A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan, #2)

by Robert Jackson Bennett

hair. I let the silence steal over me like a cloak. Suffocate me, I told it, and let me sleep.

The surreality of the sight was so intense that I almost laughed.

But a prideful creature can talk themself into believing that every deed they do is legitimate. Thus, they both giddily and greedily spin their own doom.”

This place, however, felt beautiful and eternal. A stunning sight to a person like me, from an improvised Empire that often felt so blandly bureaucratic.

“Perhaps,” said Ana. “But is he a villain, or simple political swine? It is often hard to tell those two apart.”

“There is no one more forward with the unpleasant truth than a powerful, prideful man with a grudge.

“Perhaps you need simply listen, then,” said Ana. “For I find myself in a storytelling mood, and I think I’ve a fascinating tale to tell. It is a story of corruption, betrayal, and murder. It is most hideous, really! Are you ready for it?”

“His perfect marks, perfect scores, perfect service record. It was data. Records. It was not knowledge. Not comprehension.”

The man, wistfully, dreamily: “To serve with him was akin to loving a person made of glass. So difficult to perceive. So still, so cold, so hard to the touch.”

“For so long I was told they were wondrous fathers, farsighted rulers touched by the divine. The natural rule of strength, of crown, of throne—a noble thing, unlike the Empire, so unnatural and invented. But when I looked upon my father, I saw they are just…men. Little men with muddy, ugly little minds, who fall to common corruptions just like anyone.”

To serve is a tremendously humbling thing. How easy it is to mistake glory and fame for duty! But duty is thankless, invisible, forgettable—but oh, so very necessary.”

“But…do you know what hurts worst, Din?” “What, ma’am?” “Why, it’s the…the crushing disappointment of it all. The investigation ends. It’s all over now. No more riddles, no more need for imagination. And all was so small, at the end. It was for money, and land, and brutal, petty nihilism. Honestly, how…how tremendously disappointing.”