The Bone Witch (The Bone Witch, #1)

by Rin Chupeco

This is death magic, complicated and exclusive and implacable, and from the start, I wielded it with ease.

I read of the history of the Eight Kingdoms, about the Five Great Heroes and the False Prince.

Necromancy did not run in my family’s blood, though witchery did.

Rose was a Forest witch; she was plump, pickled brown from the hot sun, darker than even the farmers who worked the fields from dawn to dusk.

Lilac was a Water witch; she was tall and stagnant, like a deep pool.

On the third day of the third month of their thirteenth summer, children gathered at the village square for the spring equinox and because it was tradition.

My sisters were named Rose and Lilac, Marigold and Daisy; by the time I came along, she had abandoned flowers.

it was the Deathseekers’ job to kill the beasts in their stead.

A chorus of noises thrummed inside my head, a peculiar buzzing that also carried with it my brother’s voice, asking and pleading and yearning, answering a question I had not yet asked aloud: Yes, Tea, Fox whispered to me in my head. Yes, I am willing.

A strange symbol burned before me. Without thinking, my bloodied fingers traced the pattern in the air, again and again and again, until my brothers took me by the waist and dragged me away.

When it raised its head, I saw that it had my brother’s face, drawn and bloodless and dead.

But then it smiled, and it was Fox’s smile, quiet and kind.

Bone witches did not truly serve the Eight Kingdoms as they claim, because they dabbled in the Dark runes just like the False Prince and his Faceless followers.

The spell’s aftertaste still lingered in my mouth—like sweet peaches, like silken honey that had burst underneath my tongue and ran smoothly down my throat.

the sickly were green hued, family members’ blue with worry. There was orange for disinterest, yellow for fear, and red if their owners were healthy and happy.

“The bond between an asha and her familiar is strong and difficult to break. You’ll learn more once we return to Kion.”

The first are performing asha, known for their dancing and their singing, though their magic may be weaker than others. The second are fighting asha, known for their magic and their prowess, though they may not be the most gracious of hosts. The third are Dark asha like us, the strongest of them all.”

Asha means two things in old Runic. The first is ‘truth’; the second, ‘spellbinder.’

The city rich are like the jungle apes; they show off their red bottoms and beat their chests because they fear to be culled from the herd if they show weakness.

This is the House Valerian, my asha-ka, and she is Mistress Parmina, who runs it.”

“You will change Ankyo, for the good and also for the bad. You will change Kion. You will change the Eight Kingdoms. Return to me once you have entered a mind from where three heads sprout.”

The asha herself explained to me that while she could take time off if she desired, these social meetings were her means of keeping track of the local politics of the day and to cement her influence with the powerful nobles who frequented such celebrations.

Mistress Parmina ran the asha-ka.

Lady Mykaela was her adopted daughter and also her successor.

Lady Shadi was the only apprentice asha, having arrived two years before I did, and wa...

These parties were the bread and butter of many Houses, where nobles and others who could afford it pay asha to bring life to what might otherwise be boring functions.

Apprentices make their debut as young as fourteen or fifteen years old, and these parties were integral to their development as asha.

The first asha-ka to come into existence was the House Imperial.

It was founded by the legendary asha Vernasha of the Roses, also known as one of the Five Great Heroes, who made her home in Ankyo, in the then-newly-established kingdom of Kion.

She was a noblewoman of the Tresean court and taught her novices the arts of dancing...

Only a few asha proved to be skilled at the fighting arts. Of these, she offered the best to kings and nobles to serve as personal bodyguards. Once in these positions of power, they were able to affect kingdom policy, helping to cement a longer-lasting peace among the rulers. She was quite adamant, however, that all who wished to be asha be strong in the Runic magic, a law still enforced today.

She belched and passed gas whenever she felt like it, which was often.

She looks like an old fruit left to dry out in the sun for so long that it grew hungry and tried eating its own face.”

There is no greater strength than the ability to understand and accept your own flaws.”

“I have told you many things, Tea, and this is the most important of them all. Never give your heartsglass away to anyone.

Anyone else versed in magic can do you harm with it. People will never be what you make of them, but at least your own heart stays yours and true.”

“Where it lies buried is no longer of any importance. All it requires is its bezoar and a spellshifted heartsglass. The bones of the dead creatures on this beach are enough to suit my purpose, to bend and form into a daeva’s shape.

“Then perhaps we should carve a world one day where the strength lies in who you are rather than in what they expect you to be.”

It was probably the same duck that had bitten me, but for some reason, it didn’t feel like retribution at all.

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“Everyone is believed to have two faces—one they show to the public and one they wear in private. The first face is their shaxsiat, or their honor. The second face is their ehteram, their dignity.

It is important for a person to interact with others in such a way as to enhance their shaxsiat while still maintaining their ehteram—to increase others’ estimation of them while remaining true to one’s self.