Valley of Secrets by H. L. Moore

Author:H. L. Moore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: lesbian, bisexual, fantasy, fantasy romance, jewish, lgbt
Publisher: H. L. Moore
Published: 2025-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

CURFEW WAS STILL hours away when Nathaniel joined the sparse line of citizens shuffling through the checkpoint towards Leichhardt District on their way home from the struggling factories and businesses. He presented his falsified documents when it was his turn and was waved through without a second glance, then he headed towards the diplomats’ square.

The square was devoid of the usual patrols that choked the rest of the city. What had once been a citadel thrumming with international life was now barren. The Pontecorvan and Kedrossi and Inari restaurants in the diplomats’ square were closed and boarded up. One Vaison-inspired café remained open, though its guests were but a handful of Arajoni citizens with downcast expressions. The grandiose homes, bathed golden in the yellow prismatic light during the warmer months, which had belonged to ambassadors from all corners of the known world were now cold and empty ever since the various nations recalled their ambassadors in the weeks following the coup.

Not because of the regime change, Nathaniel noted. Ambassadors and nations witnessed regime changes all the time. He had no doubt the states of Vaison, Kedrossos, Pontecorvo, the Dola Empire and the Rakesh Kingdom, amongst others, would have been willing to give “Bianca’s” reign a chance, even after the Xiang Empire withdrew their ambassador following the slaughter of Sīzhèn District.

No; what had driven them out was Iovanius’s relentless hostility towards the foreigners she considered as invaders to her city. Arajoni citizens for Arajoni jobs, was the official stance of the new administration, and anyone who no longer had a job was considered a burden on society.

Nathaniel tugged the collar of his jacket up to protect the back of his neck from the biting cold and slipped into an alleyway, adjacent to the embassy belonging to the Warden ambassador from the Helvetic Republic. While he waited for Lien to arrive, he watched two off-duty – but still uniformed – soldiers stroll through the district. They laughed together as if they owned the place. A thin, collarless dog padded past them – then bolted down the alleyway with a sharp yelp when one of the soldiers drove his steel-capped boot into its behind.

He watched the poor creature limp down the street. It paused when it realised Nathaniel was there and bared its teeth at him. He knelt before it, dug his hand into his pocket, and pulled out half of an uneaten bread roll. He tossed it gently before the dog and pulled back when it approached to sniff the food. It snuffled at it, then grabbed it between its teeth.

“You shouldn’t waste food.”

The dog growled around the bread in its mouth and scampered away, disappearing down the lane.

Nathaniel sighed and rose to his feet, turning to face the stranger who came to a halt behind him, her arms crossed and her expression unimpressed.

“Who are you wearing tonight, dare I ask?” he bit out.

Her hunger may have quelled and her primal urge to snatch bodies reduced to little more than a

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