Complete companion novel
The Reaper of the Fulcrum
Nyala has carried Ophidia for ninety-three years. She knows the scythe’s weight better than she knows the woman inside it.
She likes her contracts clear and her private life left alone. Most people take the hint. Kiva, a stubborn runner with questions Nyala would rather not answer, keeps turning up anyway.
Across the Aerie, dungeon gates are reporting that everything is safe. The readings are wrong. Nyala has spent a century surviving things other people don’t, but the city is becoming harder to protect—and, inconveniently, she’s getting attached to the people in it.
Back home, a small spirit beast has claimed her windowsill. It has never asked permission for anything. She finds this considerably easier to deal with than people.
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Before you start
You can begin here without reading The Talker. Nyala's story runs for 24 chapters and opens a thread that continues in the wider world. Expect disaster response, violence, grief, and a difficult bond between two people who have spent a long time keeping their distance.
From Chapter 1
Stone Snow
Saffron Steps had a way of making you hungry and sick at the same time.
Hot oil, old rope, crushed citrus, wet timber. Someone down the row was burning sugar again, trying to sell candied peel to people who were already half broke and fully stubborn. A fly kept landing on Kiva Fen's ear. She swatted it. Missed. It came back like it paid rent.