❛power isn't everything. it's the only thing.❜
[complete]
wattys 2018 winner ❧
Lin is a hunter, one of the magically enhanced witch slayers that roam a flooded world. Under the laws of four Kings and Greymark, who rules them all, Lin is unto...
"And yet I swear I love this earth that scalds and scars, that burns my feet. And even hell is holy."
―Gregory Orr
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"Is that everything?" Shabina asked. "Absolutely everything?"
Zeke was the only other person at the glass table, the rest of Shabina's wives and friends scattered across the seas as they carried out orders that could get them killed. He had his boots propped up on the seat next to him. His eyebrows lifted. "If you ask me one more time, I'll take offense."
"Right." Shabina fidgeted with her fingertips under the table. Maps and yellowed papers were spread out across the surface, each of them more illegible than the last. "Sorry, it's just --"
"You're concerned."
"Always." She could barely hear her own voice over the trickle of the water system that passed through the garden. Leaves rustled in the breeze, still damp with dew.
"Don't be." Zeke waved a hand dismissively. "I figure we've got about half of Mara's trading posts by now. Add those to the islands we already snagged from Janus and we've got as much turf as the next King."
Shabina swallowed. "You're thinking too far ahead. We don't even know if we have them, let alone if we can keep them."
"That's up to the huntress," Zeke said. He dropped his gaze to the rifle he'd used as a paperweight for one of the larger maps.
Shabina took in a shaky breath and nodded, trying not to linger on the furious bite of Lin's last words to her. She had better things to do than mope.
Sure, she'd messed up spectacularly in one of the few areas she considered herself an expert in, but that was no reason to lose her composure. She closed her eyes and pressed her nails into the flesh of her palm.
"She'll get it done," Shabina said. "Mara's dead by now, of that I'm certain."
Zeke spread his arms, swinging his legs to the tiled floor and stirring up a puff of golden powder. "Then we've got nothing to worry about. No King means no orders, no orders means no organized counterattack."
"I'm still --"
"Come on, Shabina, have faith in us. We've got the numbers and the skill," Zeke leaned forward, "it can't be stopped now."
She nodded, eyes drifting away from him.
The Citadel was so quiet. The floors of civilians and soldiers had all emptied out, leaving only Shabina and the bare bones of her guards. Sitting there, in the garden with Zeke, it didn't feel much like a war. It felt like standing over a precipice.
