The Gilded Wolves

History is a myth shaped by the tongues of conquerors.
- From the Author's Note

History is a myth shaped by the tongues of conquerors.
- From the Author's Note

“What proof did you have? What was your research?”
“Superstition. Stories,” said Enrique, before adding just to annoy her: “A gut instinct.”

“That boy looks like every dark corner of a fairy tale. The wolf in bed. The apple in a witch’s palm.”

“Sometimes the only way to take down what had destroyed you was to disguise yourself as part of it.”

“Sometimes the only way to take down what had destroyed you was to disguise yourself as part of it.”

“Turning into ghosts is not what the dead deserve.”

“But the greatest thief of all was the Order of Babel, for they stole more than just objects . . . they stole histories”

The setting is Paris, 1889, and the world is a strange and industrious place, run by Forgers and curators of fantastical items. Séverin is a treasure-hunter with a crew, and he’s looking to find the item he needs to be reinstated in his rightful place, to receive the inheritance taken unfairly from him—but the item will come at a cost, and he and his team will need to overcome many obstacles to retrieve it.

The setting is Paris, 1889, and the world is a strange and industrious place, run by Forgers and curators of fantastical items. Séverin is a treasure-hunter with a crew, and he’s looking to find the item he needs to be reinstated in his rightful place, to receive the inheritance taken unfairly from him—but the item will come at a cost, and he and his team will need to overcome many obstacles to retrieve it.

“I don’t want to be their equals. I don’t want them to look us in the eye. I want them to look away, to blink harshly, like they’ve stared at the sun itself. I don’t want them standing across from us. I want them kneeling.”

They might owe him their service. But he was the one bound to them. He was the one who would always be left behind.

And though they were not all his tales, he saw himself in them: pushed to the corners of the dark. He was just like them. As solid as smoke and just as powerless.

→ Séverin 💀 half-Algerian, clever, criminal mastermind, total grump-butt in the best way
→ Laila 🍰 Indian, #squadmom, baker extraordinaire, sweetest and most loving little ball of sunshine ever, has a beautiful story arc regarding the importance of dance in her culture/homeland
→ Zofia 🔬 Jewish, Polish, autistic (and so well-done, written with such obvious care and research), scientist/genius, wickedly funny, probably my actual favorite??
→ Enrique 📜 Filipino/Spanish, queer, adorable, pouty, historian, has endless internal monologues about feeling erased, suffering racism/microaggressions, etc., made me cry a million times
→ Tristan 🕸 precious soft little bean, has a pet tarantula he never shuts up about, needs to be protected and cared for at all costs
→ Hypnos 💎 black, queer, doesn’t always have the best motives but is generally the actual softest, killer taste in fashion

He whispered the words Pride spoke every time he went to repossess an object: “I’ve come to collect my dues.”

“When you are who they expect you to be, they never look too closely. If you’re furious, let it be fuel.”