59 Results in the "A Thread of Corruption" category
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Chapter
Chapter 55 – Old Debts
Johann shouted a command into his ring as he uncorked his vial of Corrupted Essence. "Narzoz! Help me neutralize their patterns, now!" Narzoz obeyed, guiding Johann's weaving so confidently that it almost appeared as if the demon himself were steering Johann's hands. Visible only to Valentina through the Sight, he formed from the Corrupted Essence a flawless yet geometrically unsettling pattern of terrifying elegance, which the demon fed into him and which, in the geometrically inverted logic of…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 56 – You Can Go to Hell
First, Valentina carefully helped Innogen up the stairs to the bedroom. Then she would deal with the ring. Upstairs, she gently covered Innogen and placed her mangled hand on a pillow. "I have to go back downstairs and take care of the ring," Valentina said. "Just for a moment. I'll be right back." Innogen nodded without saying a word, and Valentina brushed the sweaty strands of hair from her face and kissed her on the forehead, tasted the salt on her lips. Then she went back…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
Chapter 34 – The New Crispin
A day later, there was a knock at the front door, and Valentina set aside the quill she'd been using to copy a summary of advanced healing methods before hurrying down the stairs, already full of anticipation. When she opened the door, Innogen was standing on the threshold, holding a huge jug of wine. Her blue eyes were shining. "I've brought a housewarming gift," she said. "Come in!" Valentina stepped aside and closed the door behind her. Innogen set the wine down on the small table in the…-
459.3 K • Ongoing
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"Let me," he said, "begin with a simple question." He made a brief, theatrical pause. "How many fundamental Essences are there?" He didn't get an answer for quite a while because everyone suspected a trick. The answer was far too obvious. Any child could have answered it. "Eight," someone called out from the back rows, and a soft chuckle rippled through the hall. "Eight," Von Agrippin confirmed cheerfully. "You learn that before you even set foot in the university, I'm sure. It's the answer…
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459.3 K • Ongoing
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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 58 – Breaks
When Valentina woke up, Innogen had already propped herself up in bed with pillows behind her back and was repeatedly flexing the fingers of her left hand. The swelling had already gone down significantly, but her skin was still covered in multicolored bruises. "Does it still hurt a lot?" Valentina asked cautiously. "It should actually be better by now." "It just aches a little still. And my fingers feel like I borrowed them from someone else." Innogen let her hand drop. Her eyes were still red, but…-
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 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 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 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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