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    Of Books, and Earth, and Courtship: a Dominion of the Fallen Story
    Of Books, and Earth, and Courtship: a Dominion of the Fallen Story
    Of Books, and Earth, and Courtship: a Dominion of the Fallen Story
    Ebook50 pages38 minutes

    Of Books, and Earth, and Courtship: a Dominion of the Fallen Story

    By Aliette de Bodard

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    In a Paris that never was, a city of magical factions where Fallen angels mingle with magicians, alchemists and witches...

    Emmanuelle is the Fallen archivist of House Silverspires, and only wants a quiet life with her books. But when Selene, the latest student of Lucifer Morningstar, walks into the library, Emmanuelle finds herself drawn in an adventure to steal from another House. It's a thrilling and dangerous task, but the most dangerous thing about it might just be Selene herself--aloof and resourceful, and unexpectedly attractive...

    Set in the universe of the critically acclaimed The House of Shattered Wings.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAliette de Bodard
    Release dateSep 10, 2015
    ISBN9781310645129
    Of Books, and Earth, and Courtship: a Dominion of the Fallen Story
    Author

    Aliette de Bodard

    Aliette de Bodard writes speculative fiction: she has won three Nebula Awards, an Ignyte Award, a Locus Award and six British Science Fiction Association Awards. She is the author of A Fire Born of Exile, a sapphic Count of Monte Cristo in space (Gollancz/JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc., 2023), and of Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances (JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc, 2022 BSFA Award winner), a fantasy of manners and murders set in an alternate 19th Century Vietnamese court. She lives in Paris.

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      Book preview

      Of Books, and Earth, and Courtship - Aliette de Bodard

      OF BOOKS, AND EARTH, AND COURTSHIP by Aliette de Bodard

      Published by Nine Dragons River 2015

      Cover photo © 2015, Guillaume mo, 2015, Notre-Dame, Paris, modified by Aliette de Bodard, distributed under a CCBY 2.0 Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

      Cover layout: Rhiannon Rasmussen-Silverstein

      Copyright © 2015 Aliette de Bodard

      Distributed by Smashwords

      The right of Aliette de Bodard to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

      All rights reserved by the Author.

      All characters and events in this publication, other than those in the public domain, are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

      No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any forms or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor otherwise be circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that which it is published and without similar a condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

      This is for Rochita Loenen-Ruiz and D Franklin, without whom none of this would have happened.

      OF BOOKS, AND EARTH, AND COURTSHIP

      by Aliette de Bodard

      Of Books, and Earth, and Courtship

      The Fallen came into the library of House Silverspires every morning, and every morning she would go into the stacks and come back with a pile of dusty books smelling of old, cracked leather, and sit down at the furthest table, staring at the books as if she could make them cooperate with a mere glance. By the looks of it–she was still sitting at the table hours afterwards, perhaps a third of the way into the first or second book-it was not going well.

      Emmanuelle knew who she was, of course. Everyone did: Selene, Morningstar's latest student–his latest pride, before he grew bored of her and cast her aside; as he had cast aside all his other students. She walked tall and straight; wearing men's clothes, a set of black trousers and a swallowtail jacket, both impeccably pressed and arranged with a meticulousness that was more frightening than alluring.

      The smart, sensible thing to do–and Emmanuelle was nothing if not practical-–would have been to stay away. To smile, and show Selene the way into the stacks, and see her out every morning. To go back to her cataloguing and repairs of old books, and sorting the odd fight between archivists. But... but Selene smelled of patchouli and freshly-cut grass, and walked with the grace of a queen, her face oddly expressionless–what would it look like, if it creased into a smile? And, day after day, Emmanuelle found her gaze drawn towards the depths of the library, and the silent struggle at the table–until one day she found herself smearing glue across the first page of a beautifully illuminated manuscript, instead of efficiently dabbing it on the top of the spine.

      Right. Enough was enough.

      Emmanuelle decided to tackle the problem head-on. Infatuation was very much not on her order of business; and she'd spent quite enough time digging herself out from Morningstar's claws to dally with his latest conquest.

      She put down the book, sending a brief burst of magic into it to prevent the glue from completely drying, and headed straight for Selene's table. Good morning, she said, smiling brightly–acutely conscious of how awkward and how fake her smile must have been, her hesitation visible to the naked eye.

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