I was surrounded. The priests stood before me, frowning. The crowd packed tightly behind the wall of guards. My family's faces had aged without grace and their hatred of me had only fermented with time.

I drew a breath and felt the sun hot on my skin.

"I …

Malika shivered. The events of the night still weighed heavily upon her, and it was difficult to wrap her mind around the loss of her village, the fight with the Lycanders, the destruction of the lesser deathless, and the conflict with the greater deathle…

I do believe the time has come to hope

I'd love it if my friend came back at last.

If I am wrong I'll wash my mouth with soap,

And banish expectation to the past,

But still, if I could nourish once again

The happiness that once was his and mine,

Wi…

Klaxons. Klaxons everywhere. Truly this was it.

It was the dead of night, of course. They never attacked during the day. That was too obvious, and we'd see them coming a mile away -- on a cloudless day. (And even on overcast days, they always mysteriousl…

Tenever didn't hesitate as muzzle flare lit up the surrounding trees. He threw a hand straight forward over the barrel of his weapon, his mind searching for familiar strands of reality to pluck at. His fist opened and a flash of prismatic light erupted in…

Orthael came back slowly, as if he had been diving in a lake and sought the surface from deep below, and found himself gripping Judgement in his right hand. This did not surprise him: he had always assumed implicit, even in the warm domestic comfort of hi…

“You have the wrong man.” he said, slowly putting the bowl down and setting his hands flat against the counter.

“You don't recognize my voice? Maybe I can jog your memory. How about these words: no, don't, stop, please, you're hurting me!” She echoed her…

My name with foul insinuation's tarred

By people who seek easy victims meek

To charge with crimes in public. Life is marred

And razed for me. Now, everywhere I seek,

.

I picture enemies in friends I knew

Before this whole fiasco. Do they now

Believe tho…

She was waiting for me the next morning, sitting at my table with a bowl of hot porridge and a packed bag. A small bag, I thought. Either she was leaving it all behind, or there was little to leave behind anyway. I rather suspected the latter.

My pastry …

My 15-year-old son hugged me yesterday

My teenage daughter begged me for a bedtime story

My husband and I started sleeping in the same room

-

I've lost my racist grandmother's ashes and my tax reports

the dress that made me look fat

I have no dishes to cl…

Story is marked as mature

The light cleared, and Malika was momentarily blind. Then, she looked to Orthael, uncomprehending, only to see the wizened old man looking confused and unsettled. His sword had been extinguished completely, and he stood as one who had just been betrayed.

…

"So, I heard you were in town?"

He could practically hear Mike Green's intense grin over the phone. In college, she had been his best friend. Shortly thereafter, they had parted ways - Gonçalves to Freetalk, Green to some analytics firm bound by sheafs of…

Stella trundled along the brook's edge, gazing behind her all the while when she could. The moon, the MOON! It was always there behind her, even when the brook changed directions like an eager puppy on its first trip to the park after a water-drinking con…

Tenever grudgingly released the spell in his hand, but readied his wards all the same. They were complex, interlocking affairs with Byzantine safety procedures and a hellish rate of drain, but they were effective.

"Guys, this is Eraeon of the Firsts. Era…

I remember the grey light. I pulled her close to me in the aftermath of our lovemaking. It was then that I told her I was leaving, not yet knowing I was wrong. Our lives were not yet to diverge.

She cried.

Her face pressed against my shoulder, I felt he…

Devin hungered for conversation. That didn't happen much when he was around people. He tended to be the quiet sort and when he did say something it was usually the wrong thing. Two days out with nothing but a couple of dozen head of cattle as company and …

I changed in the years of my exile, and though no one in the streets recognized me beneath the beard and rough clothes, I had found my home with little effort. Heavy leather gloves with large stitching were the only reason I made it inside the gates. Ever…

A yearning pit of doom. This place felt like death. Empty. Desolate. Yes, someone or something had killed everything that was good here long, long ago. Privately, she knew what it was. She could see it. She could feel it. She watched as the creatures walk…

"what are taxes"

"DNA is vital"

...........................

A parishioner had requested aid against the Dead. The task of returning the dead to rest was so far beyond import that it lay somewhere in the realm of the sacrosanct. Orthael inclined his head in acquiescence and summoned Judgement into his grip, though …

The Water Seller stood on the steps of the palace after every meal. Her arms itched, the sand dust like a second skin, caked on to keep her safe from the three suns' heat. She shifted from her right to left foot and dipped her rag back into the bowl.

Th…

The medics found Minla unconscious next to a shattered vase, a small pool of water and a bouquet of exotic-looking flowers. One of them, taking pity, picked up the flowers as they loaded her up into the ambulance.

The attending doctor took the toxicology…

They approached the other side of the clearing and it was Orthael's turn to rein in a jolt of shock. Shrouded in his sole focus on the Fire, he had held only a loose grip on the details of a martial engagement. Instinct and Judgement, rather than consciou…

Story is marked as mature