Serial · ongoing
The Starwatch Gate
In a world where bloodlines brand children like property and an Assay grade decides every door life will open for you, Selena Voss has nothing. No measurable gift, no rank on the register, only a burning mark on her forehead her father can ignite at will, and a marriage bartered to Desmond Crowe—a cruel, unstable heir whose own family treats people like tools. For Selena, there is only one escape left: the rumor of Starwatch. Off every map, off the official register of houses, Starwatch is said to take no notice of grades or family names. It takes only those who see what others cannot. For a girl with nothing left to lose, it is a door worth walking through fire to find.
Chapter 1: No Reading Required
"What exactly did you use to—" The rest of it was lost in the rain. It had settled in for the night, thin and steady, cold enough that the w…
Chapter 2: The Mind Doctor
The Mind Doctor Slade. The house she knew. Everyone knew the house. The register kept every house of record in one long column, and the Slad…
Chapter 3: The Token and the Needle
The Token and the Needle His hand came off her wrist. He let go the way he had held on — without a word about either — and said, "You saved…
Chapter 4: No House Would Refuse Me
No House Would Refuse Me The rain had gone thin and gray and useless, the kind that comes after a storm has already given up, and the two of…
Chapter 5: We'll Never Be Apart Again
We'll Never Be Apart Again She counted her steps instead of her breaths. Counting breaths made a person aware of breathing, and she had othe…
Chapter 6: Left, Then Right
"I know where it is," she said into the dark. "My chance. It isn't at Swordgate. It never was." Her voice came out wet and unsteady, pitched…
Chapter 7: Off the Map
Off the Map The cart had no windows. The lamps had gone out at the last checkpoint and nobody had relit them, so there was the dark, and the…
Chapter 8: Word for Word
The rider came back out of the fog on foot, leading his horse, because a horse that could not see its own feet could not be trusted with a r…
Chapter 9: The Blank Over Their Heads
The Blank Over Their Heads She stood in the middle of the street with her hand closed on it and let the point walk. Not a swing. A crawl — s…