59 Results in the "A Thread of Corruption" category
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Chapter
Chapter 48 – Direct Action
Von Agrippin's rooms were located in the western part of the university, on the second floor of the building reserved for professors and other scholars. She found the right door, a plain oak door with a small slate plaque bearing his name, and knocked. Shortly thereafter, he opened the door for her. The expensive, continental-style burgundy doublet he was wearing was the same one he wore for lectures, but his hair was tied back a little looser than usual, so that a dark strand fell across his face,…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Once a week and never more. That was what Vyxara and she had agreed upon, and she had adhered to it with iron discipline so far, even though her fingers had been itching to finally try out the Eye with corrupted Essence. And today was finally the day. She knelt down next to her desk and felt around for the right panel, deactivated the protective patterns, slid the panel aside, and pulled out the iron box. The lid swung open, and there lay the Eye of Deceit. In the candlelight, the surface shimmered…
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459.3 K • Ongoing
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On Thursday, she found herself back in the large lecture hall for von Agrippin's lecture, which this week covered the mathematical formalization of the transformation rules between Essence types. Valentina sat next to Innogen in the fourth row and took notes. Von Agrippin stood in front of the slate board, half of which he had covered with an equation describing the symmetry operations by which the Leb-resonant configuration could be transformed into the Viur-resonant one. "One important insight," he…
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459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 45 – The Project
The Tower of Healing was one of the oldest buildings on the university campus, older even than the Great Library and almost as old as the Burning Tower itself. People had been healing here before they had been teaching here, and Valentina could tell just by looking at the building. The walls were made of dark, roughly hewn sandstone that must have once been red but had taken on a dark patina over the centuries, and the narrow windows sat so deep within the walls that the light streaming in had to literally…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 44 – Leads and Traces
Rose was the first to arrive. She stepped through the door of the back salon, the lush red curls of her illusion falling over her shoulders, and stopped abruptly when she saw Madame Dolorosa lying on the couch, looking shaken and exhausted. "What happened?" Rose was immediately at Madame Dolorosa's side. "There was a break-in last night," said Madame Dolorosa. "Lily has already taken care of me. I'm fine." "You don't look like you're fine." "Please don't worry about me, Rose, I-" Then Violet…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 43 – Assault
That Thursday, Valentina arrived a good hour earlier than usual at Violet Delights. The little bell above the door to Gretta's tailor shop jingled softly as she entered. Outside, dusk had already fallen, and inside the workshop, all the Essence lamps were already lit and their warm light fell on the carefully draped fabrics. Gretta looked up from her work and smiled. "So early today?" "Madame asked me to come in before the others. We have to finish the quarterly accounts." "Oh, you poor thing."…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 42 – Unsettling
Valentina and Innogen turned onto Mill Gate Road, where the street vendors were packing up their stalls. "I'm starting to get a little scared of him," Innogen said quietly. Valentina shoved her hands into the pockets of her coat. "He's our friend." "Yes. And if he keeps this up, in two years he'll be an Illuminator who's one hundred percent convinced that any cruelty is an acceptable price for saving souls." Innogen looked at her, and there was a hardness in her eyes. "He doesn't know what we are…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 41 – Man of Conviction
On Thursday, Valentina was back at Violet Delights. Today her client was Master Irlwin, a cloth and wool merchant from Southwatch who came to Bridgewater every two months to do business with the local guilds. He was a quiet man in his fifties, with a carefully groomed grey beard and the work-worn hands of someone who had learned the cloth-making trade from the ground up before he became rich enough to have others do the work. As always, he brought with him a lock of hair from the wife of his fiercest…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 40 – Probing the Eye
The next evening, Valentina waited until the sounds of Pinfeather Lane had died down, then closed all her shutters and locked them carefully. She had already locked the front door an hour ago. Then she activated the Essence-dampening patterns in the walls of her study. The conventional ones first, then the more subtle configurations that Vyxara had taught her, the ones designed to ensure that, hopefully, no Essence Weaver passing by outside would perceive even the slightest hint of Essence…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 39 – Hoager
The Burning Quill was, as always, well-attended, but not exactly crowded. Because it was drizzling outside, Hobkin stood by the fireplace today, where the innkeeper had cleared a space for him between the tables. He was telling a story to a handful of listeners with great relish. It was a story that apparently involved the Scorchbishop, a pretty innkeeper, a donkey, and a fateful misunderstanding. A group of men at one of the front tables were already holding their sides with laughter, even though he…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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