Let the Forge Countdown Begin! One Month!

Out August 8/13, 2019!

Good morning, dear readers! One month from today, Forge will be released to the wilds. Let the countdown begin! I cannot wait for y'all to get to read it. To begin the countdown, I wanted to give y'all a treat: the first chapter* of Forge!


Needless to say, there are massive spoilers for both Shatter and Render below. YOU WERE WARNED.

Chapter One 

“My son is dead.”

Eli Westington nodded. “Yes. Nikolais is dead.”

The warehouse district along the western docks of Lanvirdis, the capital of Nabos, was empty this late at night. So was the alley where the two men talked. Shadows cast by gas lights and a dilapidated roof partially hid the face of the older man standing in front of Eli. His sandy blond hair was woven with silver. He had the look of a Mergorian, sturdily built with rough, heavy features and pale skin. 

The man nodded, once. As if determining the impact of a lost shipment of iron. Irritated by the loss, but weighing how much would be required to balance the scales.

Gratien Baudin, the Head of House Nightmist, was a cold man.

Eli would never understand the Merchant Houses. The loss of his son should be met with disbelief, grief, horror, rage. Not calculations.

The memory of Faela Durante standing over him like a vengeful god of the Salju snows and ice flashed in his mind. He flexed his hand. Its newly grown bones ached. Several Tereskan healers had worked an entire day to repair what Faela had crushed beneath her boot.

Baudin finally asked, “How?”

Not who. That would have been Eli’s first question. Then again, he wasn’t an assassin. “Gunshot.”

Baudin’s wiry eyebrows shadowed his green eyes. Mouth a tight line. “Evensong.”

Who else? “That is where he died, yes.”

Baudin pinned Eli with a gaze. “Tomas Segar promised us Evensong if I sent my son to seduce the Durante witch. My son did his job. He secured a blood claim to Evensong. But the child is dead.”

Eli felt grieved at the mention of Faela’s son. That was an appropriate response, he thought, at the death of a child. But Eli had done what was required. The few for the many. Tomas Segar, Scion of the Daniyelan Order, the keeper of the flame of justice, would save this world from itself.

“Now,” Baudin continued, “my son is also dead, and we are no closer to acquiring Evensong. An alliance with the Daniyelans has yet to benefit my House.”

And there it was. Not an outright accusation, but close enough. Tomas had feared this reaction. “Master Baudin, you will have it. In order to deliver you Evensong, we must ensure the Durantes lose support within their own House, so the rest of Evensong views them as too tainted by controversy to govern.”

Baudin studied Eli. “I presume your Scion already has a plan in mind.”

“Rafaela is a Gray, a heretic. She—”

“The religious spats of your Orders don’t concern me.” His eyes hardened. “And the rest of the Houses will not care.”

 Eli swallowed back his admonition. He shouldn’t antagonize the man. The death of Nikolais Baudin had been unforeseen, and Tomas needed Nightmist’s loyalty. “She orchestrated the murders of the Nikelan Scion and her Grier as well as the massacre at the Tereskan Temple. She did so by making an alliance with Irondawn.”

Baudin grunted his disbelief. “That’s a lot of work for one woman.” He paused. “Although, she is the great-granddaughter of Hugo Durante.” Anger sparked in his eyes at the name. Eli dimly recalled some old dispute between Evensong and Nightmist instigated by Hugo Durante. Baudin looked down, thoughtful. Then his head snapped up in realization. “You want us to make a claim for Evensong.” His eyes narrowed. “How?”

Eli smiled, pleased. “We require your House’s specialized skill set. Two men must never stand trial, and there cannot be a whisper of our involvement. When it is done, Tomas Segar, Scion of the Daniyelan Order, will tell the world that Rafaela Durante and House Evensong are responsible. In Judgment he will revoke the Durante family’s claim to Headship and appoint you as interim Head as Rafaela’s father-in-law.”

“The quarry?” Baudin asked.

“Phineas Greyson and Gifford Beale, they await trail for colluding with Rafaela and her dissidents in the murders of the Nikelan leaders and attempted murder of the Daniyelan Scion.”

Baudin crossed his thick arms across his chest. “You want my House to assassinate the king and high minister of Nabos.”

“Then Evensong is yours.”

Baudin extended his hand to Eli which Eli took. Orange bands of fire twined up their arms. Baudin looked in his eyes. “House Nightmist will see justice done.”

The wording surprised Eli. He never would have thought Nightmist, or any Merchants, were concerned with justice. The fire fell into ash. Binding them both to this path.

Neither saw the man with glowing golden eyes, cloaked in the shadows, retreat.

*If you've read the first chapter from the end of Render, this is obviously not that chapter. That chapter got scrapped because I cut the plot arc it began. Trust me when I say this is vastly better. Enjoy the old chapter as a what-might-have-been, a blue glimpse of a possible future that never came to be.