#false pretense

Zeus always introduces himself   As one who needs stitching   Back together with kisses.   Like a rock star in leather

& sapphires—conflagration & a trick of silk falling Between lost chances & never   Again. His disguises are almost

Mathematical, as Io & Europa   Pass from their dreams into his.   This lord of storm clouds Is also a sun god crooning desire

& dalliance in a garden of nymphs. Some days, he loves gloxinia, & others, craves garlic blooms— Hera, Aegina, & Callisto in the same song.

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Infidelity

Yusef Komunyakaa

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Welcome to another post where I pair books and films or series with similar themes or content! This week I’m bending my own rules a bit and featuring a TV series instead of a movie. This series and book share in common a small town setting, mystery plot, and professional law enforcement officials as main characters: False Pretense and Longmire. Longmire (2012-2017) Longmire is a modern western,…

It would have been very obvious to Feferi that Serket hadn’t been expecting the empress whatsoever, and even more on top of that, there wasn’t any obvious signs of a party either. If the place had been attacked that would have been one thing, but there were no decorations in any disarray either. Furthermore, Serket just didn’t seem to know who Feferi was to begin with.

Which was all the stranger given the Letter Feferi had.

The Fog made it completely impossible to track the robot, and even then it would be very clear to the fuchsia blood that her senses were being heavily dulled by the presence of the mist. Soon enough it wasn’t even certain if Feferi was facing the correct direction anymore. Everything was topsy turvy and the only thing around was-

Crunch.

Another step, and the Peixes’ foot found purchase on an unsettling yet potentially familiar object. The way it broke under her weight, and the deep nature of the crunch, it could only be one thing.

Bone.

And, beyond that, Feferi would realize the fog had actually dissipated. She was no longer in the cabin, but standing in the middle of a massive field.

A field of ash.

The sky above was slightly overcast, but there was no rain. But for at least a mile in either direction, there was only the burnt remains of some terrible cataclysm. This clearly wasn’t the mountainous region Serket had been set up in. The weather wasn’t nearly cold enough.

More importantly, Feferi was alone.

Though, there was a letter, fluttering in the breeze.

And it was addressed to Feferi.

Running to catch it, this one still had the cadence of being from Serket.

“If this letter has reached you, that means the worst has happened! The party was sabotaged! You must come to the Dilisnya Estate! Everyone is in Danger!”

Definitely not suspicious in the slightest, but it was definitely the same sort of parchment and handwriting between the two letters. Whoever told Feferi about the party, and tried to pull her in towards the Cabin Resort. Given how everything played out, it was very likely there was no party to begin with.

Still…

Somebody wanted to bring Feferi here. That much was clear.

She was in a field of ash and bone, alone, and with no immediate way to get back home.

Oh well.