It took less than a minute for the skelzhar to die. I disengaged once the cat collapsed, but Jovo was still stabbing it, drenched in blood and lost to a frenzy.
I made my way back to the gress and crouched by him, holding the amulet by the chain. The small metal disk rotated, suspended from my fingers. The gress’ eyes locked on it. His breathing was labored. The stumps of his arms weren’t bleeding. The shroud was devouring him from within, trying to repair itself, and it was draining his blood.
The Kael Order believed that during the final rite of their training their god sent a holy demon warrior to inhabit their bodies. The demon raged, and the best way to honor and satisfy it was to deliver pain and suffering. It was a very convenient construct that absolved the Kael’gress of all moral responsibility for their actions.
The ruling elite had to maintain control, and that’s where the amulets came in. According to their doctrine, the little metal circles literally contained their souls, safeguarding them from harm, and in case of the Kael, the holy fire of the demon warrior’s aura. A gress who lost the amulet was but “a bag of meat,” and their soul would never be reborn, remaining bound to the amulet for eternity.
I let the amulet dangle.
“Where is your witness?”
He didn’t answer. He was still focused on the amulet.
“Bring your witness to me or die soulless.”
His gaze shifted to my face. He squeezed out a single word.
A small metal sphere descended from the ceiling and hung in front of me. I sliced through it with my blade. It fell apart, spilling its electronic guts onto the stone floor. The gress recorded their kills, both to prove they completed their contracts and to boast.
I looked back at the gress. “Who hired you?”
He took a deep breath. “Rakalan.”
No reaction from the power within me. The gem was still dormant. “Did the Rakalan make this breach?”
“Rakalan do not invade. They are the invaded.”
“Who does the invading?”
“Tsuun.”
“How many worlds did Tsuun invade?”
“More than six of greater of six.”
Greater of six in their counting system was six squared, so thirty-six. Six of thirty-six was two hundred and sixteen. So many…
“Why do the Tsuun invade? What do they want?”
He blinked slowly. “Power. Resources. Territory.”
He was fading fast. I had to get to the important questions.
“What were the terms of your contract?”
“Find sadrin. Bring her back. Kill her if you fail.”
“Is that why you hunt me?”
“Yes.” His voice was a soft sibilant whisper. “You are sadrin. I must take you back.”
“How do you know I am a sadrin?”
His breath was a soft rasp. “I feel it…”
That wasn’t good. If he felt it, did that mean anybody could feel it?
“Was the previous sadrin a Tsuun?”
“She was Rakalan.”
“Her own people hired you to kill her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Rakalan submitted. She did not. Rakalan resisted for greater of greater six of their rotations. Their sadrin held much knowledge. She was of value to Tsuun. Rakalan failed to deliver her. They feared destruction.”
The Tsuun had invaded the Rakalan world, and the Rakalans fought them off for one thousand two hundred and ninety-six years. In the end, the Tsuun won the interdimensional war, and the Rakalan surrendered. Turning over their sadrin must’ve been a condition of that surrender.
A death rattle clamped the gress. He reached for the amulet with a handless arm.
“How did you come to be here?”
“Sadrin fled. We pursued.”
“What makes sadrin valuable?”
“Knowledge. Knowledge accumulated, knowledge passed from parent to chosen offspring, again and again.”
“Why didn’t the Rakalan order you to bring the knowledge back?” They could’ve just carved that stone out of my mother’s head.
“Cannot be taken. Only gifted. If not gifted, knowledge dies with sadrin.”
I always wondered why the last Kael’gress had switched targets back in the cave. He was fighting my sadrin mother, and then he abruptly tried to kil me. It was because he knew he would lose the fight, and I was the only other creature in the cave capable of becoming a sadrin. Bear wasn’t sapient enough.
The gress trembled.
“What does it mean to be sadrin?” I asked.
His voice was barely audible. His eyes were desperate. “Everything.”
I placed the amulet on his chest.
“You can let go now. I will make sure the shroud of the holy power cleanses your passing.”
Relief shone in his eyes. He took one last shuddering breath and went still.
I flexed. The gress no longer glowed red. In the moment I had scanned him on that stone breach, I wanted to go home, and I wanted answers. My talent tagged him as key to either one or possibly both. Now the way home was clear. I had my answers, too, but they just led to more questions.
Somewhere out there a civilization named Tsuun waged interdimensional war. They invaded world after world. They probably had it down to routine now. Earth was just the latest of their targets. Some worlds must’ve been conquered immediately. Others, like the Rakalan, fought back for centuries.
When I sank into the gem, looking for the information on the gress, moving through their world didn’t feel like accessing a specific memory of a single being. It felt like a compilation of memories from different individuals, woven into a semi-cohesive whole. Like an encyclopedia article come to life, a summary of collected information from many sources presented in a concise format.
The assassin said that the Rakalan resisted for almost thirteen hundred years, which was why my mother was “of value.” This and the memories in the gem suggested that my mother wasn’t the original sadrin. She inherited her knowledge just like I inherited mine. If my guess was right, each sadrin added to the gem and passed that gift to the next, on and on, through generations. The longer their world resisted, the more knowledge the gem accumulated, and the more value it had.
When the Rakalan surrendered, my mother must’ve fled into a Tsuun breach linked to Earth. I had no idea how she ended up here, but she did, and the gress chased her into it. It had to be more than just an attempt to escape. What I saw of the gress was just a tiny sample of the information hidden in the gem. She had access to so much, she could’ve gone anywhere, and yet she decided to enter this breach. She didn’t just choose me, she chose humanity. She picked Earth and gave us this priceless gift. Her world’s war against the invaders was done, but ours was just beginning.
She let herself die. Had she kept the gem, she would’ve survived. I was sure of it. She didn’t want to continue, so she died in the breach, the means by which the Tsuun invaded her world, betrayed by her people, never knowing if I and the knowledge she gifted me would survive.
I felt strangely hollow.
The gress didn’t say “sadrin.” He said “their sadrin.” That meant other worlds had sadrins as well. Was that something that occurred naturally or just in response to the invasion? Whatever the answer was, the Tsuun wanted sadrins. Perhaps they had a way to harvest our knowledge.
The Rakalan resisted for almost thirteen centuries. Thirteen hundred years of war. The enormity of it slammed into me. I sat down on the ground by the gress’s body. My legs refused to hold my weight.
How many gates was that? How many deaths? Generations and generations, born with the war already burning and dying while it still raged. Thirteen hundred years. We’ve been fighting for only ten, and it already completely changed our lives. Over a thousand years of this?
And in the end, the Rakalan still lost and gave up their sadrin. If the Tsuun found out I existed and carried all of that generational knowledge in my head, they could pressure the Earth to turn me over.
Would my planet give me up? Was there even a point to going on?
Something nudged me. Bear brought me a bloody feline femur with shreds of flesh on it. The claw marks on her back weren’t bleeding anymore.
I flexed on autopilot. Well, the meat wasn’t poisonous, and she had already eaten some of it, so it was probably too late to make a fuss about it.
Bear nudged me again.
“Hey, Bear.”
She dropped the femur at my feet. I crouched. I’d read somewhere that dogs didn’t like being hugged. I had hugged her before because I was too far gone, but I was calm now, so I leaned against her, stroking her side. She leaned back against me and licked my cheek.
The flat, empty feeling inside me faded.
I felt more like myself.
There were so many fucking questions I didn’t have the answer to. What happened to the worlds after the Tsuun won? They could be destroyed, occupied, vassalized… Did anyone ever win against the Tsuun?
The answers to all those questions were likely in my head and out of reach for now. The most pressing question was, what do I do now? How do I fix this mess?
Staggering out of the gate and announcing to the world that I was sadrin was out of the question. I had no intention of becoming a bargaining chip. Nor would I let the government collect me like a weird specimen or turn me into a weapon by keeping my kids hostage. If they understood what I was, I would face the choice of being eliminated, confined, or controlled for the rest of my life. Not going to happen.
My priorities were the same: get out of the breach alive and return to my children. But now there was one final part to that awesome plan. Once I managed to escape, I would end this invasion.
There would be no thirteen centuries of conflict. My children deserved a safe future. I deserved it.
The Tsuun wanted my mother because she was a threat. I would use her legacy. I had to get out and study the gem. I needed to learn what it contained, how to access it quickly, and where to find the information I required. I needed to know what we faced. I needed to learn the limits of my new body. All of this meant I would need to hide until I accomplished that.
Bear and I had been stuck in this breach for at least a week. Whoever had the rights to this breach – whether it was still Cold Chaos or some other guild – would be sending a new team in. For all I knew, they were already inside. That team would attempt to blast through the passageway London collapsed, because they would want to recover the corpses and the incredibly valuable adamantite.
London’s face flashed before me. Soon. We would meet very soon.
When the second assault team entered that cave, they would find the corpses of four alien humanoids and my mother. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to avoid anything that drew attention to the existence of sadrin.
If our government already knew about the Tsuun and other sophonts on the other side of the breach and they were actively hiding it, they could disappear the entire assault team for just discovering the bodies. Not to mention that the devourer shroud required living hosts. By now it would have fallen into a semi-dormant state from starvation and the moment a human approached one of the gress corpses, the shroud would strike. People would die.
London was pond scum, Melissa was a selfish coward, but the rest of the Cold Chaos members didn’t deserve to die or disappear if I could prevent it.
I looked at the anchor. It still loomed large in my mind’s vision, an ominous evil thing that had to be destroyed. If I shattered it, the gate would collapse in three days, but it wouldn’t solve the problem of the bodies, because it left enough time to search the mining site. The bodies would still be found.
Besides, everyone would know that I had destroyed the anchor. The anchors didn’t just spontaneously collapse on their own. I couldn’t stagger out of the breach and have it collapse behind me. My life would be over.
The compulsion burned in me. I had to destroy it.
No. I was my own person. I had other things to do. I had to clean this up. The sooner the better.
I turned to the body of the gress, squeezed the amulet until it clicked, and spoke a single word in an alien language. “Irhkzurr.”
The amulet on the gress’ exposed chest turned red, then orange. The assassin’s flesh sizzled. The devourer shroud hissed, trying to crawl away from the heat and failing, trapped by its roots with the alien body.
The amulet grew yellow, then finally a blinding white, and the corpse turned to ash, the grey shroud writhing as it too was incinerated. A moment and the pile of ash collapsed onto the floor.
Jovo stood up on the dead skelzhar’s head, his bracelet clutched in his hand. He was splattered with blood and his eyes looked a little wild.
I gave him a little wave.
The lees hopped off the corpse of his enemy, shook himself, flinging blood everywhere, ran over to me, and showed me the bracelet. It was a metal band about two inches wide, that looked to be made of copper. Thin red lines crossed it, carving it into smaller sections.
He grinned at me.
“Home,” I said.
“Home!”
He jumped from foot to foot, spinning in place, then turned around, and hugged me. “Ada.”
“Jovo.”
He took my hand, squeezed it to his chest, and pointed to the exit, toward the gate. “Home.”
I nodded. “My home.”
Jovo put his paw on his chest and said, pronouncing the words very carefully. “Help.” He pointed at me. “Ada. Dan-ge-rous. Help.”
He flexed his arms and waved his knives around.
It took me a minute. My nice new friend from a different world, who helped me kill an assassin from an alien planet, was determined to walk me home. Because it wasn’t safe. Gentleman Jovo.
I sat on the floor and laughed.
Yay
Certified first 🙂
Lets goooooooooooooo
first?
Thank you so very much. I really like this story. Have a wonderful week!
3rd
Thank you so much!
4th?
love you all!
Thank you!!
Thank you!
So good
Loved it 🙂
my expectations were already sky high and this part just blasted through them to the stratosphere.
this is SO FANTASTIC and I’m giddy there will be a sequel.
thank you thank you
order button please!!
I called the sequel weeks ago. Ada’s world is just too rich with storylines for it to end with one. Even without the Innkeeper crossover element. I shall chalantly w*it for more.
Ada and her new extradimensional allies.I am sure that a certain interdimensional assassin clan would be willing to offer some assistance to the robust market available on this world.
If it is another dimensional pocket kind of place, then it is possible that they have no contracts whatsoever with any Lees. A brand new market.
Combining the Lees knowlege and access to valuable things with the 13 centuries of fighting knowledge of the Saidrin. They can turn that whole war around. Massive potential win for Joro’s clan.
+1! Except, sequel-schemquel. This is a series starter! 🤣😄🤣
Thank you so much for this and I’m really loving it!
@Emily, I feel the same way. Thank you for your words. They sum up how I feel exactly.
HA, thank you so much for such an amazing story!!
Good.:-) Thank you!
Awesome
I can’t read right now but wanted to be top 20 !! See u BDH
oh man! after this installment I really have to wonder how IA thought this would just be a one and done novella.
so many questions left unanswered, so much work left for Ada (and Bear!) after they escape the breach and get home.
Cannot w*it for future books 🤣
Me too!
Me three…🤣
They thought that because all ideas start small, but then the authorlords cannot help themselves. They just keep building a rich, sweet, deliciously satisfying world, and then of course we want to know more.
All hail Ada, Intergalactic warrior, with her loyal canine companion and fiesty assassin sidekick.
Of course Joro will escort her out. There’s an entire untouched market out there in the middle of a war for survival, and they have lots and lots of money but no real nanotech. Nuan are soft like pillows! Too fat and lazy for this economic opportunity.
Ada could credit her rescue entirely to Joro, who I imagine strapping on his sash and becoming extradimensional ambasador to the UN, where he happily describes how his people can help, for an unbelievably modest price!
He’s a Lees. He has bled and suffered for this economic opportunity. He will own it and bring it home to his people along with his scars.
+1
I’d like to think that Elias will help shield Ada from scrutiny, he protected her kids without any benefit to him.
And after London sold her out she is owed by Cold Chaos..
Me too!!
+1
Still awesome! I hope your life is going well.
thanks for all the new worlds
+1
*happy sigh…”
Gentleman Jovo!
I love this serial so much. It’s my first since I started reading the blog!
Hang in! You’re in for a major set of treats because this happens a lot on this blog. The AuthorLords are kind to us Chalont Minions.
I’m waiting for when “gentleman” Jovo meets Elias. Should be fun
Oh yes! Jovo is going to want to test his skill against a blade warden. These people are big and slow but not entirely without talent.
I think Jovo has some rudimentary earth English in his translator, but his understanding is better than his ability to speak with it. It’s not something he was expected to need, just part of a package.
Yay! Finally the answers to the clues… my mind has been spinning with possibilities. Happy glorious Monday
Now (rub hands) the meet up with Elias McFeron
Thank you for this wonderful chapter 🙂 Thank you, that Mondays are now brighter 🙂 It makes so much more sense now. And there are so many new questions, the answers could be in many new books (one can dream).
I read the chapter once more and I have a feeling that it won’tbe so easy for Ada to hide. She may not have time to clean the mining site.
I also reread part of Clean Sweep where Auul and Mraar were explained, but I don’t think tjose gates are the same as in breaches…
Well, we may speculate but every new chapter brings suprises and these suprises are better than any speculations 🙂
Whether she has enough time or not, I am confident that she can come to an accomodation with Elias. He understands her motivations, and his are pretty much duty related.
I wonder if she can get the rest of the womans armor to come to her, now that she understands things better. It probably also folds down to a bracelet when not needed. Or a necklace. Someplace that it can’t be lost from or easily removed.
+1 Oh yes, her alien mother‘s armor would so come in handy.
I agree about Elias. One thing that was made entirely clear is that both Ada and Elias, given the chance, would end the whole invasion. They aren’t motivated by the money-making opportunities, or the excitement of breach diving. They just want to make Earth a safer place again.
Also, if I’m counting correctly, only one free instalment to go…
Aww, Jovo’s such a sweetheart, he kinda reminds me of Wing.
Thank you for the wonderful part!
Thank you for making Monday’s better!
This is getting good! I’m excited to see how Ada gets out of this and reunited with her kids.
Happy Monday!
That gem was both a blessing to Ada and a curse. She survived the breach because of it but it also changed the whole course of her life and probably her kids too.
So much innkeeper vibes. Do the innkeeper trees come from one of these worlds? or contribute to the interdimentional gateways .
Loving the new world.
love how its staging for more stories to come.
but first, clean up time….
I’m just wondering where she will bury her gem mother. I think this is where the inn comes in courtesy of Jovo 😉
her meeting with Elias will feel anti-climatic at this point.
thanks IA looking forward to Friday & Elias
It’s evening here in Asia, and I’m in the middle of a no-good, ugly-cry situation. Thank you to House Andrews and Gentleman Jovo for making me smile and helping me take several deep breaths. On to slaying my own gress.
I’m sorry. ::hug::
Sometimes crying vents enough, so we can keep plowing forward. At least that’s what I tell myself when I run to the end of my rope.
And now your comment made my cry again, in a smiling, “my favorite authors are the best” kind of way. Grateful to you, Mod R, and this beautiful book-devouring community.
You slay those gress Joey!
Salute!
You got this Joey! We are with you as you fight whatever form your gress takes. May multitudes of Jovo s and Bears be at your side. 🙂
Having Jovos and Bears may actually make the trouble worthwhile!
((Hugs))
Hugs from Switzerland, Joey. Hang in there
May your inner Ada rise up and slay the gress. 😊
Many hugs and good luck!
Thank you!
hope all turns out well!
Thank you!!
Haiku for House Andrews
thank you for lifting
my day from ordinary
to extraordinary.
+1
+1
+1
thank you ✨
If this turns into a series, I think I will find it even more addictive than Innkeeper or Hidden Legacy. I am absolutely hooked!!!
Plus. One!!!!
Yes possibly so. It has a powerful draw that just pulled me in. I really do love this series. I’m hoping for a series. If it only ends up being two books the second one will be large.
I’m glad that HA is engrossed in the story and swept away by it (at least a bit) The story wants to be. So it ends up being longer than the authors originally intended.( more story is good for me)
Thank you HA. I hope your selves and family are well or getting well.
This was such a great chapter! And with these details, I can see the fully formed series starting.
Gentleman Jovo indeed, lol. Everyone needs a great sidekick. Jovo is a keeper! I will also accept Elias as a sidekick 🙂
Well they have done it again! Completely hooked! They are continuing to be a lesson in patience! I hope my life is long enough to see this story resolved. You both are real life Scheherazads!!!
Kathy, may your life be long and your library ever-growing!
So much information imparted in this passage. I can finally see how this novella will end shortly, with many options for further stories.
And I only love Ada all the more. Plus: excited to read the upcoming scene of London’s reckoning. I’m so glad Ada is not letting that drop.
Thank you for such a wonderful gift.
Jovo could give London the death of a hundred cuts. He betrayed his contract and is arrogant about it. I suspect the Lees deal with people like that by butting them into many tiny pieces and then mailing them to all the associates of the individual as a reminder.
Um yeah. That little expansion of the world building definitely calls for the S word.
We as the devoted yet impatient BDH, sent our sympathies and lots of tea and chocolate while slyly hiding a greedy grin.
Yay US!!!!
Thanks, that was a nice well-done infodump, kudos.
Well, that was some loose ends. How to not become a “specimen”. End the invasion without a long war. Find the limits/possibilities of her upgraded body.
Glad a sequel is planned.
Awwwwwww, gentleman Jovo! what a good friend!
I know HA’s plate overfloweth, but dang, you opened a glorious new can o’ world whoop-ass!
Thank you for this. Much appreciated today.
I was “Okay, I’m enjoying this. As much I liked God Game by Greeley, Quag Keep was my least favorite Norton, so sure, it fills the time to Maggie’s release or the next Wilmington or Innkeeper.”
And I’m officially Wow.
Totally utterly Wow.
And I desperately want her to meet Maude because she and Maude will GET each other.
So so nice!!! Thank you very much, have a nice week 🙂
Loving this story so, so much!! 📚
Now to mundane life chores – grocery shopping awaits. 🛒
I REALLY wanted to do an evil cackle after the line about meeting London soon, but I’m in the waiting room at the doctor’s office. I’m probably scare some folks.
But this was AWESOME.
EARLY DAY! MY weird theory is that the same thing that is doing the pillar thing, is what took away Dina’s parents!!!!!
Love, Love, Love it! Thank you for another chapter in this fantastic story.
Loved this chapter! I assume Ada will be doing clean-up duty at the mining site, but not sure what she plans to do with her Gem Mother’s body, or how she’s going to explain how she and Bear survived in the breach for a week.
Thank God Ada is much smarter than I am. Looking forward to her solution.
They survived because of Jovo, obviously. He’s a great warrior. Then he can bill Cold Chaos for his services…Muahahaha
The Fluffy Savior 🙂
The day of reckoning is coming for London. What a surprise is in store for him when Ada and Bear come walking out with Elias and company. In BDH fashion, I can’t wait to read it. **rubbing hands together while chuckling evilly**. 😈😁😂
Thank you! Now on to Friday!
Wow. Just wow. You two always amaze me so no surprise I’m a bit overwhelmed. Lots of info to unpack and I’m loving it.
Go save Earth and probably the universe, Ada.
ill
In no way is this story a single short novel. You KNOW this is going to take longer to tell properly.
Also, I love Ada so much. I love how strategic she is, and how she sees an impossible problem like an interdimensional invasion as something she is just going to have to stop so her kids can live a peaceful life.
Plus 100!
I don’t comment often but had to today because SO HAPPY. One day AuthorLords will write something I don’t love… but today was not that day!
Maybe I’ll go now and reread me some Maude with my morning tea. 🍵
+1
They are magic. Their writing is just so *compelling.*
Wow!!! I can’t wait to find out what happens next. Is this the last posted chapter or do we get more??? Pretty please with a cherry on top!!!!
We’ll announce when it’s the last post 🙂
When it is the last post, you’ll need to make a banner in bright colors in an easy to read font. Otherwise, you will get all the questions, Mod R.
That way you can say, “see above”. 😀
Y’all would never spring the last post on us without telling us. BDH needs some warning for that sort of thing. How else can we b expected to remain fluffy and chalant thru the trauma?
HA and Mod. R r always so good to us, let’s have faith.
This was great, thanks so much!
Thank you for today’s posting.
Kael gress, terrible, vicious civilization.
Tsuun, world conquers throughout the galaxies and for over a thousand years.
The Sadrin, the keeper(s) of knowledge for generations.
The Kalalan, the blue alien Lady’s people/planet. To be under siege for 13 centuries 😳. Hard to imagine what that would be like. Tough, very advanced civilization to hold out that long.
I too have started an Innkeeper re-read!
I love this story, and I love the art! The artist is able to create meaning with a few strokes of color, seemingly effortless but actually the opposite.
Same as HA, the story flows effortlessly, for the reader, pulling us deeper. We have no desire to resist the pull of this story, and indeed, we want more!!!
Oh my. Wow. So many possibilities. So many sequels. WHEEE! OMG. So wonderful. And a friend for life now from another species. Heroine on a quest. Oh my OHMY.
HA only gets better. How do you do that? You are “ending” a story…but you just opened up the entire universe for MORE.
Oh my, thank you. More please.
Sweet!!! Thank you for an excellent piece of the story.
Wow! Thank you for this installment of depth and background and path forward! Never underestimate a mom and the need to protect her children….. May we all recognize our own personal constructs of absolution, break them down and personally resolve to ‘do no harm’ to ourselves and others.
Sending peace, health and safety to all!
In my headcannon, Ada has read a lot of Lois McMaster Bujold, so Gentleman Jovo is TOTALLY a reference to Gentleman Jole…
Same!
+ 1 I also get Cordelia Naismith vibes with Ada. Strong women with strong protective instincts.
Definitely +1. Excellent world building, plus the deep character development and challenges that touch our souls and make us laugh and cry. Thank you House Andrews (and LMB).
Yep!
Grin!!!
That’s exactly what I thought! So awesome!!
Love the chapter! Fabulous.
This was amazing, thank you! So much explained, and Ada’s determination to permanently end Tsuun’s invasion for her kids and everyone else’s. Loved Gentleman Jovo and his determination to protect Ada, and I was blown away by Ada’s gift of reassurance and mercy to the gress even after he tortured her. Looking forward to reading this as a whole once it’s published!!!
Marvellous! 🤩 Thank you ☺️
Aaaaaaaaaaaaa! The web gets more and more tangled! This story could be a series start. I have to admit I can’t see where it’s going and I love that! I’m so invested. Thank you so much!
WOW, yeah a war is going to need a sequel! Love Jovo sticking around to help out.
Looking forward to ordering The Inheritance.
So intense! Such a relief to have Ada’s laughter. Also, now I know that dogs don’t like to be hugged.
This story consumes my thoughts, thank you for another piece.
Each installment continues to amaze! Thank you!
HA has obviously read a lot of Bujold. Gentleman Jovo indeed!😄
I love being part of the BDH. A well staffed subset, the CDH (Chapter Devouring Horde), is also a delightful place to find myself. This chapter was SO GOOD.
Ada coming into her own, making the future plans, and Bear is best dog ever.
I can’t wait to see what happens next and how Ada plays this out. [Edit Mod R]
I hope Bear likes cats…
When will the preorder for this story become available. I went looking on Amazon last night and didn’t find it. The intertwining of so many of their worlds is so satisfying. Good to see the other side of the Lees. The final chapter that will be in the book looks to be quite spectacular. I truly need to reread the whole thing. Great story
We will announce it and post everywhere when the preorder happens 🙂.
Not long now!
oooh, this set up for a sequel or two or more….ty ty ty
Thank you! 💐
I can’t wait till Friday.
Friday is coming
Is it Friday yet?
Friday is still 4 days away.
(whining) That is too long! Why isn’t it Friday yet?
Aww, Bear is feeding her human!
Awwww loved it.
what a team!
thank you 😃
In all of my years as a member of the BDH, I still have not learned how to sit back and savor the flavor of each installment in a story. I swallowed this installment whole, and feel content. Thank you, oh triune gods of fiction (Ilona, Gordon, and Mod-R!)
Well obviously the story evolved as the writing of it progressed. Having gotten to this point there’s no way that I can see where this could have been a one-off, stand alone story. At this point I’m having a hard time seeing how there can only be a few more installments (and a later conclusion upon publishing) Don’t get me wrong, I have faith that it can be done. And I’m going to take into account the promise of more to come. But even that doesn’t seem big enough. There’s a lot going on here. I am wondering one thing. Ada feels she needs to return to the mining site to clean up and hide away things she feels shouldn’t be one known to her world. The breach is a maze. She navigated to the anchor by a new gift that enabled her to sense it’s direction. If she’s not going to follow Elias’ team back, how will she find her way? Only the author lords know. Friday, Friday, my kingdom for a Friday.
“… shouldn’t be known to her world” Proof reading should never be rushed.
We know how too 🙂. Ada will take the assault team’s path, which takes about 2 hours.
The way she came was the path from the mining site.
Fair enough. So originally Ada was going to try and get back to the breach. So that’s why she hadn’t already followed the assault team’s path? It was only later that she decided to make her way to the anchor, and then back track? I suppose there wouldn’t have been much of a story if she had followed the assault team from the beginning.
She couldn’t follow the assault team’s path from the beginning. They didn’t go to the mining site, and she couldn’t exit from it because of the explosion blocking her way.
unless I’m mis rembering about the assault team member?
Which is the problem, with the installments beginning in April the details become foggy
Jovo has all his stuff back. I feel confident that he can navigate to the exit. What I am still up in the air about is whether he will want to go home first and then come back for business. I think he’s a grab the opportunity by the horns kind of a guy. You don’t waste the hero cred. He can walk out in front of the cameras as the big hero and all the sentience denial in the world won’t put that Lees back in the bag.
He needs to wash all that blood off first though, so that he can present as properly fluffy to his new market
I wonder how Jovo ended up in these caves. By accident? Was he companion of sadrin? I don’t think so, he didn’t know to much about breach. Was he kidnapped? There was this painting on one of the walls—perhaps the cabe was a part of their original world. The gress did imprison him (not kill him—like they killed humans)—maybe they did stumble upon him while searching for sadrin and tortured him for informations?
Wow, this was so good! I love how it sets up book 2….that should be an exciting ride, too!
But my favorite part of this is the very last paragraph, with Jovo. He’s such a brave and noble little character. 🥰💕💕
Also, the last paragraph is a perfect example of why I love IA stories so much. I can always depend on a nice shot of humanity, justice, and goodness being inserted into the story, even unexpectedly at points when future darkness appears. Soooooo heart-warming and satisfying…thank you!
At some point in book two there will be a Lees vs Lees fight that will remind Everyone of Yoda with all the gravity defying martial fu.
I am so happy at the creativity of our wonderful authors! this is just a guess, but i wonder if there was a different meaning initially assigned to the gem, one that would allow this to be a single book, and once the authors heard our desperate pleas to continue, they made an extraordinary pivot to give the gem an identity that could fuel any number of books! (at least one more).
No, that was always the plan. 🙂
Maybe not a new meaning, but more of an evolution, or expansion of the idea. Started out as an inheritance which gifted Ada with certain advantages and abilities, but as the story grew (and pleas for a sequel became overwhelming) the further development and backstory behind the idea expanded. It was already there, but not needed in a short standalone.
Disclaimer: My reply was being typed out before Ilona had posted her reply. We passed like two ships in the night. I am NOT saying that I know ilona’s mind or intentions better than she does. I just type with one digit, VERY slowly.
Doing my best Candace (from Phineas and Ferb) giggling madly impression at the thought of “…Soon. We would meet very soon.”
So, I’ve re-read this installment 3 times. It’s soooo good.
And now I’m wondering, what happened to the pieces of the shroud she cut off? Did they die with the gress? Or does she have to destroy them separately?
The cut off bits will starve very quickly It’s like cut off skin. Attached to a body it has enough nutrients to go dormant. So the bodies are a threat, but they have their flammable soul amulets.
I don’t know if she can reuse them or if they disappear in the fire and then a priest brings them back.
Thanks!
Once again, amazing!
I love Ada‘s consistent priority to return to her kids and do everything in her power to secure a better future for them. When my son was born, it hit me hard, that my love for him was not just nurturing, it was also overwhelmingly fierce.
I also love her approach to problem solving and her ability to act both decisively and with restraint. Despite all the big questions and emotions, Ada first unpacks the situation and focuses on how to fix this mess. No histrionics, no heroism. She strategically charts her path towards using her legacy and ending the invasion, recognizing discretion as the better part of valor. So much competence porn. Not just her fighting skills are badass!
Aaaaaand a new series is born???? This is absolutely awesome so far.
Good episode, thanks
Ok ok ok… you’ve convinced me. Until now I have not been able to get into the Innkeeper series at all (the only books by the Authorlords that I’ve ever had that problem with tbh)… but with all of the little Easter eggs sprinkled throughout these installments, I GIVE!!!
Time to hunt them down at my local library. 😅
Oh, u won’t b sorry. How lucky u are,to get to read them for the first time…
+1
Innkeeper was a slow burn for me and now has become my comfort listen. The third book is what really hooked me. The Graphic Audio versions are awesome…Sweep of the Heart is my favorite but it is not a standalone type of story.
Thank you
ooohhh now I see. Yes this definitely calls for a ‘s*****’ oh boy 😀
Jovo and Bear! The bee’s knees.
I’ve been reading you all from the beginning of your publishing career. This weekend is actually the first time I’ve been to your website, and I found this story in progress. I’m a massive Solo Leveling fan and jumped right in, and I read it all the way through in one go. You just keep getting better and better. I’m so excited to read the rest of it and everything else you have on the way. Thank you for this gift of a story and all the others!
Welcome to the Book Devouring Horde. We are evil. But fluffy.
Just evil enough!
I’m so glad you like it 🥰
B sure to check out their free fiction on this site. Some good stuff there!
Great! I can’t wait for all the books!
Always so good
“My nice new friend from a different world, who helped me kill an assassin from an alien planet, was determined to walk me home. Because it wasn’t safe.”
I swoon. After I laughed. Laugh first, then swoon.
“The Tsuun wanted my mother because she was a threat. I would use her legacy. I had to get out and study the gem. I needed to learn what it contained, how to access it quickly, and where to find the information I required. I needed to know what we faced. I needed to learn the limits of my new body. All of this meant I would need to hide until I accomplished that.”
My word, when you promise a sequel, you don’t skimp on plot. At the risk of… I’m not sure. But can you really do this in one book? I’m seeing a training & meditation montage.
So, Ada finds a stealthy way to have Earth use the breech to access the Tsuun planets, kick the Tsuun’s butt, free the captured planets and become the heroes of the universe. Seems like a likely goal for our author lords. Might take more than one sequel though. Just saying.
Good book noise, then persisting grin, thank you!
Wow👏
To było boskie 🙂 Tyle nowych informacji które dają ogrom kolejnych pytań . Uwielbiam tę książkę 🙂
+1
Thank you so much for this story. It just keeps getting better & richer with every installment. We very much appreciate the care you put into your work, and the responsiveness you put into this blog.
Great, really Great. and I too think there should be more than 1 book.
I’m not sure if Jovo can go home if the anker is destroyed. So quite likely Jovo cannot accompany Ada.
But Ada can try to return to mining site, destroy the alien evidence and let herself be rescued. she need not show her new talents. ,Bear tho is a problem. but I’m confident HA will find a very satisfying solution.
wish friday were already there
😉😉😉
Ada doesn’t know, but I believe Elias will help with Bear. And Ada’s hiding/learning 🙂 As soon as Elias recovers from the shock of this badass version of Ada 🙂
…and THAT’S how the most excellent AL tie bunches of their books together. Very impressive and happily for us, we get to participate even before the books come out.
It just keeps getting better. And the best part is that it will definitely need a sequel.
“Gentleman Jovo”. 😁 Now we know Lees better than that. 🤣
Thank you! Please provide those magical links where we give you our money so we can read the book. I look forward to this 12 book series which ends with magical aura fights and time travel and hidden realms only she can enter.
“I look forward to this 12 book series which ends with magical aura fights and time travel and hidden realms only she can enter.”
hehehe, seconded!
thank you for writing and sharing this wonderful story, even though waiting for the next installment is such torture.
Rereading this excerpt and I just heard the last paragraph in Catalina’s voice.
I feel so tired thinking about what she has on her plate 😂
Happy Birthday to me! Y’all are the absolute best. Thank you.
happy birthday! 🙂
Joey we are here for you.
What an awesome chapter! So complex and thrilling. I look forward to Friday. Thanks again Ilona and Gordon.
Back to work now after a bout of Covid.
Awesome to end laughing.
oh boy, that chapter took my breath away. Yes, this definitely goes beyond 1 book…
Thank you HA for your amazing writing!
I am poised for pre-ordering!
Thank you!
I’m back again. Cannot stay away from re-reading this installment. I’m curious as to what the difference is between the Kael Order and the Kael’gress. Thanks.
“My nice new friend from a different world, who helped me kill an assassin from an alien planet, was determined to walk me home. Because it wasn’t safe. Gentleman Jovo.”
Such a quote!
You are two of the greatest masters of character development ever. True artists.
Oooh, my goodness gracious me! As some folks I know might say, “This tastes like more! Thank you, this is wonderful.
Woohoo!!!
Gentleman Jovo! *chef’s kiss*
Fascinating background on the parties involved in creating the beaches. Can’t wait to see what happens next. Thanks for the story!
Since Chapter 2 I’ve been turning the phrase “treasure your inheritance” over in my mind.
I knew Ada would need to hide it, especially from the DDC. I suspected she would use it on the down low in future gate dives to quietly benefit humanity and return home safe to her kids.
But this awesome new plan (and promise of at least one new book to describe it) to end the invasion (and maybe the invaders!) is truly the way to “treasure” it. I love this resolve so much. I quickly devoured the part in between pressing responsibilities today but I still got chills speed reading it. Now I finally caught a moment to sit and to re-read and leave a more complete comment.
I love that she’s her own hero. I hope she eventually trusts Elias to help her end the invasion. If nothing else she needs a guild who won’t out her during her attempts.
Will Jovo keep Xiema’s spare knives? I do wonder how the lee came to the breach and who drew the cave drawings.
This probably won’t get answered in this book but I hope to someday know: Is Dina’s innkeeper Earth the same Earth as Ada’s invaded Earth? And if not, how are they related?
I know this has been widely debated in the comments already and I’m in thr minority.
thanks again for a fabulous story and can’t wait to buy it!
Thank you for another exciting installment. After Ada’s ruminations, I really am wondering about how Ada and Elias will meet. Her saying she wants to get back to the mining site to clean up, and her concern over keeping her new improved self a secret would seem to preclude any worthwhile meeting between them
I love how analytical Ada is, love what a devoted mom she is. This is such a good story! Thanks so much!
It seems like Ada has a mighty long row to how if she wants to end the invasion of earth. She may be a Sadrin now, but that doesn’t seem like a guarantee of victory, especially seeing as how there was over 1000 years of Sadrins that lost a similar conflict. And that doesn’t even take into consideration that she plans to be a clandestine Sadrin, which would severely impact her ability to openly use her abilities. And it seems likely that the Sadrins before her would have been trained to use their abilities to the fullest extent, whereas Ada is forced into an “on the job” training, from a source that is power limited and needs to recharge after use. Sequel or no, this has all the earmarks of a wild ride
*hoe* as in a farmer’s task. Damn I hate autocorrect
Ada is adapting and learning by leaps of magnitude each time. And Gentleman Jovo! Look at that, Honorable Lees!
Love it! Love every letter of this.
Just curious as to why everyone wants to be first to post a comment. Then second or third. I find it somewhat annoying lol. Love this story. Lots of potential sequels. Love the Andrews author team. Awaiting the next instalment with impatience!
It’s just a game 🙂
Ahhh 😯 thanks for taking the time to answer.
OMG, this story is just better and better! I love Ada and I’m so excited that we won’t just hear from her in one (excellent) novella!
Thanks you, House Andrews!
Wonderful! Can’t wait until the whole story is out!
Love this serial! Trying to figure out what the next part and chapter will reveal is excruciating!
Every bit of this story is a delight.
love it!
What a great chapter. So many answers and so many new questions.
Who and what are the Tsuun exactly?
What do they want with Earth?
Which Earth is it anyway?
Ours?
Good luck with that, climate change and all. I hope the Tsuun set one foot outside their gates and are immediately wiped out by Covid and Measles. Woosh.
If Ada’s Earth is indeed Dina’s Earth, how did they manage to attack Earth without the Arbitrators and Ad-hal noticing?
Is it Friday, yet?
I love this!! I could almost feel Ada’s determination there at the end, wow.
Thank you so much for this.
Everyone will take one look at bad ass ada, compare her to the person that walked in, take one look at the monster dog and know for a fact that she’s different. She has to find a way to gain power to stand her ground. Me thinks thats where Elias comes in, i think he will see or know something that helps her trust him and with his help they’ll definitely prevail.
Elias next chapter? Kinda missing his side of things…
Loving this story!
Once again, the IA team take a fiction sub-genre and turn it on it’s head, giving it way more OOMPH, to the surprised delight of genre connoisseurs. Dayum!
Meeting and reading about Jovo makes me want to read about the Lees again… Here I go reading Dina’s adventure one more time…
Anyways, I like this new world and theses new characters even though I read a lot of webtoon and I get a bit tired of it.
As always, congrats for the good job !
(Sorry if there is any mistakes, English is not my first langugage)
So many questions answered, so many new ones posed! This definitely needs more books, please. You spoil us.
I hope, HA does not mind the speculations, musings, shippings. I like the comments very much and enjoy the various theories and schemes.
After rereading the last chapter I don’t think, Ada can vanish in anonymity. She has to warn earth, tell of the invaders and help to fight them off. Maybe she can pretend, the dead Lady told her all of that before dying and modified bear to show her power. Ada need not tell about her own changes. if I remember right, her outer appearance has not changed. don’t know if she could hide in a medical examination.
And I don’t think earth powers can ignore and suppress her warning.
I’m eagerly waiting for the next installment. please hurry. maybe there could be one every 2 days (pretty please)
such a great instalment, I’d forgotten that it was Monday yesterday, thanks for the snippet. are we in the last week now? as I can’t remember if this is numver 3 or 3 on the final 5 instalments.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought I read that there were only about seven chapters left, and that was a few weeks ago. I may have that totally wrong, which I hope is the case, because I feel like this week’s partial chapter opens up a whole wide world of possible plot directions. I think it’s really exciting, and I hope that more is done with this.🌻🙏
I am thoroughly enjoying this serial but I’m guessing that extending it, as per demand, means Puffles retreats even further into the background. Sigh
Double sigh….
Team Puffles!
Let’s have hope, there’s no way to know what the next creative inspiration to hit our beloved book-creators (HA) will b. By the very nature of inspiration, they may not always know what new things will come next. I choose to have faith that whatever it is will totally rock, and one day, one day it WILL b Puffles. In the meantime, I will happily devour whatever HA serves us.
Love this, Thankyou
Yay! Thank you!
So many possibilities….
Thank you!!
Welp, now we *need* a sequel. There’s just too much fun to be had reading about her cutting the invasion short!
And this explains my timeline/pacing questions I’d been asking myself. Is she racing Elias to the bodies now? Will they class? *goes to make more popcorn, because this will be good*
Soooo good! So many thanks!
I liked this installment a lot, as it finally provided answers to most of the mysteries in the story. But boy-oh-boy, it’s a dan-ge-rous universe out there if the gress aren’t even the biggest villains. I do wonder where this story fits in the Innkeeper universe. AfaIr, none of the other species were mentioned there.
I always assumed Dina lives in a time close to our present, given the utter normality of her shopping trip to the mall, and the concern about keeping people unaware of the aliens out there. But Ada’s world is quite aware of the breeches, which is definitely not normal Earth. Is it a parallel Earth? Is it happening in the future of Dina’s Earth? Clearly, HA has a plan, as otherwise they wouldn’t have connected the two worlds. Jovo didn’t have to be a lees, but he is, and therein lies the biggest unexplained mystery. 🙂
One of my favorite authors wrote that she puts on paper what her characters push her to do; that sometimes someone she thought would be an interesting character in a couple of scenes takes over and becomes the beginning of a whole new series.
That is what this feels like to me; HA was trying to bring Hugh into focus and show us his life when Ada showed up and began a whole new direction. Ada didn’t need to be part of any existing series she just showed and up and told HA “Write ME!”
💯
That’s not it at all 🙂. Hugh didn’t work well as a serial, which Ilona told us from the beginning.
House Andrews wanted to gift us a story to have every week, something to help us through the very anxious times we’re living through.
Ada was that story 🙂, with no link to Hugh.
And that is just one example of why they are the very best!!! They take such good care of us, and we love them for it!!! And if each new gift makes us more ravenous and makes us complicate their lives with our demands (err, I mean requests) for MOAR, well… that’s just what happens when they’re so good at their jobs that everything they write is out-of-this-world phenomenal 🙂
More insights into the breaches. I’m looking forward to seeing how the Tsuun can be stopped and what comes next. Thanks for the chapter.
226! Well sure, it’s nowhere near as sought after, or prestigious as the number one spot. But it’s mine! I own it! Hah!
Can’t wait for the listing. Buy now!
Love the turns this took! And so much potential for a gazillion sequels! I mean ending an intergalactic invasion in just one novel seems a bit too ambitious, even for the mighty House Andrews 😀
Such a good story. Thank you.
So good. Thank you for sharing it!
Loved this installment. So many questions answered. But I’m still wondering how Jovo will get home.
It seems like Jovo’s bracelet, in addition to being pretty, also will help him get home. The details should b interesting: teleport? Calls intergalactic Uber? Homing beacon for parental retrieval? Creates a portal? So many possibilities…
Maybe it will be like a talisman that would guide him to an Inn’s door 😉
From the Inn to Bahachar, to his home planet
Maybe like the gadget that Wilmos gave Sean at the end of Clean Sweep?
Ada is getting some answers. Loyal Bear and brave Jovo! I am loving this! Thank you!
Take my money. As a matter of fact, take my money for the whole series. I need two copies of all the formats. I want to prepay; consider it earnest money. I’m invested!
Love this so much!
I have not read the blog for some time, stumbled on this yesterday and have read it all. I love this world, the characters, the story. I have read everything IA has written and this is a storyline that could go in so many wonderful directions. Thank you for putting it here, I can’t wait to add the book to my library.
Thankyou this was amazing as always.
This Friday’s is the last serial blog post right? 😭 I’m excited that we will get to have the book but sad bc this has been such a fun group to read along with
Gentleman Jovo. I love it.
Squee!!!!🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
Gentleman Jovo, indeed.
I was so touched when I read Mod R’s comment about HA gifting us with a serial to support us in these anxious times. it brought tears to my eyes. Thank you!
Poor Ada has to now go back to the mine site.
If the assault team goes straight to the anchor wouldn’t their path be on the other side of the cave in from Ada?
So she still has to back track the way she just came?
This is great. I love it. But. Iron Covenant #2? The anticipation has been killing me for years.
More details about future schedule here 🙂 https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/wednesday-updates-and-skipping-inheritance-on-friday/
Awesome!! This is so incredibly good and I’m excited to have another heroine to love
LOVE this story. It needs to be a series.
No one writes as well. I started a book that was showing up in my feeds here and there – they wore me down and I took a chance. The bad is so bad. Not my cup of tea. Or any kind of enjoyable beverage or snack. But it was very well marketed! Beautiful cover, interesting blurb, print copy has a special edition.. all that was a trap! Thank you HA for all the work you put in!!
If Ada wants to destroy all evidence of her mother and the kael-gress, her best option is to pile the 4 kael-gress bodies on top of her mother’s; then she and Jovo ignite the 4 medalions simultaneously. Sweep the ashes into the stream.
This assumes Ada gets to them before Cold Chaos.
How Jovo got into the breach has not been explained yet, nor whether he can get home without being revealed to regular humans. Or is this the great reveal of the lees?
Awesome! Bear is such a good dog!