Spite and the Sun-Eater's Shadow
By @john1208
Naszra Vesh has survived her family’s neglect the only way she knows how: with barbed insults and indiscriminate violence. Blamed for the mysterious blight that killed her mother, she is treated as dirt while her family worships her younger sister, Ninshur - a reincarnator who uses "prophetic visions" to steal Naszra’s forge-designs. Naszra couldn’t care less; she’s too busy trying to punch her arrogant academy rival, Ghaeron, into the mud. But in the middle of a particularly vicious duel, the heavens part and Lord Qaldir of the mythic Sun-Eater Clan descends. Ignoring the academy's shock, Qaldir publicly humiliates Naszra's father, buys out their debts just to burn the deeds, and declares Naszra his cherished ward. Suddenly drowning in unearned luxury, Naszra is assigned Ghaeron as a bodyguard. Told in alternating third-person perspectives between Naszra's prickly fury and Ghaeron's horrified realization that he is falling for a feral disaster, the story takes a dark turn. As Qaldir prepares the ultimate face-slapping gala, Naszra realizes her life's tragedies weren't natural. If her family was manipulated, who planted the poison - and why does Bozig, her bumbling comic-relief sidekick, suddenly wield an assassin's blade that smells like her mother's death?
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