This story takes place in late December, during the novel Ashes of Deceit [in the Amaranthine Saga], two months after Franklin's story.

***

Kioko stood uncomfortably to the side while Ark gave the guards instructions. Two weeks ago she'd been one of them; dressed in black and taking orders. Now she was one of the elite, an Executioner, chosen by Malick, the head of the Guild.

It's strange, she thought. After more than a hundred years of ...