Joselyn Fear

Let’s see…this Ten can go on the Valet of Clovers, which frees the Seven of Pikes… The din and bustle of debutantes and their families had become increasingly audible through the open window of Francesca’s infirmary room as the morning progressed. The nurse, Sister Martha, had informed Francesca when she…

“You know as well as I do, Dr. Sorcer-Anderson, that curses draw power from attempts made to avoid them,” Charlotte awoke to hushed, urgent conversation in the next room. “If we teach Charlotte to face this part of herself, to lean into the fire, as it were, it might–”…

The persistent clatter of the novice’s typing at her ordi. The growl of arctic-cold air from the vent just above the uncushioned wooden bench on which Charlotte and her parents were waiting. The aggravated buzz of the overhead fluorescent tube lights, the sharp tick of the wall clock’s needle-thin arm…

The thick bump of passengers stepping off the gangway gradually spun itself into seven roughly-threaded lines leading to individual booths, each with a sign declaring a segment of the Atroscan alphabet (used by Langue Céleste, Alban, and most other languages in that part of the world). “They are probably organized…

Sigrid resisted the urge to scratch herself all over. The itchiness would pass soon, or rather, she would become reaccustomed to the sensation of fabric on furless skin and the irritation would fade to a vague discomfort on the edge of her awareness, ignorable if not tolerable. She silently berated…

Charlotte Anderson stood at the bow of the ferry L’Étoile Guidante, her gaze fixed on the Collège des Sœures Célestes as it seemed to slowly emerge from the sea near the horizon. The grand château atop the bluff gave the impression of having been carved out of the tidal island…