59 Results in the "A Thread of Corruption" category
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Chapter
Chapter 53 – Breaking
"Valentina?" Terror gripped Valentina's heart. What was Innogen doing here? "That complicates things." Johann's hand tightened around her shoulder. His grip wasn't brutal, just firm. He knew, after all, that his captive couldn't go anywhere. Valentina could feel him tense up, like a foxhound that had caught the scent of fresh game. "Damn it," said Vyxara. Innogen came down the stairs, barefoot, in her nightgown, holding a small essence lamp. "I fell asleep while waiting for you. I wanted…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 52 – The Trap Closes
The wool blanket had slipped down to her hips, and the warm light from the Essence Lamps cast a soft glow over Valentina's bare skin. Johann lay beside her, one arm folded behind his head, breathing calm and steady. "That was fantastic" Vyxara remarked, and the demon sounded sated and content. Valentina didn't answer. She was too pleasantly exhausted to form even a coherent thought. Her body was heavy, and she felt flushed and satisfied. Johann sat up, swung his legs out of bed, and reached for…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 51 – Honey
The house on Midriver Row was indeed in a completely different league from the university housing. Three stories of neatly grouted limestone, narrow windows with glass panes, and a red door with brass hardware that almost glowed in the dark from a distance, illuminated by the Essence lamp above the entrance. Johann opened the door before she could even knock, as if he had been standing at the window waiting and looking for her. "Right on time," he said, stepping aside to let her in. "I appreciate…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 50 – Angles of Attack
The tavern was always nearly empty in these early morning hours. Only at the bar sat two old men over their first ales, silent and seemingly lost in thought. They were probably there every morning. The innkeeper was polishing mugs and nodded wordlessly to Valentina as she entered. She didn't have to look for him at all. Hobkin was sitting in a corner, his feet propped up on the bench across from him, and was relishing bread with cheese and pickled onions. When he saw Valentina, his face began to form…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 5 – The King’s Speech
The king took his place, and the assembly rose again. King Edmund let his gaze wander over the crowd, and when he spoke, his deep voice carried effortlessly throughout the entire hall. "Lords, venerable prelates of the Holy Church of the Martyr, and commons of this realm of Sommerland, We, by the Martyr's Radiant Flame King of Sommerland, greet you well." He paused, letting the words sink in. "We gather today, as our ancestors have done for centuries, under the watchful and benevolent eye of the…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 49 – Closer
A few days later, Valentina sat next to Crispin in a lecture by Professor Veilford, trying to concentrate on his obscure explanations, even though her mind was still half on Johann's idea regarding the boundary conditions, which she had been calculating late into the night the previous evening. The approach actually worked, at least for the outer two rings of the cascade, and the elegance of the solution made her cheer inwardly every time she thought about it. At the end of the lecture, Valentina…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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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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