Shrine of Blood

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains scenes of violence, including execution, assassination, and battle. Major character death occurs. Themes of cultural erasure, grief, and war are present throughout. Violence is not frequent, but when it occurs, it is bloody. This story also contains mature themes and brief mature content. Reader discretion is advised.

The Shuimen have existed for thousands of years. The Otoro would see them erased.

Lady Miya knows the rituals of her people-the cleansing of hands before every meal, the prayers whispered at the fountain, the way a meal is eaten with fingertips curved like a bird's talons. To the rising Otoro clan, these traditions are nothing but savagery. To Miya, they are the soul of a culture on the brink of annihilation.

Tobias Beckett is a sailor who washed up on the wrong shore. Arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced to death for seeking trade with the enemy, his only hope is a woman in burnt crimson who speaks his language haltingly-and reveals nothing of the grief she carries.

Spared on a single condition-build a ship, train a crew, sail home, and bring back allies before the Otoro strike-Beckett is thrown into a world he cannot understand. The months that follow will test everything he is. And the woman who translates his words may prove more dangerous than the war itself.