sovereign_of_wrath

Sovereign of Wrath Ch168: Spine

Bourick’s shop was proof the old smith was doing great business. Not a line out the door—a smithy was hardly the type of place for crowds like that. Rather, the inside of his shop that I’d previously thought so large was a lot smaller with half a dozen people crowded inside.

The smith himself was currently helping someone else, but I noticed his eyes move to me as my entrance jangled the bell over the door. That I was a head taller than anyone else in the shop probably al...

Scales & Shadows Ch51: Issa's Plan

I was too tired to appreciate the opulence of Sire’s wing of the Emerald Palace. I was too exhausted to pay attention to the conversation humming around me; too out-of-sorts to do anything other than mumble.

The first room I was shown with a bed—a massive pile of fluffy pillows and blankets and dimly shining silk, stuffed with what had to have been not-cold clouds—I slithered into and collapsed. Not dramatically; I just coiled up and closed my eyes. The last moments before sleep t...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch167: Enchanted Fixtures

“Not at all!” Countess Elstein replied.

I bit my lip. Some part of me was really hoping she’d say “no.” It wasn’t going to happen; she was going to be interested in my symbol—had already shown interest.

And so, I  needed to think on my feet. Well, actually I’d had plenty of time to think earlier, but I hadn’t. Thankfully, Countess Elstein seemed content to work on, measuring and humming and scratching notes down.

Originally, I’d just intended to tell...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch166: Noble Proposal

Like the last time, King Carvalon and I were alone in his throne room. And also like last time, he wore neat, elegant clothing that very nearly understated his title with a lack of pomp.

Cold blue eyes met mine, and he smiled. Or, he made a smile—the look had a carefully practiced ambiguity to it that served to snap my attention fully on him. This was a man who’d spent decades pretending to be a vapid dullard, and was now a reasonably well-liked, but draconian king.

The proble...

Scales & Shadows Interlude 6: Burdens of Power

Jii’Hssen Ssyii watched her nieces and sister leave her terrace; the moment they left, she heaved a sigh. The day had gone very nearly as wrong as was possible, and it was Issa’s fault for losing control.

But… she couldn’t blame the girl—wouldn’t blame her. Ssyii bounced between blaming Lyantii and Tyaniis, coiling alone at the table, staring at the closed tome and empty plates that had been left in the chaos. Eventually, she settled on blaming herself.

The Jii’Hssen...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch165: Sisters Again

A/N: PDFs for the chapters that are missing them are attached to this post!

The next day and a half were different. Warmth had returned to Kartania in a way I couldn’t really describe. My sister talked more, and we reminisced about old adventures.

And about Abby.

My sister and I hadn’t really spoken about her since we’d reunited. She was a sort of missing presence. There, through me, in some small way, but a notable physical void. The perso...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch164: Gifts Ungiven

A/N: PDFs for the last few chapters are coming this weekend hopefully. I'm still swamped and frazzled, but getting things under control. I'm also intending to make up the missed SoW chapter when I can.

The next morning, Seyari and Joisse left early. I watched the pair fly away into the white sky, Seyari carrying our daughter like I’d carried her not so long ago.

“It looks like snow,” Kartania said quietly, after the pair had become nothing more tha...

Sovereign of Wrath Interlude: Changing Times

Sonia stepped around another puddle as she followed quietly behind Inva. The paladin in full armor wasn’t exactly quiet herself, but the dark pressure of Lockmoth’s sewers seemed to force the demon-blooded priestess into quietude.

Behind her, the last two members of their group trodded carefully, Firalex and Priest Herron. Somewhere else Drin and Tren were leading the city guard in a pincer. From what the Gelles Company boss had said, this reminded them of an autumn night with Zaren...

Scales & Shadows Ch50: Hssen pt. 3

Hssen Zaiia’s entrance was… bombastic. Pompous. And a bunch of other words that Phaeliisthia had taught me. But more importantly than that, it was awkward. Almost as one, and not entirely from a lack of surprise, my sisters and our aunt looked up from the tome at the array of armed taaniir and one well-dressed hssen.

Hssen Zaiia Ssyri’Jiilits looked a lot like her daughter, Deziiya. Kelaniel, and I assumed ra’zhii, the woman coiled before us was nearly Sire’s size. He...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch163: (Not a) Leisure Trip

We didn’t get back to camp until evening–later than intended. Returning through the snow-laden trees to sit by a crackling fire and talk about our days felt… right. I’d been on the road for so long some of it had probably gotten in my veins.

I’d heard plenty about how the sea could do that to a sailor. Only made sense that a wanderer on the land could have that same sort of familiarity and comfort in a frigid, wet evening camped on hard, uncomfortable ground with nary a bath i...

Erika's Books (Urban Fantasy Pilot)

Hi folks! For those of you not on the discord, turns out the sick my friends gave me was COVID. Glad for vaccines, but it still KO'd me for a couple days. As a result, while I wrote a little yesterday, and will be writing more today, I've missed posts. Teeechnically I only promised 1 post between the 14th and 21st, but yeah not gonna use that excuse.

The next S&S post is half finished, and I can hopefully get SoW out t...

2023-09-20 14:21:56 +0000 UTC View Post

Sovereign of Wrath Ch162: Winter Whirlwind

A/N: Hi all! Hiatus is (probably) over! I did manage to get sick, so we'll see if the weekend clears that up. Anywho, no PDF for this post as I don't have access to Word for an easy conversion. Expect it next week sometime.

Sey gave me no warning. The moment we’d passed below the ridge and entered the gentle slope of the valley floor, perhaps half a kilometer from the others, she struck.

Faster than a human, and much faster than before, she ...

A Quick Vacation Announcement

Just in case folks here haven't seen on the discord, I'm going to be visiting family and friends from today until the 23rd. There'll still be at least a post for each story during this time, as I plan to be writing especially after the 13th. I was hoping to have today and tomorrow's posts finished as well, but the prep kinda snuck up on me.

-Maxine

Sovereign of Wrath Ch161: Magic Slingshot

The trip to the bar that night warmed my sister up a little, especially once Taava had embarrassed me enough that the anxiety of the room had morphed into curious camaraderie. Who wouldn’t take a chance to drink with the marchioness?

Unfortunately, Tania’s staunch defense of inhibitions led us to an early exit, and the rest of the evening took place in the castle. Awake, alert, and damnably sober I put together a list of things to do.

Smaller things, like refurbishing...

Scales & Shadows Ch49: Done Hiding

Up close, Aunt Ssyii was more… mortal. More of a person, even than when she’d coiled at the table with us. I still stiffened when she pulled me closer with one of her lower arms, the other two holding the book. Ssiina jumped a little as well, clearly not used to familial contact from the Jii’Hssen.

Kyrae stayed next to me until, at a gesture and with a shifting of scales, she took a position seated on one immense loop of polished emerald scales. Together, we squinted down...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch160: Within/Without

We didn’t leave the castle until the day after the next. All the while, I pored over ledgers and skimmed old books. Seyari “advised” as she put it, which mostly meant sitting around and complaining that she couldn’t go out flying. I asked her why she didn’t just go, and she glared at me, punctuating the expression with an eyeroll at how I could possibly miss something so obvious.

While I did see my daughter and sister, the former was more curious about Seyari’s transformatio...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch159: Accelerated Learning

A/N: This is just another note that I'm going to be away on vacation visiting family and friends for a lot of the middle of September. I will be writing some, and posting when I can, but I can't guarantee anything consistent after the end of next week. Most likely, I'll be out the week of the 10th.

By the time we returned, the sun had dipped low enough that the nearby peaks cast the valley in shadow. Light snow fell from pale, pristine clouds. Sey danced in ...

Scales & Shadows Ch48: Hssen pt. 2

“Coil, and sit. Make yourselves comfortable,” the Jii’Hssen said with a faint hint of a smile. “Whatever we say here will not leave this room.”

Room? The place was half-outside. More than, in fact.

The errant thought caught me off guard, and I was the last to coil up. I glanced at where we’d come from—a simple, unadorned door. A closed door. No Kyen, no Lissti, and no Dyni.

Even if she was my aunt, the Jii’Hssen was still… intimidating. 2023-08-29 04:28:15 +0000 UTC View Post

Sovereign of Wrath Interlude: Lockmoth, too

“And you think a demon’s behind this?”

Sonia nodded. “Perhaps not directly, sir, but it would explain the nature of the killings—”

“Could explain the nature of the killings.” Captain Lorton leaned back in his chair and sighed. “But I’m going to need something more to go on—and believe me, I’ve tried.”

“Have you tried checking auras?” Inva asked. She then took a moment to translate for Sonia, just in case.

“Yes, and we’ve found...

Scales & Shadows Ch47: Stone & Steam

Kyen and Lissti were surprisingly polite as they herded us each onto massage platforms and onto our stomachs. Below, warmed grooves in the stone floor seemed to guide my lower body into a comfortably loose coil. I looked forward, at the serpent heads spewing water into the main bath, and only now noticed their eyes glinted with very real emeralds.

I’m about to get a massage in the Emerald Palace of all places. Never mind the fact that I was awkwardly comfortable with the idea...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch158: The Stars are Nice

A/N: There's an author note here just because the first line of this chapter contains significant spoilers, and it might show when I post the release on discord. Other than that, the chaos that has been the past... August actually... for me is dying down. I'll be on break for a good chunk of the middle of September, but I'm hoping to take the next couple weeks and get ahead enough to schedule things. Anyway, hope all you fine folks are having wonderful days!

Scales & Shadows Ch46: Hssen pt. 1

Phaeliisthia’s descent into Ess’Sylantziis was met with a whirlwind of activity from those on the ground. Out from the Emerald Palace, taaniir in shining armor slithered in an orderly fashion, led by multiple taanzh. At the front, and whose green-plumed helmet glittered with more than just metal, an utaan moved confidently. A general of the Royal Guard—perhaps the general. Did Sire summon them?

While their appearance unsettled me, I could, even from a great height, tell t...

Release Schedule Poll

Hiya folks!

A little late, but here's the promised poll. I wanted to ask you, my patrons, how you'd feel about releases moving to 1 post per story per week, but with a focus on longer posts. Not necessarily double-sized, but 4k-5k words as average. Posts would be on Thursday/Friday.

One advantage of this is obviously in my own organization so I'm not running a razor's edge all the time. Another advantage is that I can once again do some amount of side content and Patreon polls. I'...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch157: To Dust

A/N: I've had a hectic week to put it mildly. I posted on discord that Scales & Shadows would be skipping this week, but I hadn't posted here. I also missed putting up the poll yesterday. I'll try to get that up this weekend. At least SoW is on time!

Seyari was fast, but I was faste—

How is she still gaining speed?!

My heart swelled at the sight of my now-wife soaring through the skies with all the grace childhood me would e...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch156: Vow

A/N: I'm really happy with this chapter! And following it, I'll be posting a poll tomorrow, asking about moving both S&S and SoW to 1/week, allowing for longer chapters (and a longer soft min length) and also allowing for some amount of side content and Patron interactivity in said side content. If you have any thoughts about that, let me know in the comments, in a DM, or on Discord!

I swallowed nervously and nodded to my sister. For a brief moment, the ...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch155: Marchioness

I didn’t look down, but I heard High Priest Grants land. There was no scream. No fanfare.

And when I dared to look, I saw his broken body lying motionless in the mud and snow, neck bent at an impossible angle.

He’d fallen between Kartania, Seyari, and the church forces, and for this brief moment, the fighting had stopped as everyone stared at the body on the ground.

Sorry Yevon. Guess I screwed things up, huh?

I wanted to cry and roar in equal measure. I w...

Scales & Shadows Ch45: Into the Fire

“Finality is boring. Leave every door open.”

—Uru Farlight

“I guess this really is goodbye,” Ssiina said sadly, tracing her hand along one of the roots outside our old hollow.

Kyrae giggled, but there was a melancholy to the sound. “You make it sound like we’re parting from each other.”

Ssiina blushed and flicked her tongue out quickly. “Well, it’s just that this place is really important.”

Scales & Shadows I5: Bitter Tea

Dyni relaxed her lower body a little, feeling her scales slide against familiar, plush fabric. The half of the lavish room she coiled in was dark, save for moonlight that filtered in through the slats of one closed shutter. The other shutter was open, and moonlight poured in, bathing the room in pale white light.

The bodyguard glanced at the door to her mistress’s chambers that lay undisturbed behind her. Mistress Tyaniis was away tonight on business. Not the sort of business Dyni her...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch154: Mettle

Kartania, Seyari, and I hurried out of Castle Astrye. Truthfully, for the situation, we didn’t look terribly unofficial. Kartania certainly had the most imperious air about her, wearing full plate armor and a red and white tabard. That she had donned it made me nervous, but at the same time the decision fit her personality a little too well: a nice, thick shell on the outside.

Seyari and I wore company uniforms, and she’d managed to style her hair into something that looked convinci...

Scales & Shadows I4: Winds of Change

A/N: I apologize for missing the last chapter, but the week got hectic. Anyway here's this bang on time and there's another shorter (but very cool) interlude tomorrow. Next main chapter forecast for Thursday with a slight change of Friday evening.

Phaeliisthia felt the pair of hssen leave her estate. A quick thought later, and two small birds of light flew out after them, invisible against the sky. One would go to a servant of hers near where their ship was....