Chapter 16 - Shadows of the Gate

There is a particular kind of hunger that has nothing to do with food, and everything to do with needing to know. A crowded hall, borrowed beds, watching eyes — and one person certain she is being lied about, with no way to prove it but to trespass where she shouldn't. Every stray glance feels like an accusation, every squeak of a hinge a countdown. How far will you go to clear your own name, and what does it cost you to be caught trying? — Narrated by Rebecca Hasler. Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed. Support the show: Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series New episodes every Tuesday.

A crowded inn, a hungry brood, and a conversation that has to happen whether anyone wants it or not. There is a particular kind of dread in confronting family — the people who know exactly where you're soft, and press. This one runs hot with old grudges and colder with what they leave unsaid, until the ground you thought you were standing on tips beneath you. How far would you go to clear your own name, and what would it cost you to learn you were chasing the wrong thing? — Narrated by Rebecca Hasler. Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed. Support the show: Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series New episodes every Tuesday.

Some rooms are loud with quiet suffering — the hiss of salve, a child's hiccupping tears, the small talk people reach for when there's nothing left to say. A weary mother runs out of comfort to give, weighing one mistake against everyone she loves. A difficult man is remembered gently by the few who knew his softer hours, and grief has a way of loosening the tongue. How much do you owe the people who trusted you? — Narrated by Rebecca Hasler. Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed. Support the show: Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series New episodes every Tuesday.

There is a particular heat that floods the face when a whole town has decided what you are. A woman moves through a crowd that used to be neighbors, a baby asleep against her back and a small hand in hers, offering to help and finding suspicion in every glance. This is an hour about the stories people tell to make sense of their grief — and what it costs to stand still beneath them. How much scorn can you swallow before someone smaller than you decides they've had enough? — Narrated by Rebecca Hasler. Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed. Support the show: Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series New episodes every Tuesday.

A festival morning, cold river water on your hands, and a whole day's small resentments—right up until the moment the ordinary stops being safe. This is the chapter where a mother counts her children with her eyes and refuses to let her voice shake. It asks what a person owes the neighbors who never quite trusted them, and whether a secret carried for fifteen years is a debt that can ever be paid. The dread here is quiet, domestic, and relentless: the fear of not being enough, and the colder fear of being turned away when you offer. — Narrated by Rebecca Hasler. Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed. Support the show: Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series New episodes every Tuesday.