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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 by Devin Madson

  Excerpt from We Cry for Blood copyright © 2021 by Devin Madson

  Excerpt from The Unbroken copyright © 2021 by Cherae Clark

  Cover design by Lisa Marie Pompilio

  Cover illustration by Nico Delort

  Cover copyright © 2021 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  Map by Charis Loke

  Author photograph by Leah Ladson

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  First Edition: January 2021

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Madson, Devin, author.

  Title: We lie with death / Devin Madson.

  Description: First Edition. | New York, NY : Orbit, 2021. | Series: The reborn empire ; book 2

  Identifiers: LCCN 2020023563 | ISBN 9780316536387 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780316536363 (e-book)

  Subjects: GSAFD: Fantasy fiction.

  Classification: LCC PS3613.A2945 W398 2021 | DDC 813/.6—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020023563

  ISBNs: 978-0-316-53638-7 (trade paperback), 978-0-316-53636-3 (ebook)

  E3-20201120-JV-NF-ORI

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Map

  Author’s Note

  Character List

  The Story So Far…

  Chapter 1: Rah

  Chapter 2: Dishiva

  Chapter 3: Cassandra

  Chapter 4: Miko

  Chapter 5: Rah

  Chapter 6: Dishiva

  Chapter 7: Miko

  Chapter 8: Cassandra

  Chapter 9: Dishiva

  Chapter 10: Rah

  Chapter 11: Cassandra

  Chapter 12: Miko

  Chapter 13: Dishiva

  Chapter 14: Rah

  Chapter 15: Cassandra

  Chapter 16: Miko

  Chapter 17: Dishiva

  Chapter 18: Rah

  Chapter 19: Dishiva

  Chapter 20: Cassandra

  Chapter 21: Miko

  Chapter 22: Dishiva

  Chapter 23: Rah

  Chapter 24: Cassandra

  Chapter 25: Rah

  Chapter 26: Miko

  Chapter 27: Dishiva

  Chapter 28: Cassandra

  Chapter 29: Miko

  Acknowledgements

  Discover More

  Extras Meet the Author

  A Preview of We Cry for Blood

  A Preview of The Unbroken

  Also by Devin Madson

  Praise for We Ride the Storm

  To Miss I, for teaching me so much about myself. And also that the most special and important things in life are rarely easy.

  Explore book giveaways, sneak peeks, deals, and more.

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  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  For those readers who are coming to this book straight from the original self-published version of We Ride the Storm, please be aware that there were a few significant changes in the new edition, including the addition of more Levanti characters (Yiss en’Oht, Lashak e’Namalaka, and more) as well as more Levanti worldbuilding, extra chapters (two from Miko’s perspective—an introductory one and one of her at the battle of Risian—and one from Cassandra’s), some significant tweaks to the way Miko’s political arc worked, and perhaps most importantly, a shift in the way the relationship between Gideon and Rah was portrayed. This change in particular may leave a few things in this book feeling odd or undeserved, and I apologise for the confusion. Try to just roll with it.

  CHARACTER LIST

  Levanti

  Torin

  Rah e’Torin—ousted captain of the Second Swords of Torin

  Eska e’Torin—Rah’s second-in-command (deceased, Residing)

  Kishava e’Torin—tracker (deceased)

  Orun e’Torin—horse master (deceased, Residing)

  Yitti e’Torin—healer

  Jinso—Rah’s horse

  Lok, Himi, and Istet—Swords of the Torin

  Gideon e’Torin—First Sword of the Torin, now emperor of Levanti Kisia

  Sett e’Torin—Gideon’s second and blood brother

  Tep e’Torin—healer of the First Swords

  Tor, Matsimelar, and Oshar e’Torin—the saddleboys chosen by Gideon to be translators

  Nuru e’Torin—self-taught translator never used by the Chiltaens

  Jaroven

  Dishiva e’Jaroven—captain of the Third Swords of Jaroven

  Keka e’Jaroven—Dishiva’s second, can’t talk. Chiltaens cut out his tongue.

  Captain Atum e’Jaroven—captain of the First Swords of Jaroven

  Loklan e’Jaroven—Dishiva’s horse master

  Shenyah e’Jaroven—the only Jaroven Made in exile

  Ptapha, Massama, Dendek, Anouke, Esi, Moshe e’Jaroven—Dishiva’s Swords

  Other Levanti

  Jass en’Occha—a Sword of the Occha

  Captain Lashak e’Namalaka—First Sword of the Namalaka and Dishiva’s friend

  Captain Yiss en’Oht—First Sword of the Oht, fiercely loyal to Gideon

  Captain Taga en’Occha—First Sword of the Occha and Jass’s captain

  Captain Menesor e’Qara—captain of the Second Swords of Qara

  Jaesha e’Qara—Captain Menesor’s second

  Senet en’Occha, Jakan e’Qara, Yafeu en’Injit, Baln en’Oht, Tafa en’Oht, and Kehta en’Oht—imperial guards

  Nassus—Levanti god of death

  Mona—Levanti goddess of justice

  Kisians

  Miko Ts’ai—daughter of Empress Hana Ts’ai and Katashi Otako

  Emperor Kin Ts’ai—the last emperor of Kisia (deceased)

  Empress Hana Ts’ai—deposed empress of Kisia

  Prince Tanaka Ts’ai—Miko’s twin brother (deceased)

  Shishi—Miko’s dog

  Jie Ts’ai—Emperor Kin’s illegitimate son

  Lord Tashi Oyamada—Jie’s maternal grandfather and regent

  General Kitado—commander of Miko’s Imperial Guard

  Minister Ryo Manshin—minister of the left, chief commander of the Imperial Army

  Lord Hiroto Bahain—duke of Syan

  Edo Bahain—duke of Syan’s eldest son

  Captain Nagai—one of the duke’s men

  Lord Nishi (Lord Salt)—a wealthy Kisian lord who beli
eves in the One True God

  Chiltaens

  Cassandra Marius—Chiltaen whore and assassin

  The hieromonk, Creos Villius—head of the One True God’s church

  Leo Villius—only child of His Holiness the hieromonk

  Captain Aeneas—the hieromonk’s head guard

  Swiff—one of Captain Aeneas’s men

  Others

  Torvash—the Witchdoctor

  Mistress Saki—Torvash’s silent companion

  Kocho—Torvash’s scribe and servant

  Lechati—young man in Torvash’s service

  THE STORY SO FAR…

  Tensions are high between Imperial Kisia and neighbouring Chiltae. Raids along the border have increased the probability of yet another war, and in the hope of calming the situation a new treaty must be signed, sealed with a marriage between Leo Villius, son of the hieromonk of Chiltae, and Princess Miko Ts’ai. To challenge the emperor, Miko’s brother attacks Leo Villius as he crosses the border, but fails to kill him and is executed for treason.

  Having the excuse they wanted to mount a full attack, the Chiltaens cross the border with an army supplemented with Levanti warriors from across the Eye Sea. Exiled from their homeland, Rah and his people have been forced into the service of the Chiltaens, though to fight the wars of others is against their tenets.

  With the help of Cassandra, an assassin capable of reanimating the recently dead, the Chiltaens take the impenetrable city of Koi. Her contract is to kill Leo Villius for his father and she does so, only for Leo himself to return to claim his own head. For her failure, she is sold to the enigmatic Witchdoctor, the only man capable of removing the unwanted voice in her head.

  After a failed challenge to wrest leadership of the Levanti from his one-time close friend Gideon e’Torin, Rah is made Leo’s bodyguard as the Chiltaen conquest continues south toward the Kisian capital. Intent on protecting it, Miko sides with the emperor against her mother, until he dies, leaving her to face the threat alone. After a tussle for supremacy with the emperor’s illegitimate child heir and his guardians, Miko crowns herself empress and rides out to meet the Chiltaens. They are unable to hold off the attack and the Chiltaens take the capital, only to be slaughtered when Gideon orders the Levanti to turn on their masters. Miko escapes before the carnage, and Rah, unable to accept the direction Gideon is leading them, is arrested.

  1. RAH

  Time does not pass in darkness. There are no days to count. No nights to sleep. In darkness you cease to exist as solitude wears your soul to a stub, but nothing could erode the truth in my heart. I was Levanti. A Torin. And this was not how a warrior of the plains died.

  “Gideon!” I shouted, pressing my face to the bars. My voice bounced away into the darkness, returning no answer. “Gideon!”

  I gripped the bars and, sucking a deep breath through parched lips, began to sing our lament. We sang it for loss. We sang it for pain. We sang it beneath the stars and the scorching summer sun. We sang it when weak and we sang it when strong, but more than anything we sang it when we were alone. Gideon had taught me the words, along with a clutch of other children released from chores at the end of a travelling day. We had sat at his feet, fighting to sit closest as though his worn, sweaty boots were a shrine at which to pray.

  “But what does it mean?” one of the others had asked—a child whose face and name had been lost to the haze of time, leaving only gratitude that someone else had asked so I need not look foolish.

  “It’s a prayer,” Gideon had said, smiling at the foolish one. “In lifting your voice to the gods you will never be alone, because they will see you. Will hear you. Will honour you.”

  He had ruffled the girl’s hair and left us staring after him. He might have been the Torin’s youngest Sword, just a child to the warriors he served with, but he had been like a god to us. To me.

  When I finished, the song echoed on, slowly fading into silence.

  Gideon did not come.

  I dozed to be woken by my aching gut. Mere minutes might have passed, or whole hours. All I knew was hunger and thirst and darkness. My legs shook as I got to my feet, and I could not but think of our walk south, whipped and starved and shamed by the Chiltaens—Chiltaens later slaughtered by Levanti blades. Had Gideon released their souls? Or burned them like animals, head and all?

  “Gideon!” My voice cracked, thirst cutting like razors into my dry throat. “Gideon!”

  No answer came and I paced the length of the small cell, touching each of its bars. Seventeen in all, each perfectly smooth, the six that made up the door slightly thicker than the rest. No light. No breeze. No life. Nothing but darkness, and like the gnawing in my gut, fear began to eat at my thoughts. Had I been forgotten?

  “Gideon! Yitti!”

  Only echoes answered.

  I did not hear footsteps, yet when I next opened my eyes I was no longer alone. Bright light pierced the bars and I winced, shuffling back across the floor until my shoulder blades hit stone.

  “Sorry. I didn’t think.”

  With a metal scrape the light faded from noon-sun to gloaming.

  “You look terrible.”

  I laughed. Or tried to, but it came out as a wheeze and my stomach cramped. “You should have let me know you were coming so I could bathe,” I said, every word a dry rasp.

  “At least being stuck down here hasn’t affected your sense of humour.” Sett’s customary scowl came into focus as my eyes adjusted. “I’m not sure if—”

  “I want to see Gideon.”

  The only answer was the tink tink of the metal lantern growing hot, magnified by the silence. I let the words hang until at last Sett cleared his throat. “You can’t.”

  “He cannot refuse to see me. I am a Sword of the Levanti. Of the Torin. I am—”

  “He isn’t here, Rah.”

  I stared at Sett’s harsh features like they were lines of script containing answers. “What do you mean he isn’t here? He’s gone home?”

  Sett’s explosive laugh echoed along the passage. “No, he hasn’t gone home. He’s an emperor now, but it’s not exactly safe here, is it? The Chiltaens broke the city’s defences, and why bother rebuilding them when your empire is north of the river, not south? This is enemy territory now.”

  “Enemy—?”

  “No more questions, Rah. You are the one going home.” A key scraped in the lock, and with a grunt of effort, Sett unlocked the door.

  Home. I had wanted nothing else since arriving, yet I did not move toward freedom.

  Sett folded his arms as best he could while holding the lantern. “Really? After everything that’s happened, you’re still going to be a stubborn ass?”

  “We don’t kill. We don’t steal. We don’t conquer.” I raised my voice over his complaints. “And the only way to remove someone from leadership of their Swords is through challenge or death. I am captain of the Second Swords of Torin until one of them challenges me for the responsibility.”

  Sett growled, his fingers tightening upon the lantern’s handle. “Just go home, Rah. Go home.”

  He turned then and, leaving the cell door wide open, started back along the passage. I followed the retreating light, my legs shaking. “Where are my Swords?”

  “With Gideon,” Sett said, not stopping or slowing though I struggled to keep up, my feet dragging on the damp stone floor.

  “What about Dishiva?”

  “The same.”

  “Leo?”

  Sett stopped, turning so suddenly he almost swung the lantern into my face. “The Chiltaen’s God boy? Dead. You saw him die. His condition hasn’t improved.” Sett sighed. “Don’t do anything stupid, Rah. I know that’s hard for you, but this is your chance to escape this place, to go home, because if you give him trouble again, Gideon won’t have a choice but to—”

  “To what?” I said as he started walking again, his swaying lantern leading the way like a drunken star. “To kill me?” I hurried after him. “Is that the new Levanti way
? To kill those who question decisions without challenge?”

  Giving no answer, Sett started up a flight of stairs, each step a frustrated slam of boot on stone. I paused at the bottom to catch my breath, and nearly leapt from my skin as the fading light of Sett’s lantern lit the cell closest to the stairs. A man stood as close to the bars as he could get, staring at me, unblinking, in the manner of one committing my face to memory. I fought the urge to step back, to look away, glad of the bars between us. Untidy strands of hair hung around his dirty face, but through the shroud of neglect, familiarity nagged.

  Sett’s footsteps had halted on the stairs.

  “Who is this?” I said, not breaking from the man’s gaze.

  “Minister Manshin,” came Sett’s reply from the stairwell. “The man who was sitting on the throne in the empress’s battle armour when we arrived.”

  Minister Manshin, who had taken the empress’s place to trick her enemies, now stared at me through the bars of his cell. I wanted to assure him I had never sought Kisia’s ruin, that I was not his enemy, but I had fought with my people against his and no amount of words could change that. Words he wouldn’t even understand.

  “Come on,” Sett grumbled, and as his footsteps resumed, the light bled from Minister Manshin’s face. I unpinned myself from his gaze and mounted the stairs.

  Sett climbed slowly, yet still I could not keep up, increasingly breathless and aching as each step renewed my body’s demands for food and water and rest. Had pride and anger not kept me stiffly upright, I would have crawled on hands and knees.

  When at last I reached the top, I steadied myself with a hand upon the rough-hewn stone and sucked deep, painful breaths. Sett’s footsteps continued on a way, only to stop and return when I didn’t follow.

  “I’m sorry I left you down there so long,” he said, his face swimming before me. “I had no choice. You could only slip away unnoticed at night, and I had to wait for Gideon to leave.”