Silence!” Kobold snapped. He eyed Dewier. “You are the historian who rode with Contains.” The historian faced him. “I am.”“You are a soldier.”“As you say.”“I do, and so you shall die with these soldiers, in a manner no different-““You mean to slaughter ten thousand unarmed men and women, Kobold DOM?”“I mean to cripple Tagore before she even sets foot on this continent. I mean to make her too furious to think. I mean to crack that façade so she dreams of vengeance day and night, poisoning her every decision.”“You always fashioned yourself as the Empire’s harshest Fist, didn’t you, Kobold DOM? As if cruelty’s a virtue…

Deadhouse Gates