A novella of 13k words.

Emily Dontal is the godborn daughter of The Mother — one of the only godborn chil­dren allowed to live in the Barony of Breton. One dark night, she prays to her mother for a child — a godborn child, a sister — to train and teach so that the Church might continue in her absence.

But the child she is given in answer to her prayers is not godborn; she comes not from the goddess but from the house­hold of the man who rules the Barony — a man who is hated and feared by all of his citi­zens, espe­cially Emily Dontal herself.

This is a story about the founding of the Empire of Essalieyan.