The Goblin Emperor (The Chronicles of Osreth, #1)

by Katherine Addison

Maia observed gloomily that thus far the life of an emperor seemed chiefly to involve sitting in a small room and watching other people come and go.

“Veklevezhek,” Min Vechin said. “It is a goblin word, and it means to decide what to do about a prisoner by staking him below the tideline while you argue.”

The Emperor of the Ethuveraz cannot become vengeful, for once begun, there will never be an end of it. Ulis, he prayed, abandoning the set words, let my anger die with him. Let both of us be freed from the burden of his actions. Even if I cannot forgive him, help me not to hate him.

“We consider it cruel,” Maia said. “And we do not think that cruelty is ever just.

And he knew that if the rest of his life was spent in building bridges, it would be no bad thing.