Aj folded itself into lotus position

  closing its eyes as if to sleep.

  Its watchers severed every Thorn to this verse

  before they died.

  They relied on such primitive passages

  to and from.

  Aj did not.

  Without moving,

  it traveled.

  Leaving the crippled verse

  to die its slow death.

  At the far end of the trolley, Kass flirted with a gaggle of teenage girls who clearly had no idea what the mercenary was doing. A smattering of locals leaned at windows, napped, or chatted. Everyone left Adonissian alone at the front balcony railing to marinate in his failure, the wound Hassani's rejection left on his psyche, and his ever-deepening despair. Even his body felt it, an ache that sank straight down to his bones accompanied by a relentlessly-pounding headache.

  He felt like curling up and sobbing, but even if Kass didn't immediately abandon him in disgust, she'd never let him live it down. Ever.

  "It's stupid," he muttered, staring at the rapidly-approaching Jaxestack. Humid wind played with his hair. "You wouldn't have even gone after her if you weren't getting paid. No reason to beat yourself up."

  He'd told himself the same story over and over since they left Libriam behind, picked up a Stacks 'nail in Heaven's Tread, and journeyed here.

  Kass glanced over at him, winked, tilted her head back towards the prettiest girl, surreptitiously raised two fingers, wiggled them. Mouthing 'no' and shaking his head fit their repartee, but right now his heart wasn't in it any more than his focus was aligned as it should on the job they were here to do.

  When the trolley settled into the linehouse, he waited until everyone else cleared out before joining Kass in the whitewashed cavern.

  "We jumping right into work or we got a bit of time to kill?" Kass hefted her pack. "I think that one with the ribbons in her hair wants some Kass, even if she doesn't know she wants it yet."

  "We'll have our hands full enough kidnapping one kid, leave the other ones alone." Adonissian gathered his own belongings from beneath the trolley. "Besides, lot of Kin here. Everyone wearing swords to prove it might think they know how to use them."

  "Just because we're here to work don't mean I can't get my hands full first." Kass grinned as she groped Adonissian's chest. "Besides, if some angry father or husband draws on me you know I won't hurt them too badly."

  "Leave off." Adonissian slapped her hands away and marched towards the carved stone stairs.

  Kass caught up quickly. "Sheesh, wound up a bit? More than usual, I mean? Maybe should'a used that time alone at the front rail to relax. Course, with that wind you might've gotten a taste of yourself if you know what I mean."

  She tugged in front of her groin, threw her open hand forward, then slapped it onto her face.

  He wheeled on her as they reached the lazy street above. "Is everything sex to you?"

  "Naw," she said blandly. "There's some killing I enjoy now and again too. Fucking and fighting, that's a combination will keep you really livin' 'till you really don't."

  He scoffed and marched down the street.

  With her rangy lope she passed him easily, walking backwards as she talked. "Everything's supposed to be sex to you, remember? Your irresistible musk's why we get all the fun jobs."

  "You want me to seduce a little girl?"

  "Could be fun," Kass said, her smile wicked. "Most places you'd have to be rich and powerful as a Verser to be able to swing that and here you could be getting paid to do it. Probably easier work than trying to get, say, a highly trained Inviolate into your bed. Seems like an easy call to me."

  "They are all easy calls for you since I make all the hard ones." He abruptly turned down a side street, glaring at her as she loped to his side. "How you can make so light of everything is beyond me."

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "How you can be so damned moody and sullen when everyone in the Book is yours to dip your wick in is beyond me. If I had your gift, I'd live bed to bed, enjoying anything with two legs and no dicks." Kass eyed one-half of a passing couple.

  "It's not free, like you think," Adonissian said bitterly. "When it's done to you, you're little more than their slave from then on. Permanently. Forever."

  "Oh boohoo." Kass rubbed at her eyes, then hocked and spat. "I'm the one on the pointy end. When I go in to do my job, someone's probably going to die. I screw up, it's me. When you go in it's all smootchy-touch-and-grope and if you screw up you probably still got a good screw."

  "Enough talking about our jobs. Time to do them." He made a cutting motion as he stopped. "You'd never understand anyway."

  "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you're going soft on me." She grinned wickedly. "And you going soft is like me going around unarmed. Neither of us want that."

  "I said enough, Kassenia!"

  "Ooh, breaking out the full name to show you mean it."

  "Enough."

  Kass smirked, but finally shut up.

  The street broadened to a bright park ringed by small bakeries, restaurants, and shops. Every building wore clean whitewash. Dew glistened on the carefully tended greenery. A grumble from his stomach agreed with the local opinion that breakfast was nigh.

  "While you were off indulging yourself at that Broadcliff whorehouse, I asked around." He scanned slowly through the gathering flocks of lunch-seekers. "Hassani's husband, Denault, is a Jaxekin. Shipwright. Owns a fleet of ships dipping for the pure watter far below the water."

  Kass whistled. "Gotta be some currency to be made in that."

  Adonissian nodded. "This being the Jaxekin's semi-private stack, Denault being one of them doesn't help much for finding him, but their daughter has the Pale like Jaxe himself. That's easier."

  Kass nodded, annoying him by hooking her arm in his. Their perusing stroll among the mostly-dark-skinned locals led them past food carts, soup shops, bread ovens, and ale stoops before they turned to wander the gravel paths and grassy knolls of the small park. Gorgeous barely did the day justice. Bright, warm sunshine gleaming off the local's smiles. A cool yet strangely-zesty breeze blowing up off the watter-rich ocean. Nary a crawling Wretch or starving menial in sight.

  "There." Kass nodded casually through the wide-swung shutters of a bustling sweet shop.

  Adonissian paused to examine a frosted confection laid out on a silver windowsill platter, eyes covertly flicking up. Though he'd never seen Jaxe, everyone knew about the Dynast's unique, alabaster skin. The little girl hopping up and down as her father handed her a rock sugar unmistakably shared the trait.

  An expensive Sect pet curled about her neck like a living collar as the girl sucked on the sugary bit. A long-sleeved dress and a sturdy bonnet covered her in spite of the warmth. Her father turned their direction and Adonissian quickly looked beyond and waved to an imaginary person somewhere past the man to hide that he'd been staring.

  "See anything you like?" Adonissian glanced down at the array of cakes and candies.

  "Depends on whether I'm paying for it myself like the whore house," Kass growled, wiping filthy hands on a dirty tunic before picking up a berry cluster joined with glaze.

  "We're working so it's on the budget." Adonissian dug into his pack to produce a few dull coins.

  "In that case, I'll take the whole thing." Kass set the berries down and lifted the whole platter.

  Adonissian shook his head. "Try to blend in at least a little."

  Denault wore a colorful array of bruises and swellings, all shades of purple and yellow and red. The stiffness of his movement spoke of more beneath his robes.

  "What do you make of him?"

  "Broken nose, probably a rib or four. Doesn't know how to use that fancy sword he wears. " Kass talked without even looking up, busy digging out a stained square of cloth and proceeding to transfer as much of the platter's contents into it as possible. "Someone tried to stomp some sense into or coin out of him I'd say. Whoever did it was probably being nice or he'd be dead instead."

  "Remind me never to ask you to be nice to me." Adonissian stepped into the confectioner's to purchase Kass's trove and take a closer look at their mark.

  "Wouldn't think of it."

  Underneath all the damage, the man seemed decently attractive. More than most of Adonissian's jobs. Like many of the darker-skinned locals, he shared Jaxe's barrel-chested frame, though his stretched taller and leaner. By his refined posture, his subtle nods to passing notables, and his disdainful avoidance of anyone beneath him, he fit the full bill as the haughty, snooty sort. In contrast, every look at his freakishly pale-skinned daughter told Adonissian he genuinely doted on the little girl.

  Knowing that didn't make anything easier.

  After waiting in line to pay - and watching Denault surreptitiously the whole time - they slipped down a quiet side street. Adonissian handed Kass a couple coins, dumped his pack and instrument case at her feet, and began running in place. His tired, aching body protested the effort. "Take these and find a place to stay. You know the drill."

  Kass grinned as she took the coins. "A place for me or for both of us? How much you trust your mojo?"

  "Completely until Hassani, mostly since. Get room for two just in case."

  "Never going to try to violate an Inviolate again, eh?" She said, grinning as she gathered up his stuff. "Can I stay and learn the secrets of seduction or is jumping around in an alley pretty much it?"

  "Shut up and go."

  "I better before I get too turned on."

  She hefted his belongings to even their weight on her shoulders with a grunt, then set off whistling off-tune as he worked up a sweat. Becoming a Phero did nothing to make him smell better to himself, unfortunately. Once satisfied, he strolled into the park after his mark in search of an opportune moment.

  It came in response to a rush of childish enthusiasm as the little girl darted off after a chittering, arboreal rodent. Denault turned to watch her race around the critter's tree as it barked at her. Adonissian casually wandered closer. When it became obvious the irate rodent wouldn't come down, the girl ran back a few steps, dropped her 'pillar, cried out, and dropped to retrieve it from the lawn.

  Adonissian slowed his pace to adjust his timing. He cleared his throat, rubbing it to relieve the tightness and soreness.

  "Come back to me, my Avani! One pet is enough." Denault laughed and turned to continue down the path as she scooped up the 'piller and ran to him. At that moment, Adonissian collided hard enough to knock he and Denault sprawling.

  "How clumsy of me, I failed to see you there entirely." Adonissian widened his eyes as he jumped to his feet. "My most sincere apologies!"

  "I should have been paying better attention." Denault winced in pain as Avani rushed to his side, desperate with concern as she tried to help him up.

  Adonissian cursed himself for forgetting about the ribs. Sloppy. Denault took his extended hand, however, and between Adonissian and Avani they got him upright.

  Adonissian picked leaves off Denault. "There we are, good as gold."

  Denault appraised him critically, then looked surprised, confused, or perhaps ashamed. "Indeed, all is well it seems. Enjoy the day."

  Denault took Avani's hand and hustled off.

  Long experience told Adonissian his success or failure hinged on what happened next. Slipping out of sight behind a small grove of white-barked trees, Adonissian watched carefully, clenching a branch tightly as if holding it might grant some control over the man's response.

  "Yes," he hissed, releasing the branch and slumping against the tree in relief. "There it is."

  Just before leaving the park, Denault paused to fuss with his daughter's dress. That in itself meant nothing. The quick, perplexed, searching look scanning the park behind him, however, told Adonissian exactly what he needed to know.

  He whistled as he strolled off in search of Kass, surprised at the extent of his relief. Hassani's rejection shook him even harder than he'd thought.

  "Still got it."

  Next Chapter: Aida finally gets a bit of a vacation. Emphasis on "a bit"

  Characters and terms

  Characters (alphabetical)

  Adonissian: a Phero who poses as a travelling musician

  Aida: MC.

  Aj: a long-slumbering, powerful being which annihilated Inro's Sunset Legions. Also "almost destroyed the Dynasty single-handedly six-and-some centuries ago"

  Arca: chief of the tribe that "adopted" Inro

  Audits/"Diggers": Libriam internal affairs

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  "Braid"; a thug who accosted Aida in Jadeye

  Deai: Hassani's swordmaster, renowned for killing a Paragon

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Eth: a young Imminent

  Ghillie: a 3rd Feral who wears a primitive Ghillie suit. Carries cross between kunai and acupuncture needles

  Goboro: a fat, amiable scribe friend of Hassani's in Libriam

  Fallon: Aida's Seneschal

  Fetriene: Ocyl's soresearer

  Hassani: Inviolate agent of the Black Court, sent by Fractious Fraction?

  Inro: Dynast formerly ruling Sunset

  Izbali: a silent tribal shaman

  Janali: Ocyl's elegant Seneschal

  Jaxe: Dynast of Stacks. "Young", wealthy. Also has "the Pale" (an Albino)

  Kass/Kassenia: mercenary attached to Adonissian

  Ocyl: Dynast of Heaven's Tread, powerful and unpredictable

  Parathas: Aida's skinscribe. Also a mountaineer.

  Reck: Dynast of Chalk, "not witty enough to be clever and takes himself too seriously to be ironic"

  Rega: Inro's sister, Dynast

  Rustrovan/"Rusty": Eth's old, gap-toothed skinscribe

  Ryk:?

  Sava: Dynast of Libriam

  Venner: Grandmaster of Optimimes in Jadeye, "best in the entire Book"

  Wake: Dynast of Graves, marries even though they all die

  The Fallen

  Feral: a bone-masked woman of violence (Feral) in Aida's service. Knife wielder. Killed by Ghillie in Jadeye.

  "Toothy": leader of a group of thugs who accosted Aida in Heaven's Tread. Killed by Feral in Jadeye

  Valeer: a mentally challenged, unkempt individual able to manipulate Thorns. Died in Jadeye to "Braid".

  White Spiral: an older Feral in Aida's service. Archer. Died protecting Aida in Jadeye

  Terms (alphabetical)

  All, The: ?

  Ancients: a major Dynastic Chapter, an "elite number"

  Anchorites: individuals capable of creating anchor points affixed to nothing.

  Annalis compound: sprawling complex in Libriam, heart of The Book's bureaucracy. Arrivals 'Dirt' home to new dispatches, Archives 'Dust' storage for old material. Paths and Ways storage for 'nails.

  Arborian: gardeners from Groves?

  Ascen, The/The Ascendant: divinities "watching over every verse"?

  Assessor: census-taker

  Aze: swordmaker?

  Black Court: a realm of pure darkness. Also, those who rule there. Where Partaking happens.

  Blood, The: imbibed at Partaking, transforms one into a Dynast if they survive

  Book of Verses, The: the 1,000 verses ruled by the Dynasty. "Kiloverse"

  Broadcliff, Tallmarket: cities in Stacks

  Century Thread: additional threads appearing elsewhere on the body every century a Dynast lives

  Cerebrist: creator of slavants

  Chalk/"Vistas": verse entirely made of chalky cliff, belongs to Reck

  Chant, The/Sacrosanct Chant: some sort of law in the Dynasty?

  Chant of Innoculation: chant supposed to protect against disease

  Chapters: power groupings among the Dynasts of the Book: predominantly The Ancients, the Fractious Fraction, and Isolates.

  Circular Sea: an ocean abutting the Jadeye segment of Heaven's Tread

  Clock Priest: priests from Gears?

  ConMach: convoy?

  Crowmen: buy corpses to return them to life and service as rotters

  Cupola Thorn: the main Thorn in the city Jadeye in Heaven's Tread, a stone dome built over it

  Currence: something valuable inside old coins?

  Current: some form of energy that powers "artifices"?

  Dusa: people with manipulable hair of silver wire, from Gears

  Dynast: individual given rule of a verse if they survive Partaking. Ageless and hard to kill. Regenerative. Sustained by "the Blood"; no food or water necessary.

  Dynasty: the Dynasts who rule the Book

  Ebon: founder of the Dynasty and Black Court

  Ebonese: the language of the Book

  Echoseer shells: devices to allow one to "see" in the Black Court

  El: semi-insubstantial snake/remora-like creatures that follow gods (and sometimes Dynasts) around

  Feral: bone-masked bodyguards who require the essence of their master to survive. "Damned to Ferals" as a form of capital punishment. "the damned", "damned to a Feral"

  Fetalist: Imminent faction who believe the future is unchangeable

  First Thread/Primus: a fresh Dynast/the first luminescent silver thread etched into their foreheads.

  Fractious Fraction/"DissatisFaction": a major Dynastic Chapter who "hate everyone including each other"

  Gates, The: ?

  God, A: unique, "undying" creatures of immense size, The First Ones

  God's Rote: child's first memorization, what gods are

  God-dwellers: "monks" who live on a god

  Gonist: organ dealers and traders

  Gons: self-sustaining organs capable of living outside a host

  Graves: a verse "Made of the dead by the dead for the dead".

  Heaven's Tread: a verse "inside a hollow rolling pin", host to Jadeye, the largest city in the Book

  High Parser: officials from Ink

  Imminent: seers?

  Inevitables; faction of Imminent who believe it is their sacred duty to ensure the future comes to pass as seen

  Ink: home verse of the Skeinry and Keens

  Innoculist: doctors?

  Inviolate: agents of the black court who "serve the Black Court, protect the Dynasty, uphold the Chant, root out corruption."

  Inviolate Vial: carried by Inviolates as badge of office

  Iode: substance that ignites when crushed

  Iris: the giant portals leading between one cylinder of Heaven's Tread to the next

  Isolates: a major Dynastic Chapter with a "unified stand for independence"

  Jade Eye, The: the "giant emerald" at the middle of Ocyl's Spire in Jadeye

  Jadeye: the largest city in the Book and major trade hub, in Heaven's Trade

  Jaxeday: holiday in Stacks with boat carvings, feasts, games of Fishhead, dances, and storytelling

  Jaxestack: a whitewashed stack on Stacks home to Jaxekin

  Jutland Reach: a verse with guns?

  Keen: Ink warriors wearing impossibly-heavy iron armor whose power source drains color from the area about it.

  Kin: descendants of a Dynast

  Kiss, The: ?

  Letch: sect bred leech-like creature designed to stop bleeding on wounds

  Libriam: a swampy verse home to the Annalis, heart of The Book's bureaucracy

  Libwe: tribe possessing the "holy" Limn clay bed.

  Limn: "infused clay" bearing some sort of internal power, used by Ebon to found the Dynasty

  Lineage: ?

  Linemen: workers on the Stacks trolleys who pull the cars along the lines

  Logos: ?

  Machine Curse: ?

  Mancers: ?

  Menial: common folk

  Molt: person able to shed skins (see skins)

  Mon, The: ?

  Mourne, The: something dangerous that lurks in the Vale, "the why we do not tarry"

  Mune: someone from the Collective on Dost?

  Nameday: when children are named

  Ocyl's Preserve: a garden "beyond the Circular Sea" in Heaven's Tread?

  Ocyl's Spire: the tower home to the court of Ocyl, Dyanst of Heaven's Tread

  One-Eighth Shithole: Aida's verse. Unfortunately. A desolate place home to volcanoes and a giant dead turtle

  Optomime: gadgeteer

  Pale, The: light-skinned people, conquered by Ebon during the founding of the Dynasty. Alternately, albinism

  Paragon: warrior who can see the future

  Partaking: the ritual that creates Dynasts (or kills those who try). Performed by some unknown, large creature in the Black Court.

  Phero: Lineage whose scent creates overwhelming attraction

  'pillar: fuzzy Sect-bred giant caterpillar pet

  Porcelain Guard: Ocyl's white-masked Ferals

  Pure Priest of the Ascen: priests?

  Reachers: massive, Sect-bred creatures that direct traffic and rescue unfortunates in the Sighted Path in Jadeye

  Reconquest: time four-hundred years ago when Inro "drove [tribals] back into civilization's fold at spear point"

  Rotters: sack-clothed, crudely-masked 'zombies' uses as pack-beasts and simple laborers. Created/sold by Crowmen.

  Royal Strider: giant striders which carry carriages of the wealthy slung underneath them

  Sect, The: breeders of useful insectoid- and/or sauroid-like creatures

  Seericide: seers capable of Knowing everything as they die

  Seneschal: chief servant of a Dynast, bear permanent strings allowing them to speak and understand any language

  Sighted Path: the zero-g road down the center of Heaven's Tread

  Sixth Tier Rebellion: last major uprising, in Ziggurat a century ago

  Skeinry: iron-plated communication centers where Skeiners translate vibrations sent by wyre from other verses

  Skin/Hollow: animate skin of a molt able to move, talk, and share snatches of its experience with its molt

  Skinlife: living tattoos

  Skinscribe: individuals brailled with lore, walking libraries

  Slavant: an individual who "loses much" to be implanted with an ability

  Soresearer: individuals capable of "healing" by cauterizing wounds with their hands

  Stacks: An ocean verse comprised of tall pillars jutting up from the seas. Trolleys run on long ropes between them "affixed by Anchorites to airy nothing"

  Striders: "stilt-legged gray-skinned insect-lizard"s used as fast mounts, large enough to carry several riders

  Strings: worn or implanted wire devices that translate speech

  Subterrane, The: travel route accessed by Ebon via Limn?

  Sunset: the verse where Aj was 'contained', formerly protected by Dynast Inro. The "Prison of Prisons"

  Sunset Legions/Vault Legions: Inro's Legions, wiped out by Aj in Sunset

  Surgon: person able to remove organs

  Terminus:a verse?

  Thorn: huge, curling thorns which Valeers can use as gateways to the Vale, doorways between verses. Grow into verses over centuries

  Thrum: guide in the Black Court

  Twine: "one soul threaded through two bodies"

  Unkillable Swordsman: a Paragon killed by Deia long ago

  Vale: "The Place Between". A realm of high-contrast black and white full of thorns and Thorns.

  Valeer: people capable of activating Thorns, barely functional of anything else

  Valeer's 'nail: crystals containing wafers that allow travel within the Vale to specific verses without a Valeer

  Venger: muscle man?

  Verse: a pocket universe or world

  Verser Lord/Lady: agents of an individual Dynast who rule part of a verse at the whim of their Dynast

  Vibrant: color-changing individuals from Ink?

  Watter: an energetic liquid

  Wicker Way: towers of stone, wood, and rope that connect opposite far sides of Jadeye

  World Spear: an immense stack on Stacks

  Wretch: untouchables forced to walk on all fours, "the human refuse that cleans up the literal waste piles"

  Wyres: lines run through the Vale between verses that allow communication between

  Ziggurat: the verse basing the Legions