A mountain-sized corpse sprawled before Aj.

  Proof it could be done.

  Already Aj felt the difference;

  subtle changes woven deep.

  An unraveling.

  When they all lay dead

  would their verse die too?

  Hassani sank into fighting stance, hand on hilt. "Who's there?"

  A stringed instrument thrummed. Movement stirred in the shadows leading to the collapsed courtyard. "Merely a lost musician in search of his supper."

  She snorted. "Strange how you became lost exactly where and when I did."

  "Fate, perhaps." Movement at the gloom's edge. Long hair spilled into the light.

  Her heart sped up. "You're the man from the statue."

  "And you are a woman statuesque." Another thrum of the instrument.

  "Who do you work for?" She relaxed slightly, but left her hand on her sword hilt. "Why are you here?"

  He plucked a little ditty as he stepped fully into the light to look her over with free appraisal. She flushed and ran a self-conscious hand through her untidy hair.

  "Successful artists seek patronage wherever it may arise. A picky musician's a hungry musician." He smiled. Her heart fluttered. "Who do you work for?"

  A wary bit of her mind urged restraint on several levels, but her body felt differently. In her Inviolate training they'd warned of rare Lineages whose practitioners manipulated thoughts or feelings. A protective mantra drilled into her through a thousand repetitions began to repeat in her head.

  Her uniform made his question obvious, but she answered anyway. "I am an Inviolate, agent of the Black Court."

  "Ah, so your employment philosophy mirrors my own." He watched two colorful birds darting through a hole in the ceiling, chirping and wheeling about. "They wing a courtship dance, though both of them sing whereas I hear only my own music drifting between us."

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "I don't have many patrons, just the one." Maybe the mantra didn't work. Maybe she'd memorized it wrong. Maybe he simply looked at her as woman, not a brood mare and work beast. Whatever the reason, she wanted his lips on hers more than she could remember wanting anything else.

  "The one?" He laughed and took a nonchalant step closer. She wavered between maintaining space or rushing to him. "Have you seen the face of whomever gave your orders? Who is the Black Court?"

  "The Dynasty," she said automatically. "I serve the Dynasty."

  He tilted his head. "If I love my family, would that mean I revere my mother, father, or siblings more? Who among them do I follow? Who do I question? If I could save only one, who would it be?"

  "That's different. The Dynasty is-"

  "A thousand Dynasts each more power-hungry and self-interested than the last and ten times as many Verser Lords and Ladies, generals, and bureaucrats. You must know of the Book's Chapters? The Ancients, the Fractious Fraction, the Isolates, and on and on? How could you not? Yet you treat the mysterious, anonymous Court as an individual with singular goal and purpose... curious." He took another step closer, watching her through a veil of hair. "You fascinate me."

  Hassani recoiled, stumbling on rubble. His words plucked a string of nagging doubt growing increasingly taut ever since her promotion to Assessor. She struggled to regain her footing.

  Her mind refused to assess him as threat against her body's ache for him. "For a musician, you know a surprising amount about Dynastic politics. A suspicious amount even. Who are you really?"

  "Merely learning someone's name is an act of intimacy, isn't it? Converting stranger into acquaintance opens a door for them into your life. Are you sure you want to risk that?" He stepped yet closer. Hassani flushed and trembled at his proximity. Fighting the desire made it worse. How long had it been?

  He didn't wait for her to answer. "I am Adonissian, humble servant to inspiration, a slave to its whims and desires. Would you gift me with your name that I might let my tongue touch upon it?"

  When he moved forward to lean against a tilted beam beside her, she ducked under his arm to slip away. She felt lightheaded. His brazen, relentless pursuit left her hot and wet. She craved him in a way she'd craved few other things in her life. Her whole being urged giving in, letting herself have what was clearly meant to be.

  Except a tiny voice in her head screaming in warning.

  "You know so much about me already." She struggled to catch her breath, backing away to buy a moment to compose herself. "Surely you know of my marriage. Tell me about myself if you so wish to put your tongue to use in my service."

  Adonissian's smile gleamed with a predatory edge as he advanced, oozing charm. His plucked tune tugged her memory. A dirty ballad she'd heard emanating from Broadcliff's brothel when she'd peeked in; curiously as child, guiltily as a young woman.

  "I know your husband's an idiot, madman, or both to let you stray from his side."

  A horrible image struck her like a slap: her husband and Avani curled together on the floor, soaked in his blood. She staggered in her slow retreat across the hall. A fallen beam rolled beneath her foot, stumbling her.

  "And you, Hassani Jaxekin, are enchanting and strong, a tenacious whirlpool capturing me in its pull, drawing me irresistibly." He stopped, as if struggling to restrain himself. "I throw all my art and skill, body and soul at your feet. Use me as you will."

  He knelt before her, hair falling in a cascade across his face. She groaned and took an involuntary step towards him. Her hand reached to touch him and she knew if she did it would be over. His hair tickled her fingers. A bead of perspiration slid down his forehead in the muggy humidity.

  It all clicked together in an instant, desire turning to disgust between heartbeats.

  She stepped back, hand returning to her sword. Despite her realization, she still craved him the way a woman dying of thirst might still crave poisoned well water.

  "Well done, Adonissian. You do your anonymous employer great credit. That said, your aphrodisiac nature won't work any further. Phero."

  He froze, head still bowed. She settled into her stance, gripped her sword, and spared a flickering glance to be sure they were still alone.

  They weren't.

  At least half-a-dozen figures had populated the shadows while he wooed her. She pretended not to notice, taking deep breaths and softening her gaze to expand her peripheral vision while she waited for the Phero to make his next move.

  Next chapter: Aida never would have guessed what the giant, emerald Jade Eye is really for.

  Characters and terms

  Characters (alphabetical)

  Adonissian: a Phero who poses as a travelling musician

  Aida: MC.

  Aj: a long-slumbering, powerful being which annihilated Inro's Sunset Legions. Also "almost destroyed the Dynasty single-handedly six-and-some centuries ago"

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  "Braid"; a thug who accosted Aida in Jadeye

  Deai: Hassani's swordmaster, renowned for killing a Paragon

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Ghillie: a 3rd Feral who wears a primitive Ghillie suit. Carries cross between kunai and acupuncture needles

  Goboro: a fat scribe friend of Hassani's in Libriam

  Fallon: Aida's Seneschal

  Hassani: Inviolate agent of the Black Court

  Inro: Dynast formerly ruling Sunset

  Jaxe: Dynast of Stacks. "Young", wealthy. Also has "the Pale" (an Albino)

  Ocyl: Dynast of Heaven's Tread, powerful and unpredictable

  Parathas: Aida's skinscribe. Also a mountaineer.

  Venner: Grandmaster of Optimimes in Jadeye, "best in the entire Book"

  Rega: Inro's sister

  The Fallen

  Feral: a bone-masked woman of violence (Feral) in Aida's service. Knife wielder. Killed by Ghillie in Jadeye.

  "Toothy": leader of a group of thugs who accosted Aida in Heaven's Tread. Killed by Feral in Jadeye

  Valeer: a mentally challenged, unkempt individual able to manipulate Thorns. Died in Jadeye to "Braid".

  White Spiral: an older Feral in Aida's service. Archer. Died protecting Aida in Jadeye

  Terms (alphabetical)

  All, The: ?

  Anchorites: individuals capable of creating anchor points affixed to nothing.

  Annalis compound: sprawling complex in Libriam, heart of The Book's bureaucracy. Arrivals 'Dirt' home to new dispatches, Archives 'Dust' storage for old material. Paths and Ways storage for 'nails.

  Arborian: gardeners from Groves?

  Ascen, The/The Ascendant: divinities "watching over every verse"?

  Assessor: census-taker

  Aze: swordmaker?

  Black Court: a realm of pure darkness. Also, those who rule there. Where Partaking happens.

  Blood, The: imbibed at Partaking, transforms one into a Dynast if they survive

  Book of Verses, The: the 1,000 verses ruled by the Dynasty. "Kiloverse"

  Broadcliff, Tallmarket: cities in Stacks

  Century Thread: additional threads appearing elsewhere on the body every century a Dynast lives

  Cerebrist: creator of slavants

  Chant, The/Sacrosanct Chant: some sort of law in the Dynasty?

  Chant of Innoculation: chant supposed to protect against disease

  Chapters: power groupings among the Dynasts of the Book: predominantly The Ancients, the Fractious Fraction, and Isolates.

  Circular Sea: an ocean abutting the Jadeye segment of Heaven's Tread

  Clock Priest: priests from Gears?

  ConMach: convoy?

  Crowmen: buy corpses to return them to life and service as rotters

  Cupola Thorn: the main Thorn in the city Jadeye in Heaven's Tread, a stone dome built over it

  Currence: something valuable inside old coins?

  Current: some form of energy that powers "artifices"?

  Dusa: people with manipulable hair of silver wire, from Gears

  Dynast: individual given rule of a verse if they survive Partaking. Ageless and hard to kill. Regenerative. Sustained by "the Blood"; no food or water necessary.

  Dynasty: the Dynasts who rule the Book

  Ebon: founder of the Dynasty and Black Court

  Ebonese: the language of the Book

  Echoseer shells: devices to allow one to "see" in the Black Court

  Feral: bone-masked bodyguards who require the essence of their master to survive. "Damned to Ferals" as a form of capital punishment. "the damned", "damned to a Feral"

  First Thread/Primus: a fresh Dynast/the first luminescent silver thread etched into their foreheads.

  Gates, The: ?

  God, A: unique, "undying" creatures of immense size, The First Ones

  God's Rote: child's first memorization, what gods are

  God-dwellers: "monks" who live on a god

  Gonist: organ dealers and traders

  Heaven's Tread: a verse "inside a hollow rolling pin", host to Jadeye, the largest city in the Book

  High Parser: officials from Ink

  Ink: home verse of the Skeinry and Keens

  Innoculist: doctors?

  Inviolate: agents of the black court who "serve the Black Court, protect the Dynasty, uphold the Chant, root out corruption."

  Inviolate Vial: carried by Inviolates as badge of office

  Iode: substance that ignites when crushed

  Iris: the giant portals leading between one cylinder of Heaven's Tread to the next

  Jade Eye, The: the "giant emerald" at the middle of Ocyl's Spire in Jadeye

  Jadeye: the largest city in the Book and major trade hub, in Heaven's Trade

  Jaxeday: holiday in Stacks with boat carvings, feasts, games of Fishhead, dances, and storytelling

  Jaxestack: a whitewashed stack on Stacks home to Jaxekin

  Keen: Ink warriors wearing impossibly-heavy iron armor whose power source drains color from the area about it.

  Kin: descendants of a Dynast

  Kiss, The: ?

  Letch: sect bred leech-like creature designed to stop bleeding on wounds

  Libriam: a swampy verse home to the Annalis, heart of The Book's bureaucracy

  Limn: "infused clay" bearing some sort of internal power, used by Ebon to found the Dynasty

  Lineage: ?

  Linemen: workers on the Stacks trolleys who pull the cars along the lines

  Logos: ?

  Mancers: ?

  Menial: common folk

  Molt: person able to shed skins (see skins)

  Mon, The: ?

  Mourne, The: something dangerous that lurks in the Vale, "the why we do not tarry"

  Mune: someone from the Collective on Dost?

  Nameday: when children are named

  Ocyl's Preserve: a garden "beyond the Circular Sea" in Heaven's Tread?

  Ocyl's Spire: the tower home to the court of Ocyl, Dyanst of Heaven's Tread

  One-Eighth Shithole: Aida's verse. Unfortunately. A desolate place home to volcanoes and a giant dead turtle

  Optomime: gadgeteer?

  Pale, The: light-skinned people, conquered by Ebon during the founding of the Dynasty

  Paragon: warrior who can see the future

  Partaking: the ritual that creates Dynasts (or kills those who try). Performed by some unknown, large creature in the Black Court.

  Phero: ?

  'pillar: fuzzy Sect-bred giant caterpillar pet

  Porcelain Guard: Ocyl's white-masked Ferals

  Pure Priest of the Ascen: priests?

  Reachers: massive, Sect-bred creatures that direct traffic and rescue unfortunates in the Sighted Path in Jadeye

  Reconquest: time when Inro "drove [tribals] back into civilization's fold at spear point"

  Rotters: sack-clothed, crudely-masked 'zombies' uses as pack-beasts and simple laborers. Created/sold by Crowmen.

  Royal Strider: giant striders which carry carriages of the wealthy slung underneath them

  Sect, The: breeders of useful insectoid- and/or sauroid-like creatures

  Seericide: seers capable of Knowing everything as they die

  Seneschal: chief servant of a Dynast, bear permanent strings allowing them to speak and understand any language

  Sighted Path: the zero-g road down the center of Heaven's Tread

  Sixth Tier Rebellion: last major uprising, in Ziggurat a century ago

  Skeinry: iron-plated communication centers where Skeiners translate vibrations sent by wyre from other verses

  Skin/Hollow: animate skin of a molt able to move, talk, and share snatches of its experience with its molt

  Skinlife: living tattoos

  Skinscribe: individuals brailled with lore, walking libraries

  Slavant: an individual who "loses much" to be implanted with an ability

  Soresearer: ?

  Stacks: An ocean verse comprised of tall pillars jutting up from the seas. Trolleys run on long ropes between them "affixed by Anchorites to airy nothing"

  Striders: "stilt-legged gray-skinned insect-lizard"s used as fast mounts, large enough to carry several riders

  Strings: worn or implanted wire devices that translate speech

  Subterrane, The: travel route accessed by Ebon via Limn?

  Sunset: the verse where Aj was 'contained', formerly protected by Dynast Inro. The "Prison of Prisons"

  Sunset Legions/Vault Legions: Inro's Legions, wiped out by Aj in Sunset

  Surgon: person able to remove organs

  Terminus:a verse?

  Thorn: huge, curling thorns which Valeers can use as gateways to the Vale, doorways between verses. Grow into verses over centuries

  Thrum: guide in the Black Court

  Twine: "one soul threaded through two bodies"

  Unkillable Swordsman: a Paragon killed by Deia long ago

  Vale: "The Place Between". A realm of high-contrast black and white full of thorns and Thorns.

  Valeer: people capable of activating Thorns, barely functional of anything else

  Valeer's 'nail: crystals containing wafers that allow travel within the Vale to specific verses without a Valeer

  Venger: muscle man?

  Verse: a pocket universe or world

  Verser Lord/Lady: agents of an individual Dynast who rule part of a verse at the whim of their Dynast

  Vibrant: color-changing individuals from Ink?

  Watter: an energetic liquid

  Wicker Way: towers of stone, wood, and rope that connect opposite far sides of Jadeye

  World Spear: an immense stack on Stacks

  Wretch: untouchables forced to walk on all fours, "the human refuse that cleans up the literal waste piles"

  Wyres: lines run through the Vale between verses that allow communication between

  Ziggurat: the verse basing the Legions