2020 romantic fantasy. Stephen was a paladin, but his god has died: he
still has the potential for berserk rage, but not the assurance that
he's being used for the right. Grace is a perfumer with a supernal
sense of smell and a habit of stumbling into trouble…
So yes, there's certainly a romance here, but there's a lot of
other stuff going on too. There's a weird sort of serial killer in the
poor quarter; the Church of the Hanged Mother are doing the usual
Church of No Redeeming Virtues things; there's a foreign dignitary
visiting; there's boring guard duty.
Stephen opened his pack and pulled out his needles and a thick ball
of yarn. Knitting socks was not a particularly glamorous hobby, but
it filled the same mental need as the sword—careful work that held
his attention and hopefully did not allow his mind to wander too far
afield. Plus at the end, you got socks out of it, and no one
appreciated good socks like a soldier.
Like any good romantic protagonists, these are people with their own
lives first: Stephen has survived the void left by the death of his
god and has come to work for the White Rat, but is basically living
from day to day in training and guard duty with no plans beyond that.
Grace has had to get out of several bad situations and is much more
interested in the concoction of perfumes than in anything else, but
fortunately (?) her landlady is happy to manage the social side for
her.
Stephen scanned the scene again, looking for possible avenues of attack.
"Istvhan, you ever kill someone with an ice swan?" he whispered.
"I clubbed someone unconscious with a frozen goose once. That's similar?"
The Bishop suffered a mysterious coughing fit.
I very much enjoyed this. There's humour, but also some gruesomeness;
there's instant love, but also two adults hesitant to overturn their
lives for each other. Highly recommended.