Jay Kristoff: Godsgrave

Harper Voyager

an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

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London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by Harper Voyager 2017

Copyright © Neverafter PTY LTD 2017

Cover Layout Design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Cover Illustration © Kerby Rosanes

All other images © Shutterstock.com

Jay Kristoff asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008180065

Ebook Edition © September 2017 ISBN: 9780008180058

Version: 2019-10-17

for my enemies

I couldn’t have done it without you

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Maps

Dramatis Personae

Epigraph

Book 1: The Red Promise

Chapter 1: Perfume

Chapter 2: Firemass

Chapter 3: Shadows

Chapter 4: Offering

Chapter 5: Devotion

Chapter 6: Mortality

Chapter 7: Hungers

Chapter 8: Prayers

Chapter 9: Stepping

Chapter 10: Secrets

Chapter 11: Thunder

Chapter 12: Epiphany

Book 2: Blood And Glory

Chapter 13: Egress

Chapter 14: Breathing

Chapter 15: Right

Chapter 16: Honey

Chapter 17: Stormwatch

Chapter 18: Gloria

Chapter 19: Yield

Chapter 20: Three

Chapter 21: Please

Chapter 22: Quiet

Chapter 23: Whitekeep

Chapter 24: Obsidian

Book 3: The Game

Chapter 25: Rot

Chapter 26: Silver

Chapter 27: Serving

Chapter 28: Scars

Chapter 29: Rise

Chapter 30: Interlude

Chapter 31: Truelight

Chapter 32: Gently

Chapter 33: Begin

Chapter 34: Magni

Chapter 35: Gone

Chapter 36: Godsgrave

Dicta Ultima

Acknowledgements

Bonus Content

An extract from DARKDAWN

Footnotes

About the Author

Also by Jay Kristoff

About the Publisher

Good turn to you, gentlefriends. It’s lovely to see you again.

I confess, I missed you in our time apart. And now, reunited, would that I could simply greet you with a smile, and let you be about the business of murder and revenge and occasional lashings of tastefully written smut. But before we slip back between the pages together, I should impart a warning true.

Memory is a traitor, and a liar, and a good-for-nothing thief. And though our drama’s cast is doubtless inked indelibly on your psyche, we must sometimes make allowances for the lesser among you mortals.

So, perhaps a refresher is in order?

Mia Corvere—assassin, thief, and heroine of our tale—if our tale can be said to have one at all. Her father, Darius, was executed under order of the Itreyan Senate and, vowing vengeance, she became a disciple of the Republic’s most feared cult of assassins, the Red Church.

Though she failed the Church’s trials, Mia was inducted as a Blade (aka assassin) after rescuing the Church’s ministry during an assault by Luminatii legionaries.

Mia is of mixed Itreyan-Liisian blood. She is also darkin—one who controls the darkness itself. She has little understanding of her powers, and the only other darkin she has ever met died before he could give her the answers she desired.

Tragic, I know.

Mister Kindly—a daemon, passenger, or familiar (depending on who one asks) made of shadows, who eats Mia’s fear. He saved her life as a child, and claims to know very little about his true nature, though he’s been known to lie from time to time.

He wears the shape of a cat, though he is nothing close to a cat at all.

Eclipse—another shadow daemon, who wears the guise of a wolf. Eclipse was passenger to Lord Cassius, former head of the Red Church. When Cassius died during the Luminatii assault, Eclipse bound herself to Mia instead.

Like most dogs and cats, she and Mister Kindly do not get along.

Old Mercurio—Mia’s trainer and confidant in the time before she joined the Red Church. Mercurio was a Church Blade himself for many years, but is now retired in Godsgrave. The old Itreyan runs a store named Mercurio’s Curios and serves as an information broker and talent scout for the servants of the Black Mother.

A grumpier old bastard was never found under any of the three suns.

Tric—an acolyte of the Red Church, also Mia’s friend and lover. Tric was of mixed Itreyan-Dweymeri heritage. He was poised to be inducted into the Blades, but Ashlinn Järnheim stabbed him repeatedly in the heart and pushed him off the side of the Quiet Mountain.

As a promise to Tric, Mia assassinated Tric’s grandfather, Swordbreaker, king of the Dweymeri Isles, after the boy’s death.

Which wasn’t all that sensible, when you think about it …

Ashlinn Järnheim—an acolyte of the Red Church and formerly one of Mia’s closest friends. Ash was born in Vaan, and is the daughter of Torvar Järnheim, a retired Blade of the Church. As vengeance for a maiming he received in the Mother’s service, he and his children hatched a plot that almost brought the entire Church to its knees, though their conspiracy was finally foiled by Mia.

Ash’s brother, Osrik, was killed in the process, but Ashlinn escaped.

Ash’s feelings about Mia are best described as … complicated.

Naev—a Hand (aka disciple) of the Red Church and close friend of Mia, who manages supply runs in the desolate Whisperwastes of Ashkah. Naev was disfigured by Weaver Marielle out of jealousy, but as reward for Mia’s assistance during the Luminatii assault, Marielle restored Naev’s former beauty.

Naev never forgets and never forgives—one of the reasons she and Mia get along.