by Voss Foster
Nobody seemed to have any words for that. Nobody but Vellius. "I don't know about the rest of you, but that sounds like good news to me. There's no reason anyone has to seal her again, and she doesn't have to worry about destroying everything if she gets too upset."
Vellius was right, of course. I mean, we needed to check out what the lasting effects were, but Lenva didn't have to feel like a monster, now. It wouldn't change what she'd done in her past, it wouldn't erase any of that guilt, but maybe she could have an actual life.
Nobody would demand a Class-C be locked away in solitary for eternity.
"Assuming she's in fair shape, nothing strange happening, I'm going to see about bringing her on at the Grand Archives as a researcher. We don't have anyone with close to her intimate knowledge of sealing and defensive magic."
Casey nodded. "It's unclear how long she'll survive. The War Blessing moved through her. Magic is tied to life force in hags. When the magic burned off years of her life, it also burned off her magic. But since she was functionally immortal already, she seems to have survived it."
Some of the tension in my shoulders released. We hadn't let Lenva commit suicide with Afexius. Not quite everything had fallen apart at the end.
The door to the medic's room slipped open again, and a slight figure walked out, bringing a rush of silence with her as everyone stared, waiting. Intense blue eyes, shoulder-length hair, bandaged up and the entire front of her shirt and pants stained deep blue.
Lenva of Droshheim scanned the room and smiled. "I feel weak…but in control. They say I'm no longer a danger?"
Casey nodded. "Still need testing, but it appears you're a Class-C, maybe a Class-B now."
Her smile widened and she looked across at everyone again. But this time, her eyes landed on me. "If you don’t mind, please disregard all the times I asked you to kill me."
I smiled back at her in spite of myself. "You've got it, but no more favors after that."
Yeah, Afexius had gotten away. And yeah, the Seven-Fingered Hand was now not only back, but aware that we weren't going down without a fight. And yeah, Oona and Rothiel might hand me Afexius's gross dead foot one day and expect me to actually do something with it.
But Lenva had made it out of this. I was thrilled about that.
But the Hand was somewhere out there. And us spooks? We'd drawn first blood. I got the very distinct impression that the Seven-Fingered Hand weren't the "turn the other cheek" type.
We'd be seeing those fuckers again real soon.
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Author’s Note
Like every other book in this series, Sovereign Malpractice began with a fleeting image. This one was clear enough. A young woman, wide-eyed, begging for death in a dimly lit basement. I didn't know that was Lenva when I began this whole process.
That image butted up against the groundwork I've been laying since Toxic Influence, brief mentions of the Seven-Fingered Hand. I knew from page one of book one that I wanted to bring them in at some point, and the stars aligned just so for this book.
Of course, before I could get this book out, the entire world exploded around us. You may have noticed. Colloquially, we've been calling it … what was it? Ah, yes. 2020. 2020 happened. So it's been a little bit delayed, you might have noticed. Or a lotta bit delayed, possibly.
But things are looking up, the book is now out, and I'm back to work on book four, plus a handful of other projects.
Here's to a nicer 2021 … I hope. I really, really hope.
Voss
Also By
Evenstad Media Presents
The Park
The Mall
The Inn
The Tunnels
Office of Preternatural Affairs
Toxic Influence
Elemental Disturbance
Single Titles
The Mountains of Good Fortune
The Psychic
About the Author
Voss Foster lives in the middle of the Eastern Washington desert, where he writes science fiction and fantasy from inside a single-wide trailer. He is the author of the Evenstad Media Presents series, the Office of Preternatural Affairs series, and The Mountains of Good Fortune. His short fiction has been featured in various magazines and anthologies, including Heroic Fantasy and the bestselling Alternative Truths. When he can be pried away from his keyboard, he can be found singing, practicing photography, cooking, and belly dancing, though rarely all at the same time.