Familiar & Flame

This novelette takes place after BOOKS & BONE and contains spoilers for it. The Toothday festival is approaching, and Usther has finally caught Symphona, the girl of her dreams. She’s everything Usther could want: beautiful, powerful, cruel — the whole package. But constantly being on guard for betrayal is putting a strain on their relationship, as is Symphona’s jealousy of Usther’s only real friend. And then there’s the matter of the mean little cat Usther can’t bring herself to kill ... On this, the unholiest day of the year, Usther will have to choose what kind of necromancer she really wants to be. The Toothday festival is approaching, and Usther has finally caught Symphona, the girl of her dreams. She’s everything Usther could want: beautiful, powerful, cruel — the whole package. But constantly being on guard for betrayal is putting a strain on their relationship, as is Symphona’s jealousy of Usther’s only real friend. And then there’s the matter of the mean little cat Usther can’t bring herself to kill ... On this, the unholiest day of the year, Usther will have to choose what kind of necromancer she really wants to be. *Content warnings: Contains undead, non-explicit sexual references, threat to animals, toxic/abusive relationship, mild-moderate fantasy violence, and fantasy threat.* Usther was trying very hard not to look foolish.