version":26},"“Hold on, dude,” Nico calls. “Have you forgotten what day it is?”",{"children":1723,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1724],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1725,"type":25,"version":26},"August stops, glances at me, and mutters a curse under his breath. “Family dinner. I forgot.” He eyes me for a moment longer and then adds, “She’ll join us.”",{"children":1727,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1728],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1729,"type":25,"version":26},"Joy. Dinner with the fam. All of whom hate me, by the way. It’s a running theme with these people.",{"children":1731,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1732],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1733,"type":25,"version":26},"I mean, I don’t blame them, not really. But it’s always awkward and messes with my appetite. ",{"children":1735,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1736],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1737,"type":25,"version":26},"I missed a part of the story when I was explaining before about how we made the deal and the guys became bound to protect me. That wasn’t all that happened.",{"children":1739,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1740],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1741,"type":25,"version":26},"We made the deal, which, as I’ve already said, is a big thing when you’re part demon. There were four of them: Nico, August, Gabe and Cass, plus me. And Cass, as the big, strong team leader, had just signed on the dotted line. We were all hunky-dory, and I felt like maybe things might work out okay for me, or at least be heading in that direction.  ",{"children":1743,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1744],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1745,"type":25,"version":26},"Until five minutes later, when it all went to shit.",{"children":1747,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1748],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1749,"type":25,"version":26},"I don’t exactly remember what happened since my mind went all foggy and as much as I try to push through it; I find my brain tied up in knots until nothing makes sense anymore. ",{"children":1751,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1752],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1753,"type":25,"version":26},"All I know is that I went to find a toilet and somehow between leaving the room and stumbling back, I wound up covered in Gabe’s blood with no idea how it got there and a weird feeling in my throat, like it was closing up, whenever I tried to explain. ",{"children":1755,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1756],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1757,"type":25,"version":26},"Gabe, Cass’s twin brother.",{"children":1759,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1760],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1761,"type":25,"version":26},"Who used to be a part of the team until he disappeared that day.",{"children":1763,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1764],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1765,"type":25,"version":26},"And who hasn’t been seen since.",{"children":1767,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1768],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1769,"type":25,"version":26},"Guess who they all blame?",{"id":26,"alt":1771,"updatedAt":1772,"createdAt":1772,"url":1773,"thumbnailURL":27,"filename":1774,"mimeType":524,"filesize":1775,"width":1776,"height":1777,"focalX":528,"focalY":528},"Book cover for Shadow Chaser by Essie Suter. The cover is pink with a fantasy style. The central image shows the silhouette of a woman's back, she is holding a knife and there are distant male figures standing in front ","2026-08-10T09:32:25.600Z","\u002Fapi\u002Fmedia\u002Ffile\u002FShadow%20Chaser%20sihouette%20v4.jpg","Shadow Chaser sihouette v4.jpg",7982485,2500,3750,"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.amazon.com\u002FShadow-Chaser-Reverse-Paranormal-Stoneraven-ebook\u002Fdp\u002FB0B9NKP8D7\u002Fref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8",[],[],"2022-08-22T12:00:00.000Z",{"title":1783,"description":1784,"image":1785},"Shadow Chaser: Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance | Essie Suter","A cursed pain-eater. Three alpha males bound to protect her, not to like her. Book 1 of Essie Suter's completed reverse harem paranormal romance trilogy.",{"id":26,"alt":1771,"updatedAt":1772,"createdAt":1772,"url":1773,"thumbnailURL":27,"filename":1774,"mimeType":524,"filesize":1775,"width":1776,"height":1777,"focalX":528,"focalY":528},"2026-09-26T20:15:27.720Z","2026-08-09T21:20:59.828Z",[],"Three alpha-holes. One pain-eating heroine. A bond forged in blood and betrayal. I thought these guys were my ticket to safety. It turns out, they might just be the danger I never saw…",{"id":95,"title":1791,"slug":1792,"series":1793,"seriesLabel":550,"description":1798,"previewChapters":1829,"cover":2444,"amazonLink":2452,"directSaleEnabled":534,"pricePence":2453,"currency":531,"ebookEditions":2454,"otherLinks":2458,"featured":534,"latest":530,"startHere":530,"freeKU":530,"releaseDate":2467,"order":95,"seo":2468,"updatedAt":2472,"createdAt":2473,"ebookFormats":2474,"excerpt":2477},"Outlaw Witch","Outlaw-witch",{"id":95,"name":1794,"slug":1795,"tagline":1796,"order":95,"updatedAt":1797,"createdAt":1797},"Enchanted Bargains","enchanted-bargains","A why choose paranormal romance meets urban fantasy. Featuring three sexy mages and a mysterious vampire, found family, secret identity, and an ultra-powerful female lead. ","2026-08-10T09:34:07.917Z",{"root":1799},{"children":1800,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":69,"version":26},[1801,1805,1821],{"children":1802,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":26,"textStyle":23},[1803],{"detail":12,"format":26,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1804,"type":25,"version":26},"In a city of magic users, I’m a freak—a sponge with the ability to absorb the powers of others. Even worse, I’m an illegal outlaw who’s spent the past decade on society's fringes, concealing my true nature and struggling to survive.",{"children":1806,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1807,1809,1810,1811,1813,1814,1815,1817,1818,1819],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1808,"type":25,"version":26},"Everything changes when three alpha mages enter my life, each notorious in our city's shadowy underbelly.",{"type":54,"version":26},{"type":54,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1812,"type":25,"version":26},"Roscoe, the master of illusion, with unwavering loyalty to his friends. His quick grin and cheerful nature break through my sky-high walls like nothing else.",{"type":54,"version":26},{"type":54,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1816,"type":25,"version":26},"Zeph, the grouchy storm mage who is seriously intense and not a fan of mine.",{"type":54,"version":26},{"type":54,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1820,"type":25,"version":26},"And Fabian, their surprisingly sweet leader, poisoned by a deadly blood curse that only I can help him break.",{"children":1822,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1823,1825,1826,1827],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1824,"type":25,"version":26},"Together, they offer me a chance at a clean slate. One that would bring me back into society along with my new family of weirdos and outcasts.",{"type":54,"version":26},{"type":54,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1828,"type":25,"version":26},"Now I just have to get through this mission while keeping my secrets safe.",[1830],{"id":1831,"chapterNumber":27,"title":1832,"body":1833},"6a799b49672efd060b4105e4","Chapter 1",{"root":1834},{"children":1835,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":69,"version":26},[1836,1841,1845,1849,1853,1857,1861,1865,1869,1873,1877,1881,1885,1889,1893,1897,1901,1905,1909,1913,1917,1923,1927,1931,1935,1943,1951,1955,1963,1971,1975,1979,1983,1987,1995,1999,2003,2007,2011,2015,2019,2023,2027,2031,2035,2039,2043,2047,2055,2062,2073,2079,2087,2091,2095,2099,2103,2109,2113,2118,2122,2126,2130,2134,2138,2142,2146,2148,2151,2155,2159,2163,2167,2171,2177,2181,2185,2189,2193,2197,2201,2205,2209,2213,2217,2221,2225,2231,2234,2238,2242,2246,2250,2254,2258,2262,2266,2270,2274,2278,2282,2286,2290,2294,2298,2302,2306,2310,2314,2318,2322,2326,2330,2334,2338,2342,2346,2350,2356,2360,2364,2368,2372,2376,2380,2384,2388,2392,2396,2400,2404,2408,2412,2416,2420,2424,2428,2432,2436,2440],{"children":1837,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1838,1839],{"type":54,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1840,"type":25,"version":26},"Witch, outcast, dead person—according to official records, anyway.",{"children":1842,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1843],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1844,"type":25,"version":26},"I’m a lot of things. ",{"children":1846,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1847],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1848,"type":25,"version":26},"Including directionally challenged.",{"children":1850,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1851],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1852,"type":25,"version":26},"That’s really biting me in the ass right at this moment in time. ",{"children":1854,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1855],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1856,"type":25,"version":26},"I’m so close to being done with my job for the day, I can almost taste sweet, sweet freedom. I skid to a stop at my planned exit… or at least I think it’s my planned exit. I jiggle the door handle, ready to get the hell out of here before anyone notices my presence. ",{"children":1858,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1859],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1860,"type":25,"version":26},"Nothing happens. The damn thing is locked. ",{"children":1862,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1863],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1864,"type":25,"version":26},"Dammit. I’ve been in the Moonshadow coven’s house for over an hour already, casing the joint ready for my job tomorrow. So far, I’ve managed to avoid seeing another person the whole time I’ve been here. I’ve had to keep myself cloaked with a thick glamor the entire time. My scent, my image, my damn aura are all blanketed in a thick layer of magic, so I won’t trip any of the wards. The last thing I want to do is trigger them. I can’t afford to alert anyone to my presence, since I’m not supposed to be here.",{"children":1866,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1867],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1868,"type":25,"version":26},"I pull and push at the door before trying to force a little magic into the handle. I’m hoping that it’s just stuck and maybe a bit of elbow grease will have it flying open any moment. ",{"children":1870,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1871],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1872,"type":25,"version":26},"No such luck.",{"children":1874,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1875],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1876,"type":25,"version":26},"This particular wood and iron monstrosity does not budge an inch. ",{"children":1878,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1879],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1880,"type":25,"version":26},"Yeah… it’s definitely the wrong door. ",{"children":1882,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1883],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1884,"type":25,"version":26},"Shit.",{"children":1886,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1887],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1888,"type":25,"version":26},"My heart is pounding already after running around this place. The Moonshadow coven is a mid-tier coven with its residence right in the middle of Arcanum city center, and my mark for this week’s bit of larceny. My client has requested two of the magical artifacts the coven has currently sequestered away. Today’s job is a bit of prep work and reconnaissance before my actual mission. Good thing too, or I’d currently be struggling to get out of a locked door while cloaking the magical signatures of two very powerful objects. ",{"children":1890,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1891],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1892,"type":25,"version":26},"Apparently, the coven used to be larger before it broke in two. When they split, the coven Mother took both artifacts. My client has tried talking things out, but that didn’t work. So here I am with this gig, to find and retrieve the artifacts.",{"children":1894,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1895],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1896,"type":25,"version":26},"Lucky me. ",{"children":1898,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1899],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1900,"type":25,"version":26},"I’ve got a sweat going since I’ve got my hood pulled all the way up. My armpits are clammy and I can feel sweat dripping and pooling at the small of my back. ",{"children":1902,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1903],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1904,"type":25,"version":26},"No one ever said this job was glamorous. ",{"children":1906,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1907],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1908,"type":25,"version":26},"I can’t afford to mess this up. Things are always tight at home. But after an incident involving me trying to retrieve an illegal dog-slash-chimera mix that had been stolen from its owner, and a fire escape, I sprained my ankle and I’ve been unable to do any hands-on work for weeks. Instead, I got relegated to the boring busy work which doesn’t pay nearly as well. ",{"children":1910,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1911],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1912,"type":25,"version":26},"I need to get out of here. I reckon I have about twenty minutes before my magical batteries go flat. I’m already going to be in desperate need of sugar and caffeine to get me home without passing out on a park bench. ",{"children":1914,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1915],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1916,"type":25,"version":26},"Been there, done that, got pooped on by a pigeon for the privilege.",{"children":1918,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[1919,1921],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1920,"type":25,"version":26},"“Hey, Ember?",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1922,"type":25,"version":26},"” I send the thoughts through to my buddy, my pseudo-brother, and fellow outcast. He’s a telepathic whose family kicked him out as soon as they realized the powers he’d manifested. He was ten at the time and spent an entire year on the streets before the rest of us found him. Unsurprisingly, he hates his powers and rarely uses them. ",{"children":1924,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1925],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1926,"type":25,"version":26},"Well, tough titties for him. All of us outcasts and weirdos have a complex relationship with our powers. They’re the reason our society shunned us all. ",{"children":1928,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1929],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1930,"type":25,"version":26},"But right now, I really need him. ",{"children":1932,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[1933],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1934,"type":25,"version":26},"“Ember, man. Buddy, ol’ pal, I need a little help here.”",{"children":1936,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1937,1939,1941],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1938,"type":25,"version":26},"I’m the only person we know who can ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1940,"type":25,"version":26},"push",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1942,"type":25,"version":26}," my thoughts into Ember’s head. I know he hates it when I do, so it’s not something I’ll force him into unless I have to. ",{"children":1944,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[1945,1947,1949],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1946,"type":25,"version":26},"“Silver.”",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1948,"type":25,"version":26}," His voice growls inside my head and I let out a huffed breath of relief. “",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1950,"type":25,"version":26},"You in trouble?”",{"children":1952,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[1953],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1954,"type":25,"version":26},"“My exit is blocked. I need Rook to come up with another route out of this place. Is he with you?”",{"children":1956,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[1957,1959,1961],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1958,"type":25,"version":26},"“Locked door tripping you up? That’s not like you, Silver.” ",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1960,"type":25,"version":26},"His raspy chuckle is right in my ear, like he’s standing beside me and I roll my eyes, even though he can’t see me. “",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1962,"type":25,"version":26},"You sure you didn’t get confused between upstairs and downstairs again?”",{"children":1964,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1965,1967,1969],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1966,"type":25,"version":26},"These guys might be my bodged-together family, but that doesn’t stop them from being assholes. It’s a running joke that I can do absolutely ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1968,"type":25,"version":26},"anything",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1970,"type":25,"version":26},". I’m a jack-of-all-trades most of the time and my skill set is pretty… diverse. ",{"children":1972,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1973],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1974,"type":25,"version":26},"Unique. ",{"children":1976,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1977],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1978,"type":25,"version":26},"One of the reasons I’ve spent most of my life hiding exactly what I can do. But I can’t do everything.",{"children":1980,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1981],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1982,"type":25,"version":26},"Like opening stupid locked doors. ",{"children":1984,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1985],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1986,"type":25,"version":26},"Or finding my way out of a well sign-posted room. Doesn’t seem to matter if I’m inside or outside. Half the time I barely know my left from my right.",{"children":1988,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1989,1991,1993],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1990,"type":25,"version":26},"I’m not so hot on getting ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1992,"type":25,"version":26},"out",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1994,"type":25,"version":26}," of places, in general. Or anything that requires a huge amount of patience, or a gentle touch. I’m more of a wham bam, thank you ma’am type. ",{"children":1996,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[1997],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1998,"type":25,"version":26},"I could just draw on some of my magic and blast a ball of fire at the door, but that’s not exactly going unnoticed.",{"children":2000,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2001],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2002,"type":25,"version":26},"Dammit, I knew I should have brought someone with me. ",{"children":2004,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[2005],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2006,"type":25,"version":26},"“Seriously, a little help, man? I’m trying to fly under the radar here, and if I blow up the door, it’ll set off the wards. There are people upstairs and I need Rook right now.”",{"children":2008,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[2009],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2010,"type":25,"version":26},"“Sure, sure. Deep breath, Silver. I’m on my way to him right now and we’ll get you out of there.”",{"children":2012,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2013],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2014,"type":25,"version":26},"Rook’s our resident escape artist. He’s a few years older than me and helped me to find my feet when I was twelve years old and had just been kicked out of my coven. If he hadn’t happened to be in the same cell as me when I was first apprehended, I doubt I ever would have escaped from the execution that was planned for me by the city judiciary. ",{"children":2016,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2017],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2018,"type":25,"version":26},"As it is, we worked together and managed to escape from the judiciary, with both of us officially recorded as having died in our cell. ",{"children":2020,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2021],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2022,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s a knotty, dark past the two of us share. ",{"children":2024,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2025],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2026,"type":25,"version":26},"Rook has got me out of more than a few jams in the past. More than that, I’m pretty sure he’s the reason I’ve survived this long. ",{"children":2028,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2029],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2030,"type":25,"version":26},"I just hope this is another jam he can get me out of. ",{"children":2032,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2033],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2034,"type":25,"version":26},"Another minute passes and my palms are sweating so badly they’re slippery as I slink away from the door. I head toward a little antechamber close to the bottom of a huge wooden staircase, keeping an ear out for movement. I know the witches in the coven have been busy in their morning rituals. I heard the chanting when I skirted around the back of the house earlier, but that’s bound to finish soon. ",{"children":2036,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2037],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2038,"type":25,"version":26},"And right on time, I hear them. ",{"children":2040,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2041],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2042,"type":25,"version":26},"Voices. ",{"children":2044,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2045],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2046,"type":25,"version":26},"They’re heading down the staircase toward me. I pull on more of my magic, shoring up the cloaking spell I’ve got going on, barely breathing as they pass by. ",{"children":2048,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2049,2051,2053],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2050,"type":25,"version":26},"“",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2052,"type":25,"version":26},"Silver?” ",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2054,"type":25,"version":26},"Ember’s voice in my head makes me just about shit my pants. ",{"children":2056,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2057,2058,2060],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2050,"type":25,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2059,"type":25,"version":26},"Still here,”",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2061,"type":25,"version":26}," I tell him.",{"children":2063,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2064,2065,2067,2069,2071],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2050,"type":25,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2066,"type":25,"version":26},"Okay, so listen very carefully.” ",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2068,"type":25,"version":26},"I roll my eyes at him, even though he can’t see me.",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2070,"type":25,"version":26}," “Rook says there’s a door just behind the staircase. It leads to another room with a back exit. Head through it and then there should be a window you can use to get out of there. No lefts or rights for you to get muddled up.” ",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2072,"type":25,"version":26},"His voice is heavy with amusement, and I mentally flip him off. ",{"children":2074,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[2075,2077],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2076,"type":25,"version":26},"“Thanks, guys.” ",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2078,"type":25,"version":26},"I wait another moment to make sure the owners of the nearby voices have moved on, and then make a mad dash toward the door behind me. ",{"children":2080,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2081,2083,2085],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2082,"type":25,"version":26},"Rook’s come good again. This door opens easily. I push it open slowly and find myself in what looks like a mud room. There are coats and cloaks and boots scattered all over the place. And ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2084,"type":25,"version":26},"jackpot,",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2086,"type":25,"version":26}," there’s a massive window leading out onto the street outside. I peer out and see that it leads to a quiet side street, which is currently deserted. Yanking it open and cringing as it creaks slightly, I fling myself out onto the concrete outside, wincing as I land heavily on my dodgy ankle and then slip out onto the main street. ",{"children":2088,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2089],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2090,"type":25,"version":26},"The city of Arcanum is bustling, despite the fact it’s drizzling. I keep my hood pulled up over my face and hurry along, joining the crowd and heading back toward the Salvage Yards. ",{"children":2092,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2093],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2094,"type":25,"version":26},"Home. ",{"children":2096,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2097],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2098,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s not until I’m hidden in the crowd. I let out a long relieved breath. ",{"children":2100,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2101],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2102,"type":25,"version":26},"Fuck, that was more stressful than it should have been. ",{"children":2104,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[2105,2107],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2106,"type":25,"version":26},"“You get out all right, Silver?”",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2108,"type":25,"version":26}," Ember asks.",{"children":2110,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[2111],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2112,"type":25,"version":26},"“Sure did. I need a coffee, a doughnut, and a nap.”",{"children":2114,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2115,2116],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2050,"type":25,"version":26},{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2117,"type":25,"version":26},"Uh huh, see you soon.”",{"children":2119,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2120],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2121,"type":25,"version":26},"He doesn’t sound impressed with me, but I shrug his displeasure off. He doesn’t like me doing these kinds of jobs. Ember’s an artist and he’s the one responsible for most of the artwork covering the shithole warehouse where we live. Sometimes he even deigns to sell a few pieces of his work under a false identity and brings in a few coins, but it’s never an income we can rely too much on. ",{"children":2123,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2124],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2125,"type":25,"version":26},"Not that any of us can have jobs that are steady. There are no nine-to-five office jobs in our futures. That would mean being included in a database, having our names and addresses filed away somewhere. All things that you can’t have when you live your life in the shadows. ",{"children":2127,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2128],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2129,"type":25,"version":26},"When you no longer have a name that you can claim ownership of. ",{"children":2131,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2132],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2133,"type":25,"version":26},"Or like Rook and me, you’ve been dead for the past decade and are living under false identities. ",{"children":2135,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2136],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2137,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s not like anyone would want to hire us for legitimate work, anyway. We’re the forgotten dregs of society and that works for us. We make it work.",{"children":2139,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2140],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2141,"type":25,"version":26},"Ember doesn’t seem to get that I can’t go around turning down jobs, just because they’re a little high risk.",{"children":2143,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2144],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2145,"type":25,"version":26},"After all, our entire lives are risky.",{"children":2147,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[],{"children":2149,"direction":27,"format":81,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2150],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":405,"type":25,"version":26},{"children":2152,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2153],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2154,"type":25,"version":26},"Twenty minutes later and my feet are burning in my cheap boots as I hotfoot it down the hill to the Salvage Yards. Our place is one of the old warehouses in an entire district of them. The district has been abandoned for at least fifty years, ever since the city got an influx of magic users and most of the humans moved out. All the warehouses and the factories got shut down, and they were left to grow cobwebs. ",{"children":2156,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2157],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2158,"type":25,"version":26},"To rot. Just like those of us who choose to live here.",{"children":2160,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2161],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2162,"type":25,"version":26},"Ten of us live in an old textile warehouse, one that’s absolutely plastered with graffiti—all thanks to Ember and his need to decorate everything he has to look at for more than five minutes. The inside is a hodgepodge of furniture we’ve rescued over the years and out back there’s a little oasis of a garden, thanks to our resident potion maker and herbalist, Luna. ",{"children":2164,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2165],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2166,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s not all sunshine and roses, though. We barely have a waste management system since the city authorities don’t bother to stretch this far, considering no one is supposed to live way out here. No transport runs within about a mile of us, so we all do a ton of walking since none of us have the cash to even consider buying a car. We barely have working plumbing either, and the system our electricity works on is unregulated, which means it goes on and off at odd intervals.",{"children":2168,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2169],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2170,"type":25,"version":26},"The only other people around are those that aren’t welcome anywhere. Most of the time, they’re no trouble. But every so often, we wind up having people dipping in and out, where we wake up one morning with all our wiring stripped out or our savings swiped. ",{"children":2172,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2173,2175,2176],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2174,"type":25,"version":26},"The whole place is a dive. But it’s all we’ve got, so we make do.",{"type":54,"version":26},{"type":54,"version":26},{"children":2178,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2179],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2180,"type":25,"version":26},"As soon as I step through the warehouse door, I’m accosted by two teenage girls who can somehow scent the bag of doughnuts I picked up on the way home. Seriously, the two of them are like bloodhounds when it comes to sugary treats. ",{"children":2182,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2183],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2184,"type":25,"version":26},"Una and Mona, twins that have only been with us for the past few months. ",{"children":2186,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2187],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2188,"type":25,"version":26},"And I have to say I’ve got a soft spot for the two of them. ",{"children":2190,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2191],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2192,"type":25,"version":26},"I thrust the bag at them and grin. “Breakfast of champions.”",{"children":2194,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2195],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2196,"type":25,"version":26},"My offering is met with two very high-pitched squeals that echo off the high ceiling and I wince slightly. Hopefully, everyone is up already. They’ll certainly be awake now if they weren’t.",{"children":2198,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2199],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2200,"type":25,"version":26},"“Not sure that’s what counts as a healthy, balanced diet,” Ember grumbles from behind me. I spin around and shoot him a shit-eating grin. These two kids spent a couple of months living underground in The Buried Citadel before they found their way to us. It's a labyrinth of tunnels, old sewer pipes, and catacombs where only the really desperate outcasts from our society go. Things must have been pretty dire with their mother for her to send them down there and it’s clear the two of them have seen more shit than they should at their age. ",{"children":2202,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2203],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2204,"type":25,"version":26},"I can’t see a sugary breakfast damaging them too badly. ",{"children":2206,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2207],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2208,"type":25,"version":26},"“So today went well,” he says drily. “You’re not still planning on doing the job, are you? If you get caught, there’ll be no saving you. You get that, right?”",{"children":2210,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2211],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2212,"type":25,"version":26},"I roll my eyes at Ember as I feel the waves of his disapproval in my general life choices rolling off him. ",{"children":2214,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2215],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2216,"type":25,"version":26},"But screw him. The guy might be like my brother, but he’s not the one who can do the things I can. He’s not the one who ends up getting most of the jobs that put food on our table. Who buys us clothes and medicine, shoes for us all and whatever else we might need. ",{"children":2218,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2219],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2220,"type":25,"version":26},"This job should keep us sitting pretty for a couple of months at least. We might even be able to get our water heater fixed so that it doesn’t scald us randomly. We’ll have to pay a massive premium to anyone willing to travel this far out to fix it. And while we all try to be handy and fix stuff ourselves as much as possible, the system is ancient and doesn’t respond to either coaxing or threats. ",{"children":2222,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2223],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2224,"type":25,"version":26},"Ember must see the resolve in my expression. He sighs loudly and puts his warm, stained hands on my shoulders.",{"children":2226,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2227,2229,2230],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2228,"type":25,"version":26},"“Fine. Let’s go find Rook and see if we can find you some alternate escape routes. Something tells me you’re going to need them.”   ",{"type":54,"version":26},{"type":54,"version":26},{"children":2232,"direction":27,"format":81,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2233],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1697,"type":25,"version":26},{"children":2235,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2236],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2237,"type":25,"version":26},"I blame my shitty sense of direction for what happens later that night too. ",{"children":2239,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2240],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2241,"type":25,"version":26},"One wrong turn and I wind up in an alleyway right on the edge of the Nexus District, a place known for its underground clubs and bars and an anything goes nightlife scene.",{"children":2243,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2244],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2245,"type":25,"version":26},"One wrong turn and I’m not where I’m supposed to be.",{"children":2247,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2248],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2249,"type":25,"version":26},"Which is meeting with one of my repeat clients. He messaged earlier and asked to meet here to discuss another job, probably another bit of minor stalking of his ex-boss. It’s simple enough. I hang around their work, follow them around a bit and report back that they don’t seem to be struggling too badly without him. ",{"children":2251,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2252],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2253,"type":25,"version":26},"Which is better than him stalking them himself, I guess. ",{"children":2255,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2256],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2257,"type":25,"version":26},"And it’s not like I don’t have morals when it comes to the jobs I take on. I don’t hurt people unnecessarily. If he was a red-flag ex-boyfriend, I wouldn’t be involving myself in his business. But it’s hard to have bold lines when you have a bunch of people to feed. New shoes to buy for the younger kids who can’t earn money for themselves yet. ",{"children":2259,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2260],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2261,"type":25,"version":26},"I can’t be too picky and I didn’t want to lose this guy’s business, even though he asked to meet in a bar at close to midnight. ",{"children":2263,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2264],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2265,"type":25,"version":26},"I’m up at the ass crack of dawn, so I want it all to go smoothly.",{"children":2267,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2268],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2269,"type":25,"version":26},"Too bad I don’t have a clue where I’m going.",{"children":2271,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2272],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2273,"type":25,"version":26},"I should be at a bar called Mystique. The client said that it didn’t have a super obvious sign, because they liked that kind of shit around here.",{"children":2275,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2276],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2277,"type":25,"version":26},"Fan-fucking-tastic.",{"children":2279,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2280],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2281,"type":25,"version":26},"But searching for a sign-less door led to me not paying attention to where I was walking, I got turned around somehow and then must have taken a wrong turn.",{"children":2283,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2284],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2285,"type":25,"version":26},"Leading me here. ",{"children":2287,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2288],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2289,"type":25,"version":26},"Down an alleyway that smells faintly of garbage and smoke. ",{"children":2291,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2292],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2293,"type":25,"version":26},"I turn around and bump into a growly wall of a man.",{"children":2295,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2296],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2297,"type":25,"version":26},"… two minutes later and my back’s against the brick wall sucking in deep breaths of a stranger’s spicy scent.",{"children":2299,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2300],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2301,"type":25,"version":26},"I don’t exactly know how this happened…",{"children":2303,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2304],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2305,"type":25,"version":26},"One minute I was wandering around like an idiot. I turned on my heel and slammed into this guy’s broad chest, then he growled at me like an angry bear. My eyes flicked up to see two dark eyes and a head of curly dark hair. ",{"children":2307,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2308],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2309,"type":25,"version":26},"He’s gorgeous in an intensely good-looking way. Like it almost hurts my eyes to look at him ",{"children":2311,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2312],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2313,"type":25,"version":26},"“What are you doing hanging around out here, doll?”",{"children":2315,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2316],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2317,"type":25,"version":26},"I stare up at him, our chests brushing, breaths mingling. ",{"children":2319,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2320],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2321,"type":25,"version":26},"“Pretty sure I took a wrong turn somewhere,” I tell him. “Story of my life.” That’s delivered with a little grin and a wink, causing him to step impossibly closer. ",{"children":2323,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2324],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2325,"type":25,"version":26},"He runs his fingers up my arm, tracing the skin of my neck until it reaches my pounding pulse.  ",{"children":2327,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2328],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2329,"type":25,"version":26},"“So you’re saying you didn’t follow me out here?” he asks with a cocky eyebrow raise.",{"children":2331,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2332],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2333,"type":25,"version":26},"The question is so ridiculous, I let out a laugh that came out breathier than I’d have liked. ",{"children":2335,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2336],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2337,"type":25,"version":26},"“No, I didn’t. I’m sure you’d have liked that though, wouldn’t you?”",{"children":2339,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2340],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2341,"type":25,"version":26},"One eyebrow goes up as he studies me with a little smirk. “Well, you’re here now, aren’t you.”",{"children":2343,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2344],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2345,"type":25,"version":26},"My heart pounds in my chest. Everything about this situation should be setting off alarm bells. Meeting random, massive men in deserted alleyways doesn’t seem like it should be on anyone’s list of good life choices.",{"children":2347,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2348],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2349,"type":25,"version":26},"I’m weirdly not afraid though. ",{"children":2351,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2352,2354],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2353,"type":25,"version":26},"Not just because I know I can take care of myself. I have plenty of things up my sleeve I could pull out if needed. I have no idea if all sense left my brain when I left the warehouse tonight or something, but all I feel toward this man is ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2355,"type":25,"version":26},"heat.",{"children":2357,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2358],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2359,"type":25,"version":26},"A primal kind of attraction I haven’t felt before. ",{"children":2361,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2362],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2363,"type":25,"version":26},"He has this raw kind of energy pulsing off him and instead of it repulsing me, I find myself drawn to it. ",{"children":2365,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2366],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2367,"type":25,"version":26},"“How about I persuade you it was a right turn you took,” he growls, eyes darting between my eyes and my lips with obvious intent.",{"children":2369,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2370],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2371,"type":25,"version":26},"My answer is to surge upward and press my lips to his. ",{"children":2373,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2374],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2375,"type":25,"version":26},"And fuck, if I thought he was magnetic before, kissing him is like pressing my lips against a livewire. Energy floods through me as he lets out a low groan, pressing my back hard against the brick. ",{"children":2377,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2378],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2379,"type":25,"version":26},"I gasp and writhe against him, squeezing my hand against his hot, thick cock still zipped in his pants. ",{"children":2381,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2382],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2383,"type":25,"version":26},"I quickly rectify that, feeling his hot length against my palm as I pump up and down and he lets out a delicious groan. ",{"children":2385,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2386],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2387,"type":25,"version":26},"“Fuuuck. Keep doing that and I’ll come in my pants.”",{"children":2389,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2390],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2391,"type":25,"version":26},"He doesn’t back up though, instead taking my lips again in another devouring kiss. I continue to pump my hand, squeezing around the hard length of him as he pushes his hand down my pants, massaging my clit with sure strokes. ",{"children":2393,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2394],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2395,"type":25,"version":26},"“So damn wet. Fuck.”",{"children":2397,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2398],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2399,"type":25,"version":26},"We continue to frantically get each other off, like two teenagers that have just discovered the fun you can have with your pants down. It’s hot and senseless and a couple of minutes later, he’s letting out a deep groan as he comes all over my hand. I clench around his fingers as an orgasm overtakes me almost simultaneously. ",{"children":2401,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2402],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2403,"type":25,"version":26},"We’re both panting, sticky messes when we finally break apart. ",{"children":2405,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2406],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2407,"type":25,"version":26},"Then, like a spell is broken, he pulls away. The bear of a man then extracts his fingers and sucks my juices from them with another guttural groan. ",{"children":2409,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2410],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2411,"type":25,"version":26},"“Fuck, I feel like a fucking teenager, jizzing all over myself.” He zips his pants up with a scowl. “Guess that’s the end of my night then,” he mutters.",{"children":2413,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2414],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2415,"type":25,"version":26},"I shoot him an uncertain smile as I yank up my own pants. ",{"children":2417,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2418],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2419,"type":25,"version":26},"“Yeah, me too.” His release is still all over my hand and is cooling fast. My own panties are wet and I can’t wait to get out of them. ",{"children":2421,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2422],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2423,"type":25,"version":26},"This is the awkward part. The post hook-up, post orgasm clean up and disengagement. ",{"children":2425,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2426],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2427,"type":25,"version":26},"He doesn’t offer to walk me home, or to get me back safely. ",{"children":2429,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2430],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2431,"type":25,"version":26},"Not that I expect him to. It’s not like a quick mutual handjob is the sign of superior manners on either of our parts. ",{"children":2433,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2434],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2435,"type":25,"version":26},"“Well, good meeting you, doll.”",{"children":2437,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2438],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2439,"type":25,"version":26},"With that he spins on his heel and heads through the back door of the club, leaving me alone in the alleyway.",{"children":2441,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2442],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2443,"type":25,"version":26},"Damn sense of direction leading me astray. ",{"id":95,"alt":2445,"updatedAt":2446,"createdAt":2446,"url":2447,"thumbnailURL":27,"filename":2448,"mimeType":524,"filesize":2449,"width":2450,"height":2451,"focalX":528,"focalY":528},"Cover for Outlaw Witch by Essie Suter. Urban fantasy style cover in red, with a tough-looking brunette woman dressed in a leather jacket looking out to camera. 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The right ones help you wield it.",{"children":2490,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2491],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2492,"type":25,"version":26},"After being kicked out of my supernatural protection squad for being \"too volatile,\" I was just discovering how retirement doesn't suit me. Then my grouchy gargoyle neighbour appears with an offer I can't refuse: to join his team in a prestigious competition, a treasure hunt for ancient, supernatural relics.",{"children":2494,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2495],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2496,"type":25,"version":26},"A scrappy lady berserker, a standoffish gargoyle nerd, a witch who doesn't seem to have any boundaries, and a mostly human team leader. We're a ragtag team if I've ever seen one.",{"children":2498,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2499],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2500,"type":25,"version":26},"Between vicious creatures that want to tear us apart, puzzles that could kill us if we're wrong, and someone sabotaging our every move, I'm starting to think retirement wasn't so bad.",{"children":2502,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2503],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2504,"type":25,"version":26},"But when my brooding gargoyle teammate looks at me like I'm the answer to ancient mysteries, dangerous becomes an understatement.",{"children":2506,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2507],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2508,"type":25,"version":26},"Some treasures are worth the risk. Some shields are worth lowering.",{"children":2510,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":95,"textStyle":23},[2511],{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":1036,"type":25,"version":26},{"children":2513,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":1057,"version":26,"listType":1058,"start":26,"tag":1059},[2514,2518,2522,2526,2530,2534,2539],{"children":2515,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":1043,"version":26,"value":26},[2516],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2517,"type":25,"version":26},"He falls first",{"children":2519,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":1043,"version":26,"value":95},[2520],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2521,"type":25,"version":26},"Bodyguard romance",{"children":2523,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":1043,"version":26,"value":8},[2524],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2525,"type":25,"version":26},"Caretaking",{"children":2527,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":1043,"version":26,"value":1056},[2528],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2529,"type":25,"version":26},"Forced proximity",{"children":2531,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":1043,"version":26,"value":546},[2532],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2533,"type":25,"version":26},"Bed sharing (not quite there’s only one bed, but near enough!)",{"children":2535,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":1043,"version":26,"value":2538},[2536],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2537,"type":25,"version":26},"Found family of misfits",6,{"children":2540,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":1043,"version":26,"value":2543},[2541],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2542,"type":25,"version":26},"No other woman drama, no cheating, low angst",7,[2545],{"id":2546,"chapterNumber":27,"title":2547,"body":2548},"6a7a24be672efd060b4105e6","Prologue | Dylan",{"root":2549},{"children":2550,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":69,"version":26},[2551,2555,2559,2563,2567,2571,2575,2579,2583,2587,2591,2595,2599,2603,2607,2611,2615,2619,2623,2627,2631,2635,2639,2643,2647,2651,2655,2659,2663,2667,2671,2675,2679,2683,2687,2691,2695,2699,2703,2707,2711,2715,2719,2723,2727,2731,2735,2739,2743,2747,2751,2755,2759,2763,2766,2770,2774,2778,2782,2786,2790,2794,2798,2801,2805,2809,2813,2817,2821,2829,2833,2837,2841,2845,2849,2857,2861,2869,2873,2877,2881,2885,2889,2893,2897,2901,2905,2909,2913,2917,2921,2925,2929,2933,2937,2941,2945,2949,2953,2957,2961,2965,2969,2973,2977,2981,2985,2989,2993,2997,3005,3009,3013,3017,3021,3025,3029,3033,3037,3041],{"children":2552,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2553],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2554,"type":25,"version":26},"Things are not going to plan. ",{"children":2556,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2557],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2558,"type":25,"version":26},"We’re inside a townhouse that was supposedly abandoned about a decade ago, here to check the place over and inspect for any unwelcome visitors now the house has gone to auction. The job was supposed to be an easy one, in and out. ",{"children":2560,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2561],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2562,"type":25,"version":26},"Instead, it’s like a hoarder’s paradise filled with booby traps. ",{"children":2564,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2565],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2566,"type":25,"version":26},"The place is filled to the brim with belongings. There’s furniture and newspapers and years of rubbish all piled on top of each other. There are also hexes on half of the doors, summoning hordes of flesh-eating bugs every time you try to open them. ",{"children":2568,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2569],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2570,"type":25,"version":26},"And skeletons. There are so many skeletons covering the walls, enough to give me the willies. I thought at first glance that they were hunting trophies, but one seems to have skin and hair still clinging to it. Another is still wearing a pair of spectacles.",{"children":2572,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2573],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2574,"type":25,"version":26},"The air is thick with the scent of mildew and damp stone, along with something sharper and more acrid, making my nose twitch as we head deeper into the house. ",{"children":2576,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2577],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2578,"type":25,"version":26},"Replacing my axe in its sheath, I glance around to meet our squad leader’s eyes. “Where next?”",{"children":2580,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2581],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2582,"type":25,"version":26},"Midas pauses, assessing the situation with his amber eyes and scenting the air. He’s part wolf shifter, with incredible tracking abilities, but even he’s struggling in this house of horror. ",{"children":2584,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2585],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2586,"type":25,"version":26},"He shakes his head. “I don’t like this. The place smells all wrong.”",{"children":2588,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2589],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2590,"type":25,"version":26},"He’s barely got the words out when there’s a garbled yelp from the doorway to my left and I see my squadmate and fiancé, Pan, hanging from a giant spiderweb. True to form, he’s entirely unbothered by his predicament and snorts a laugh, wiggling his tatted arms uselessly. “You always say that, man. Maybe your nose is messed up.”",{"children":2592,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2593],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2594,"type":25,"version":26},"I stride over to him, hacking at the web with my dagger, but nothing happens. My blade is sharp enough to cut through leather like it’s butter, but it bounces straight off.",{"children":2596,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2597],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2598,"type":25,"version":26},"“Ooh, that’s not good.”",{"children":2600,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2601],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2602,"type":25,"version":26},"As always, I’m here as the muscle. I might not look like it, but that’s my role: the mindless goon.",{"children":2604,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2605],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2606,"type":25,"version":26},"Pan just shrugs and shoots me a lazy smile, his dark hair covering one eye. “I’m sure I’ll wriggle free eventually. What’s the worst that’s gonna happen? The spider turns up and tries to nibble me to death?”",{"children":2608,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2609],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2610,"type":25,"version":26},"Pan’s our resident poison expert, immune to pretty much all toxins. He’s also a bit of a hothead and an act first, think later, kind of guy. It’s something we have in common. Hence why he’s currently held up inside a giant spider web. It’s also the reason for the sparkly ring currently on a chain around my neck that’s resting beside the pendant that’s keeping my other half in check.   ",{"children":2612,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2613],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2614,"type":25,"version":26},"“You said that orc wedding last week smelled wrong too,” Pan continues, ignoring the fact he’s currently mostly upside down so he can continue to razz our leader. ",{"children":2616,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2617],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2618,"type":25,"version":26},"“I did, and look how that one turned out,” Midas growls. ",{"children":2620,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2621],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2622,"type":25,"version":26},"The wedding turned into a brawl after someone spiked the wedding cake. It turned out the bride had a mean right hook on her and the father of the groom had a penchant for setting stuff on fire. We were the closest squad in the vicinity, so muggins here got the lucky job of hauling the bride out of there before the place burned to cinders.",{"children":2624,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2625],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2626,"type":25,"version":26},"Not all that unusual. Our work has always been varied, and it’s often dangerous. ",{"children":2628,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2629],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2630,"type":25,"version":26},"Today’s job seems to be no exception. ",{"children":2632,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2633],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2634,"type":25,"version":26},"“So far we’ve seen blood-sucking bugs, massive spiders, and that stupid trapdoor that Titan nearly broke his neck when he fell through it. What other treats do you think they can have in store today?”",{"children":2636,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2637],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2638,"type":25,"version":26},"Midas turns to me, clapping his hand on my shoulder. “Something definitely isn’t right here. Look, Lady, whatever happens, you need to complete the full inspection and then we get out of here.”",{"children":2640,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2641],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2642,"type":25,"version":26},"Lady. That’s me.",{"children":2644,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2645],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2646,"type":25,"version":26},"Lady Rage. ",{"children":2648,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2649],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2650,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s a stupid code name, possibly the stupidest of all of them. But I didn’t exactly have much choice about it. My first day on the job, after I’d let my other half come out to play, Titan looked me over and gifted me the moniker. ",{"children":2652,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2653],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2654,"type":25,"version":26},"That was six years ago, and despite the dumb name and the sometimes questionable decision-making skills shown by us all, I still love these guys. I love this job too, even though it tries to kill me on a regular basis. ",{"children":2656,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2657],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2658,"type":25,"version":26},"“We’re one man down already, and Titan’s not doing so well on that ankle of his. I reckon we split up and we’ll get this done quicker. I’ll take the first floor, you take the basement.”",{"children":2660,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2661],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2662,"type":25,"version":26},"“And Lennox?” I ask, my tone dry as I stifle a sigh. ",{"children":2664,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2665],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2666,"type":25,"version":26},"Lennox with the moon eyes, who isn’t actually an official member of our squad. He shows up on some of our jobs and Midas lets him tag along for some unknown reason.",{"children":2668,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2669],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2670,"type":25,"version":26},"Maybe he owes him money or something. Or maybe everyone else is under a spell that prevents them from seeing just how useless he is. I’m fairly sure we’re breaching the rules of our contract by having him on a job with us, and I’d love to understand why. It’s certainly not because Lennox brings anything useful to the table.  ",{"children":2672,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2673],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2674,"type":25,"version":26},"A roar sounds from the next room, just beyond a wall of bones, and everything inside me freezes.",{"children":2676,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2677],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2678,"type":25,"version":26},"Ohh no, that is not good. ",{"children":2680,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2681],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2682,"type":25,"version":26},"LET ME OUT.",{"children":2684,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2685],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2686,"type":25,"version":26},"The voice in my head has a different reaction to the bestial roar. While the rational part of me wants to turn tail and get the hell out of here, my other half is donning her metaphorical boxing gloves and getting ready to square up to whatever is lying in wait. ",{"children":2688,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2689],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2690,"type":25,"version":26},"“Stay back,” I hiss at Midas. “Protect Pan, since he’s a numbnuts who decided to go poking around in a giant web.”",{"children":2692,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2693],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2694,"type":25,"version":26},"Lennox and Titan then stumble through an open doorway toward us and my eyes focus on the way Lennox is dragging Titan’s six-foot-six form forward, and the glazed look in his eyes. Titan’s our diplomacy expert, the one who can talk anyone out of anything. But something tells me his skills won’t be much good right now. ",{"children":2696,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2697],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2698,"type":25,"version":26},"“What the hell happened to him? He looks drunk out of his mind.”",{"children":2700,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2701],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2702,"type":25,"version":26},"“Babba booey. Slipped on a weird puddle and it was soo dusty. Got up my nose.” Titan taps his face with his fist, blinking hard and then grinning. ",{"children":2704,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2705],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2706,"type":25,"version":26},"Well, aren’t we just the dream team? Titan’s injured and looks drugged out of his mind. Pan’s caught in a spiderweb. And Lennox is a useless civilian on a good day. ",{"children":2708,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2709],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2710,"type":25,"version":26},"I guess it’s just up to me and Midas to get this done so we can get out of here. ",{"children":2712,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2713],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2714,"type":25,"version":26},"There’s another roar from the next room and my stomach sinks as I glance at Midas, who nods. “I’ll protect them. Scout it out and confirm that we can’t go any further and then we’ll retreat.”",{"children":2716,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2717],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2718,"type":25,"version":26},"I shove down my rising apprehension. This is my job, after all. I’m the one that charges forward and clears the room so the others can do their jobs. ",{"children":2720,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2721],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2722,"type":25,"version":26},"Nodding to Midas, I unsheathe my axe and slowly step forward. Keeping my tread as light as I can, I head into the next room. ",{"children":2724,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2725],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2726,"type":25,"version":26},"It’s dark in here, filled with musty boxes that are piled right up to the high ceiling. It’s also dusty as hell. I scrunch up my face against a sneeze. Damn allergies better not start acting up, or they’re going to get me killed. ",{"children":2728,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2729],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2730,"type":25,"version":26},"“What’s happening?” The panted voice behind me makes my skin crawl, a visceral reaction that has my shoulders bunching and me clutching the pendant around my neck.",{"children":2732,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2733],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2734,"type":25,"version":26},"Lennox. Exactly where he shouldn’t be, once again. ",{"children":2736,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2737],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2738,"type":25,"version":26},"“Dylan? Lady? There isn’t much light, is there?” he hisses into the darkness.",{"children":2740,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2741],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2742,"type":25,"version":26},"No, there certainly isn’t. Mostly because the piles of boxes are covering the windows. But there’s definitely something lurking in the dark. I might not have Midas’s sharp senses, but I can still feel the unnatural quiet in this part of the house. It’s like every mouse in the walls is too afraid to move and attract the attention of a predator. ",{"children":2744,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2745],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2746,"type":25,"version":26},"“Lennox. Go. Back,” I hiss. “Stay with the others.”",{"children":2748,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2749],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2750,"type":25,"version":26},"There. I’ve tried to be gentle about it, better than my usual bulldozing. ",{"children":2752,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2753],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2754,"type":25,"version":26},"“I’m not leaving you,” he says. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep going. Think about this. You don’t know what you’re going to find through there. I can pull some strings, speak to the right people, and we can pull you out of this. You don’t need to do this job anymore.”",{"children":2756,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2757],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2758,"type":25,"version":26},"I blink at him as a surge of irritation passes straight through me and I struggle to keep my temper. ",{"children":2760,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2761],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2762,"type":25,"version":26},"“What the hell are you talking about?”",{"children":2764,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2765],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2682,"type":25,"version":26},{"children":2767,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2768],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2769,"type":25,"version":26},"I roll my eyes, ignoring both my other half and Lennox. Then I take another slow step forward, careful to keep my tread even. As I pass beyond a wall of newspapers, a strip of daylight lights the way in front of me.",{"children":2771,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2772],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2773,"type":25,"version":26},"Revealing yet more bones and yet more boxes. This time they’re piled altogether, not like trophies at all. But like we’re dangerously close to some creature’s den. ",{"children":2775,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2776],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2777,"type":25,"version":26},"I can still feel Lennox’s presence behind me, his arm brushing against mine. ",{"children":2779,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2780],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2781,"type":25,"version":26},"“Dylan.” His face twists and an ugly expression passes over his shiny, uniform features. “If you’re continuing on. I’m going too,” he insisted. “Unless… unless you think we should turn back?”",{"children":2783,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2784],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2785,"type":25,"version":26},"The hopeful lilt to his voice only stokes my irritation. ",{"children":2787,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2788],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2789,"type":25,"version":26},"“I can’t turn back,” I tell Lennox. “Not yet, anyway.” ",{"children":2791,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2792],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2793,"type":25,"version":26},"This is what I do. I’m the last stand, the one to plough into battle and face whatever lies behind the walls of skulls and newspapers.   ",{"children":2795,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2796],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2797,"type":25,"version":26},"Lennox captures my hand and squeezes, even as I try to shake him off.",{"children":2799,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2800],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2682,"type":25,"version":26},{"children":2802,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2803],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2804,"type":25,"version":26},"IT’S COMING.",{"children":2806,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2807],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2808,"type":25,"version":26},"“If you mention my name, they’ll understand. Of course, we’ll have to wait a few months for the wedding. You can let your hair grow out, so it’s not so short.” He pauses, frowning like he just heard his own words.",{"children":2810,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2811],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2812,"type":25,"version":26},"“What are you talking about?” I ask, incredulous. “Are you proposing right now? I’m already engaged. To Pan.”",{"children":2814,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2815],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2816,"type":25,"version":26},"“The man who’s currently trapped in a giant spider’s web.”",{"children":2818,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2819],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2820,"type":25,"version":26},"Well… yeah. He might not be the sharpest tool in the box, but nor am I. We mesh well together, always have. ",{"children":2822,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2823,2825,2827],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2824,"type":25,"version":26},"I do ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2826,"type":25,"version":26},"not",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2828,"type":25,"version":26}," mesh well with Lennox. ",{"children":2830,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2831],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2832,"type":25,"version":26},"He’s like a toxic goo, always sticking around and impossible to wash off. ",{"children":2834,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2835],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2836,"type":25,"version":26},"Another roar sounds, and I instinctively drop to a crouch. This time it’s deafening and my shoulders raise instinctively. I need to move before whatever it is making that noise makes itself known. ",{"children":2838,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2839],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2840,"type":25,"version":26},"And then I see it through a gap in the piles of crap. ",{"children":2842,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2843],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2844,"type":25,"version":26},"A long reptilian tail. ",{"children":2846,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2847],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2848,"type":25,"version":26},"Oh no. No no no. ",{"children":2850,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2851,2853,2855],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2852,"type":25,"version":26},"I don’t need to go any further to know that we shouldn’t be here. This is one of those jobs where we’re going to have to make a ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2854,"type":25,"version":26},"very",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2856,"type":25,"version":26}," careful retreat. ",{"children":2858,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2859],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2860,"type":25,"version":26},"NO. WE FIGHT.",{"children":2862,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2863,2865,2867],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2864,"type":25,"version":26},"Once again, I ignore the internal yell of my other half. We should ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2866,"type":25,"version":26},"definitely",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2868,"type":25,"version":26}," not fight whatever is in the room with us. We should get out of here as quickly as possible and hope like hell that we can dislodge Pan from his web in time. ",{"children":2870,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2871],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2872,"type":25,"version":26},"Because I’m fairly sure that we’re inside the den of a dragon. ",{"children":2874,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2875],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2876,"type":25,"version":26},"“Of course, of course.” Lennox crouches beside me, blocking my exit. His fingers grip mine and he clings to me, tugging down like a five-year-old trying to capture his mother’s attention. “But tell me you’ll think about it. About us?”",{"children":2878,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2879],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2880,"type":25,"version":26},"“Lennox. Shut. Up.”",{"children":2882,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2883],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2884,"type":25,"version":26},"I grip my pendant like it’ll keep my sanity in check, as well as my other half. ",{"children":2886,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2887],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2888,"type":25,"version":26},"“Get. Out.” A growling voice sounds loud enough to make my ears ring. ",{"children":2890,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2891],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2892,"type":25,"version":26},"Then a flash of green light blinds me for a moment and I react just in time, throwing myself onto the ground and covering Lennox’s body as a fireball flies right over our heads. ",{"children":2894,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2895],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2896,"type":25,"version":26},"You know what’s a dumb thing to hoard if you’re a dragon? Newspaper and boxes.",{"children":2898,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2899],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2900,"type":25,"version":26},"This entire place is a tinderbox about to set alight. ",{"children":2902,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2903],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2904,"type":25,"version":26},"I scan the area, eyeing our exits. I’m still clutching my pendant, but I need a clear head right now, and my other half isn’t great at retreating.",{"children":2906,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2907],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2908,"type":25,"version":26},"Nope. She’s always spoiling for a fight. ",{"children":2910,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2911],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2912,"type":25,"version":26},"Another guttural roar had the hair on the back of my neck rising. Beneath me, Lennox shakes violently and I can feel his panted breath on my cheek. He smells like stale coffee and mints. ",{"children":2914,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2915],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2916,"type":25,"version":26},"His fingers wrap around my wrist again, and I want nothing more than to peel them off. His touch makes me want to crawl out of my skin. ",{"children":2918,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2919],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2920,"type":25,"version":26},"This is why we don’t let civilians join us. Too many unnecessary risks. ",{"children":2922,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2923],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2924,"type":25,"version":26},"They can’t keep their heads under pressure. ",{"children":2926,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2927],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2928,"type":25,"version":26},"“It’s a dragon,” I mutter. “A dragon, Lennox. That wasn’t on the bloody brief.”",{"children":2930,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2931],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2932,"type":25,"version":26},"“Dylan,” he whines, squirming underneath me. ",{"children":2934,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2935],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2936,"type":25,"version":26},"“You need to turn back now and run as fast as you can. I’ll distract the dragon.” ",{"children":2938,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2939],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2940,"type":25,"version":26},"Those are some sick final words if I’ve ever heard them. ",{"children":2942,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2943],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2944,"type":25,"version":26},"“I can’t.” He shakes his head, and I fight to keep my internal scream in check. Appraising him, I can see he’s speaking the truth. He seems to have reached that state of fear where your body gives out and your legs stop working. ",{"children":2946,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2947],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2948,"type":25,"version":26},"Fight. Flight. Fawn. And Lennox is fawning like a champ right now. ",{"children":2950,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2951],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2952,"type":25,"version":26},"“Fine.” I peer around, looking for anything that might shield him from another fireball.",{"children":2954,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2955],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2956,"type":25,"version":26},"“There.” I point at a large cabinet that’s mostly hidden by a human skeletal pelvis. “Go. Hide yourself there. I’ll try to lure him in a different direction.”",{"children":2958,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2959],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2960,"type":25,"version":26},"No idea how I’m going to manage that. I quickly type out an emergency SOS text to Midas, telling him to stay back. ",{"children":2962,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2963],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2964,"type":25,"version":26},"Lennox grips my hand again and I use the connection to yank him out of the way, narrowly avoiding us both being eviscerated. Another rush of heat brushes past my face and I can smell singed hair. My blood burns as I roll to a crouch. “Go. Now.”",{"children":2966,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2967],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2968,"type":25,"version":26},"“Dylan. No.”",{"children":2970,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2971],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2972,"type":25,"version":26},"Then the massive face of the current occupant of the house appears and Lennox lets out a terrified squeak. ",{"children":2974,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2975],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2976,"type":25,"version":26},"I might have been modified to be tougher than the usual human. My skin and bones don’t break so easily, but that doesn’t mean I’m invincible. ",{"children":2978,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2979],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2980,"type":25,"version":26},"And I am certainly not fireproof.",{"children":2982,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2983],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2984,"type":25,"version":26},"I yank off my pendant, shoving it deep into my pocket as I unsheathe my axe with one hand and my dagger with the other. ",{"children":2986,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2987],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2988,"type":25,"version":26},"Almost immediately, the familiar fury starts bubbling in my gut, rising higher and higher with every passing second. I try to breathe through it, to tamp it down until Lennox is safely out of the way and won’t be collateral damage. ",{"children":2990,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2991],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2992,"type":25,"version":26},"Too late. ",{"children":2994,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2995],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":2996,"type":25,"version":26},"My vision tunnels. Heart thundering in my ears and all I can focus on is the rush of blood flowing through me. ",{"children":2998,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[2999,3001,3003],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":3000,"type":25,"version":26},"Filling me with spitting ",{"detail":12,"format":95,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":3002,"type":25,"version":26},"rage",{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":3004,"type":25,"version":26},".",{"children":3006,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[3007],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":3008,"type":25,"version":26},"Things became less clear after that. It always happens when I let the feral side of me take over and I lose control. All I’m left with are snapshots of action. ",{"children":3010,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[3011],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":3012,"type":25,"version":26},"There’s heat and screaming. I duck and dive, slash and swing. Roll and then slash and slash until something hot and wet hits my arms. ",{"children":3014,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[3015],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":3016,"type":25,"version":26},"Two double eyelids blink shut. ",{"children":3018,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[3019],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":3020,"type":25,"version":26},"Then everything goes even more fuzzy as I feel something sharp stab me in the arm. ",{"children":3022,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[3023],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":3024,"type":25,"version":26},"But the baddie has been slain. The job is done. ",{"children":3026,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[3027],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":3028,"type":25,"version":26},"I can’t make sense of what’s happening as I blink down at the needle piercing my flesh.",{"children":3030,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[3031],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":3032,"type":25,"version":26},"Darkness swirls around me and my blinks grow heavier. ",{"children":3034,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[3035],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":3036,"type":25,"version":26},"Before I lose myself to the dark, one last conscious thought rolls through my mind like a stray marble. ",{"children":3038,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[3039],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":3040,"type":25,"version":26},"Lennox. What happened to Lennox?",{"children":3042,"direction":27,"format":23,"indent":12,"type":28,"version":26,"textFormat":12,"textStyle":23},[3043],{"detail":12,"format":12,"mode":22,"style":23,"text":3044,"type":25,"version":26},"Today definitely didn’t go to plan. ",{"id":1056,"alt":3046,"updatedAt":3047,"createdAt":3047,"url":3048,"thumbnailURL":27,"filename":3049,"mimeType":524,"filesize":3050,"width":977,"height":978,"focalX":528,"focalY":528},"Book cover for Guarding the Gargoyle by Essie Suter. Black background with a sword interlinked with roses as the main image. ","2026-08-10T19:24:57.676Z","\u002Fapi\u002Fmedia\u002Ffile\u002FGuarding%20the%20Gargoyle%20-%20Kindle%20-%20High%20Resolution.jpg","Guarding the Gargoyle - Kindle - High Resolution.jpg",587169,"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.amazon.com\u002Fdp\u002FB0FF79XX1M",[],[],"2025-07-27T12:00:00.000Z",{"title":3056,"description":3057,"image":3058},"Guarding the Gargoyle: A Bodyguard Monster Romance | Essie Suter","A retired berserker teams up with her grouchy gargoyle neighbor for a deadly supernatural treasure hunt. A slow burn standalone monster romance with low angst. ",{"id":1056,"alt":3046,"updatedAt":3047,"createdAt":3047,"url":3048,"thumbnailURL":27,"filename":3049,"mimeType":524,"filesize":3050,"width":977,"height":978,"focalX":528,"focalY":528},"2026-09-27T09:42:53.824Z","2026-08-10T19:26:18.690Z",[],{"id":26,"wordmark":3063,"newsletterName":3064,"instagram":3065,"amazon":3066,"goodreads":3067,"bookbub":3068,"contactEmail":3069,"footerBlurb":3070,"copyright":3071,"newsletterFooter":3072,"mailingAddress":27,"ebookLicense":3073,"booksPageSeo":3074,"blogPageSeo":3077,"contactPageSeo":3078,"updatedAt":3079,"createdAt":3079,"globalType":3080},"Essie Suter","Join the newsletter","https:\u002F\u002Finstagram.com\u002Fessie_suter","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.amazon.com\u002FEssie-Suter\u002Fe\u002FB09X1JC4M8","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.goodreads.com\u002Fauthor\u002Fshow\u002F22366055.Essie_Suter","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.bookbub.com\u002Fauthors\u002Fessie-suter","contact@essiesuter.com","Thanks for visiting my website. Come back soon for news on new releases, bonus content, and the latest live readalong","© 2022–2026 Essie Suter. All rights reserved.","You’re getting this letter because you joined Essie Suter’s newsletter. No spam, just stories.","Buying and downloading this e-book gives you a personal licence to read it on your own devices. It does not give you the right to share, copy, upload, resell, or otherwise redistribute the file. Copyright remains with Essie Suter.",{"title":3075,"description":3076,"image":27},"Why Choose Paranormal and Fantasy Romances","Fast paced stories with slow burn romance. Come and meet the complex female leads and the men that complement all of their facets. \nFound family. Adventure. Sweet and steamy romance. ",{"title":27,"description":27,"image":27},{"title":27,"description":27,"image":27},"2026-08-12T19:55:28.796Z","site-settings",{"id":26,"heroEyebrow":3082,"heroBullets":3083,"aboutEyebrow":3084,"aboutHeading":3085,"aboutBody":3086,"shelvesHeading":3090,"subscribeCtaBody":3091,"seo":3092,"updatedAt":3093,"createdAt":3094,"globalType":3095},"✦ Latest release · July 2026",[],"About the author","Author of why choose\u002F reverse harem romance",[3087],{"id":3088,"text":3089},"6a7a29cd672efd060b4105e8","Essie Suter is a writer of paranormal and contemporary fantasy romance. She’s a big fan of slow burns, enemies to lovers and forced proximity moments, whether the heroes are cinnamon rolls or alpha-holes, the happily ever after is guaranteed! \nEssie is a firm believer in the certainty of romance in uncertain times and finds fellow romance readers to be the best kind of people. She lives in the UK. When not ignoring the real-world swooning over love stories, she spends a lot of time cooking, wandering in the countryside, and smiling at other people’s dogs. \n","From the bookshelves","Be first to hear about new releases, get exclusive bonus scenes and content, and vote in readalong polls so you can influence the way the story goes.",{"title":27,"description":27,"image":27},"2026-08-10T19:43:38.173Z","2026-08-09T21:36:30.941Z","home-page",{"id":26,"enabled":534,"eyebrow":3097,"title":3098,"subtitle":3099,"wordCount":3100,"wordGoal":3100,"statusNote":3101,"updatedLabel":3102,"seo":3103,"updatedAt":3112,"createdAt":3113,"globalType":3114},"Currently writing","Tides and Treachery","The Cursed Tides | Book 3",83000,"A quick peek at where this draft stands.","Updated 26 Sept 2026",{"title":3104,"description":3105,"image":3106},"Tides and Treachery | Writing update","I am now all done with editing Tides and Treachery and it is available for ARC. It's also available to pre-order now",{"id":536,"alt":3107,"updatedAt":3108,"createdAt":3108,"url":3109,"thumbnailURL":27,"filename":3110,"mimeType":524,"filesize":3111,"width":977,"height":978,"focalX":528,"focalY":528},"Cover for Tides and Treachery. Book 3 in the Cursed Tides trilogy by Essie Suter. A woman with long hair is silhouetted in front of mystical waves, holding magic that loops from her outstretched hands around her in a circle","2026-08-12T19:50:01.740Z","\u002Fapi\u002Fmedia\u002Ffile\u002FThe%20Cursed%20Tides%20Book%203%20-%20Kindle%20-%20High%20Resolution.jpg","The Cursed Tides Book 3 - Kindle - High Resolution.jpg",5377823,"2026-09-26T16:00:21.512Z","2026-08-12T19:50:49.667Z","writing-status",{"seo":3116,"enabled":534,"title":3117,"intro":3118,"totalChapters":3119,"progressPercent":3120,"pollClosesLabel":3121,"teaserQuote":3122},{},"The Tides Between","A free story from the world of The Cursed Tides, written live, one chapter at a time. Read the latest chapter below, then cast your vote — the winning choice shapes what I write next.",20,60,"Next chapter drops once the poll closes on Friday.","\"The tide pulled back further than it should have, and in the wet sand something gleamed — a key, or a promise, or a trap. Maren had learned the hard way that the sea rarely told you which.\"",1790611868688]