My Rogue System

'S P

t the normal mud we see everywhere. Here in the Outer Waste, mud comes with friends-tiny bits of sharp stones that jab you in all the right places. A

Broken Lands, author of other people's suffering. He watches us with those squinty, lifeless eyes as if he's doin

to be grateful to a heartless man like Kael; here, t

ck drawl that somehow makes everything sound cheap. He loves an audience, so everyone's w

"Still thinking about your precious family? Ah, how lucky you are. They found such

'm positiv

Kael's twisted ideas of mercy. Just few weeks, I had a home. I had... well, I guess I

g. Turns out I was just a bar

y I learned the whole awful

mouse caught between two traps. She wouldn't look at me directly. That should've been my first clue that somethin

ared her throat, eyes darting everywhere but at m

eze like my body didn't wa

d, blinking l

as trying to convince herself it was somehow noble. "We never wished for

e overseer of a dangerous syndicate waiting outside with his

nce that would come back to

ng to take you in exchange for our debt. He's

my chest. I had a lot of names for Kael, but "fair" wasn't one of them. Kael I can say I haven't seen him in real life, but who dares not know who he was. The overseer of a

faced. "It's better this way," he said. Like he was doing me a favor. "Debt doesn't go away, Lyra

d, but a convenient pawn in a dirty deal. It was a bruta

his beardy eyes at me. "Are you sleeping, girl?" he sneers, with a disgusting curl to his lip. "Daydre

s on him inwardly. Just keep quiet, I tell myself. There's no u

. For what? I have no idea. Kael makes us dig holes, then fill them, then dig them again. The pu

el's so good at, what he's always after-turning us into hollow, empty shells. Keeps him in power, I guess, knowing that we've got n

their distance; I'm new, and they know better than to get close. Kael has his eyes on me-his new "investmen

She has scars crisscrossing her hands, which surely would be Mark from Kael

e fresh meat,

orce a smile. "That's me. Fres

les, I take it

with a kind of look that made me hate her just a little. "You'll get over it,

viving if this is all there is, but I don't say that. I just shrug and lean

sks, watching me with

g. "More than anything," I say, "More than

ping over her lips. "Good. It

g that eats at my insides. What I wanted was to feel something close to belon

arents handed me over, the day they tol

The scars I got from beatings from Kael's men when I was refusing to be brought here. Memories I didn't invite flooded back. The warmne

feeling, I never wanted, but it's there. It's all I have now. I tell myself I'll use it.

from this. I don't know how, don't know w

ng it takes. I don'

do, I'll remind them exactly what it feels like to be c

of this since you came around." I slapped my he

or's

y lovely

you al

e first

like it even more wh

and you're about