#mav writes stuff

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Partners in Crime

Jarlaxle would never admit it to Artemis, but he wasn’t completely sure what he was doing.

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Partners in Crime

“Things seem… strained between you two,” Ellery pointed out. “Is this going to be a problem?”

Jarlaxle offered her a disarming chuckle. “Oh, this is just the nature of our relationship,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “The day he doesn’t threaten to kill me is, I suspect, the day he stops breathing.”

Ellery did not look reassured. “That doesn’t sound like the most stable of relationships.”

“Clearly you have not slept with many drow.”

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Chapter 7

“Leaving?” Jarlaxle demanded, following him inside. “What do you mean you’re leaving?”

Entreri growled as he started to pack up his things—or, no, to pack up Jarlaxle’s things. “You have a good enough command of Common that I should not have to define the word.”

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Chapter 6

If—when—Parissus died, he expected there to be bloodshed.

“This is your fault.”

Familiar words, words Jarlaxle had heard often in his long life, most often in Drow. Usually he could shrug them off with a laugh or a smile, sometimes taking it as a compliment. Sometimes—rarely, but sometimes—those words came with a sting.

They were some of the last words Zaknafein had said to him.

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Chapter 5

Jarlaxle scoffed. “You of all people should know not to underestimate me, Artemis.”

“And I of all people should know the effect that flute can have,” Entreri retorted, arms crossed, eyes following Jarlaxle’s every moment. “Or is this to be another Crenshinibon?”

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Chapter 3

(excerpt):

Jarlaxle suspected that the dwarf’s rhymes were his greatest weapon, at least against Artemis Entreri.

“I will kill him,” Entreri promised, as frankly as though discussing the weather.

“We may need him,” Jarlaxle replied.

“And I may need my sanity.”

Jarlaxle met Entreri’s glare with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk. “I was unaware you had any left, mal’ai.”

Entreri opened his mouth to argue, but the use of Jarlaxle’s mildly insulting petname had him shrugging wryly instead. “Fair point. I am without sanity so long as I am near you. Clearly, I will have to kill you too.”

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Chapter 4

“You haven’t changed, have you?” Zak said with an unfriendly smile. There’d always been something a little unsettled—or maybe unsettling—about his eyes, and it gave Jarlaxle a chill now to see it. “You still need to be the one holding all the cards.”

“It’s kept me alive.”

“At what cost?”

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Entreri and Jarlaxle travel to the Vaasa tundra in search of Zhengyian artifacts. In the meantime, Ilnezhara has issued Jarlaxle a challenge: to learn to play Idalia's Flute. Entreri is not pleased with either decision.

The 3rd installment of my Jartemis series “Notorious” has begun! This follows after “Eye of the Storm” and “Interruptions” and addresses the plot of Promise of the Witch-King.

Expect flute jokes, sword jokes, and a whole lotta idiots-being-bad-at-feelings.