Blood Over Bright Haven

The epigraph is a verse from the Tirasid that establishes the hierarchy of “Truth”: Children look to fathers, women look to husbands, and servants look to masters, while all people look to mages.

As Sciona travels through the city, she is sickened to realize that every magical convenience is the result of someone’s death. Bringham’s factory is worse; she watches hundreds of workers use valuable energy and magic like it is nothing. Bringham is not surprised to hear her conclusions; he “should’ve known [she] was too smart” (250). He explains that talking about the truth is in poor taste, as it detracts from the usefulness and wonder of magic. Mages need to protect Tiran and progress; magic undergirds Tiranish civilization, according to the will of God.

Sciona describes her clear window mapping spell, but when she proposes using it to avoid murder, Bringham declares that killing Kwen people is not murder, and that harming the land would kill them anyway. He calls the Reserve, which siphons from Kwen people as a rule, a form of pest control. He adds that she must back down to preserve the rights of women in Tiran. Outwardly, she allows Bringham to believe she has come around to his point of view. He tells her to take a day off and to fire Thomil. Inwardly, she vows to show the mages a reckoning.

When Sciona goes back to her office to gather supplies, Mordra the Tenth finds her and apologizes to her for what he said about her. She says that if he believes himself to be a good person, he should get a different job.

The epigraph is a verse from the Tirasid describing holy magical conquest as blessed by God, and urging magicians to use their power to tame the world and the inferiors within it.

Sciona rushes through the library, looking for maps and books. She runs into Renthorn, who looks sick. He demands to know how she solved Stravos’s spellwork and opened the window to the Otherrealm, and offers to combine her mapping visuals with his spellwork. When she refuses, he says their collaboration is inevitable, shoves her into the bookshelf, grabs her wrist, and demands that she tell him about what siphoning people looks like. Renthorn is excited by the bloodthirsty truth of spellwork and thrilled to know that he is taking life when he casts magic; he believes that humans are predators and that it is his right to dominate others.

As Sciona tries to escape, Renthorn forcibly kisses her and warns her that nobody will believe her story of sexual assault. Sciona fights back, but cannot reach her explosive cylinders. Just as Renthorn forces her onto a table to rape her, Thomil arrives and punches him in the face, knocking him out.

Other highmages arrive to investigate. The mages assume Thomil was assaulting Sciona and Renthorn was saving her. To protect Thomil, she acts out a dramatic scene of firing him and has him escorted out of the building, believing him to be safe.

The other mages fuss over her, but she turns on them, insulting them with their specific insecurities and weaknesses. She storms out, throws up in a wastebasket, and asks Dermek, the Kwen man who oversees the janitorial staff, about her broken spellograph. He allows her to retrieve it, even though it is against policy. She asks about his tribe. When he confirms he’d do anything for his people, she asks for his skeleton key.

The epigraph is an excerpt from a legal judgment that confirms that Kwen women do not receive the same protective rights as Tiranish women, since they are legally seen as beasts of burden.

Sciona brings the broken spellograph to Alba, who repairs it using her knowledge from working in a clockwork factory, making Sciona do the dishes in exchange. Sciona contemplates that she has gotten away with not doing housework her entire life not because, as she thought, her family wanted her to succeed, but because they loved her. Alba talks excitedly about how beautiful the spellograph is, and how upsetting it is that the university was going to throw it away, making Sciona feel nauseous as she thinks about waste. Sciona makes a copy of the skeleton key from the janitor, wearing her robes so she doesn’t get questioned. She tells Winny and Alba that she is grateful she grew up with them instead of her father; growing up with women gave her the freedom to be herself and explore her dreams.

That night, although Sciona can’t legally operate the spellograph, she uses it to compose the spellwork that will take down the Magistry and expose the truth behind magic. The next day, Sciona leaves a note of warning for Dermek, signed “Meidra,” telling him not to let the staff clean the spellographs or come to work on the 25th of the month.

When Sciona arrives at Thomil’s, Carra is there alone. Angry, Carra snaps that Thomil was beaten by the guards when they threw him out of the Magistry. When Carra makes Sciona drink badly made and cold tea, Sciona shares that she used to make tea the same way for demanding male classmates, but Carra grows irritated that Sciona is trying to bond with her. She tells Sciona that her only memory of her father is his skull as the Blight killed him, which makes Sciona cry, disgusting Carra further. Sciona explains that her father abandoned her, which softens Carra slightly.

When Thomil arrives, he and Carra shut down Sciona’s plan to expose the truth to the entire city, explaining that it will just cause outright chaos. Thomil adds that he has hated Renthorn for a long time for sexually harassing and assaulting female Kwen janitors—sometimes in front of another mage, who didn’t bat an eye.

Sciona continues to argue for her plan, so Thomil explains that it will just lead to her death, and people won’t be willing to give up their comforts for Kwen lives. Sciona is sure the horror will turn them against the Magistry. Thomil doesn’t want to be responsible for Sciona’s death. She asks that he carry out the failsafe in case she does end up dying.

Disguised as Kwen janitors, Carra and Sciona break into the Magicentre to activate Sciona’s plan, transporting the heavy pages of her spellwork in disguised buckets. Sciona correctly surmises where the city’s most important spell machines are kept. It startles her that janitors have as much access as Archmages do, which confirms that janitors aren’t seen as human and therefore not treated as risks.

When they reach the spellographs that control the Reserve, Carra leaps into action. The machines rotate spells pages every day at noon. They must place Sciona’s papers so her spell activates the next day. Sciona leaves Carra to work and goes to the Archmage Supreme’s office.

In the abandoned office, Sciona copies the proposals for the barrier expansion spells. Just then, the door opens, and she drops to the ground to pretend to clean. She overhears Archmage Gamwen arguing that they should expand the siphoning zone into other areas of the world to provide more energy. Gamwen nearly trips on Sciona and orders her to leave, not recognizing her. Sciona rushes to collect Carra, who has finished placing the spellwork. Carra had fun, which makes Sciona cry.

When they return, Thomil and Sciona have an emotionally charged moment, and Carra leaves in mock disgust. Sciona says that Thomil has raised Carra wonderfully, but he is sure he has spoiled Carra by letting her be so carefree and wild. Sciona asks if Thomil wants to have children, and he reveals that the woman he once courted desperately wanted them but developed infertility working in Bringham’s factory from the harsh chemicals. Bringham deliberately hires Kwen women because their reproductive health isn’t valued. Sciona calls Thomil a good man and a good father; she wishes more men were like him. She tells him how her father gave her up. As they stand under the city lights, Thomil briefly fantasizes about a nice life with Sciona and Carra.