I N T R O D U C I N G: CLEAVECROSS, a fantasy novel about four people who are not friends as much as circumstantial allies, inheritance, death, time, those little voids inside of us that grow larger, bureaucratic institutions, and a long-delayed vengeance. revenge is not something to postpone indefinitely. for a while, perhaps. but not forever. ( psd by @saorisea )
GENRE: fantasy
POV: third person present
THEMES: death & burial, the grief that comes with death, cons and the people who fall for them, bureaucracy in a fantasy setting, slowly disappearing magic, old ways that still have power, new ways that might be able to solve the problem in the first place
CONTENT WARNING: death (a lot of it), discussion of bodies, decomposition, etc., violence, body horror.
Some people inherit things they want from their parents - a house, some money, a piece of property with some sentimental value to it. Marsden, on the other hand, inherits something he wants nothing to do with: his family’s business back home in Faldira, a cemetery & endparlor across the sea, and a set of instructions on what to do with his father’s body.
He burns the instructions. He’s known the steps since he was fifteen. Then he goes home.
It’s not because he cares about the damned place. It’s nothing of the sort. Here’s the thing: death is a big business in any major city, and Faldira’s no exception. If he cuts corners in the right places and makes the place lucrative, he can sell it to some poor bastard who thinks he’s going to make his fortune in the industry for an exorbitant amount and head back across the sea, where he really belongs.
The problem is that people aren’t dying fast enough. He doesn’t want to spend his whole life in this city - just a few measly years.
Marsden can fix that, though. He invests and makes a deal with a local assassin named Everell, a woman with an enchanted revolver and a vicious streak, and asks her to do what she does best: to kill whoever she feels like in the general area around his cemetery, so he can offer families, friends, and the city a reduced rate due to the recent influx. Then he can continue to cut corners on the burial process in order to pocket more of the money, a portion of which then goes to his new murderous friend.
It’s all very well done, if he says so himself.
Then two people show up on his doorstep: Vale, a reaper from Gossamer, the land beyond the edge of life, who’s perfectly aware of what’s going on and mostly just wants to understand why, and Othis, a perfectly human employee of the Association for Responsible Burial, there to audit and saying something about official burial laws.
Apparently both the Association and the reapers over at Gossamer are quite worried about something they’re describing as “section twenty point two, line two hundred and three″ and “a second sundering” respectively, the former of which is another obnoxious and overwrought law and the latter of which is not a real term.
The two of them just start hanging around, which really dampens the whole scam, and irritates him immensely. Everyone’s so damn concerned about the Cleavecross, which is fair enough. Everyone’s worried about the Cleavecross. So what? It’s a big crumbling road that stretches all the way across the city, worn down by people and traffic since long before Marsden was born. That’s just how it is.
He just wants to get back to his definitely dishonest work, that’s all.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like this city will let that happen.
TAG LIST: @glittcrpeach / @endymions / @namelessscribe / @demonites / @sarmarble / @meafeminas / @burntpyre / @rkmoriyama / @elonanwrites / @writers-lovers / @astorsa / @faerisms / @usuallyholytrash / @faesongwrites / @madsaialik / @knife-dragon / dm or reply to be added.
kianamaiart
blakekathryn
dailybridgerton
areudirty
germansingergirl
andulkaphoto
gummygunk
stormborns
theartofmadeline
gracieabrams
