House of Hunger

by Alexis Henderson

The worst of their job was the bleeding, which bloodmaids did frequently to satisfy the carnivorous appetites of the nobles, who relied on the healing properties of their blood as a lavish remedy for their varying ailments. According to the newspapers, blood was purported to cure a number of diseases including, but not limited to, tuberculosis, rubella, measles, syphilis, rickets, and arthritic pains. Some even believed that blood contained youth-preserving properties, especially when taken directly from the source and consumed while still warm.

Would she be better for it? Of course.

“I make no apologies for my ambitions,”

It appeared that Marion of Prane was stone dead . . . and in her place, the usurper who stood before her now. A stranger.

“Long live Marion of the House of Hunger.”

“What we are made to feel we are made to remember. And there is no feeling as memorable as pain.

In some ways, this world is just as cruel as the one you left behind.”