Harrowhark Nonagesimus

Harrowhark Nonagesimus from the Harrow the Ninth book cover illustrated by Tommy Arnold

### Alias

H.O. (Callsign)
Harrow (Diminutive)
Harrow the First
The Reverend Daughter
By Gideon Nav:
Night Boss
Bone Empress
Gloom Mistress
Penumbral Lady
Midnight Hagette
 Lamentable Queen
Crepuscular Queen
Tenebrous Overlord
Hideous witch from hell
Butt-touched nun
Insane creep
Jackass
Numbnuts
Asswipe
Assmunch
Sunshine
Ignorant sack of eyeballs
Loser
Bozo
Dick
Sugarlips
Desiccated Mummy of Hate
Marchioness of bones
Perfect penitent nunlet
By Ianthe Tridentarius:
Harry
Crazycakes
Skull-Faced Fruitcake
Psycho Shadow Vestal
Tedious Little Bone Witch

## Biography

### Title

Harrow the First
Reverend Daughter of Drearburh

## Necromancy

### Cavalier

Gideon Nav (Current)
Ortus Nigenad (Former)

### Speciality

Bone Adept
large scale bone constructs and perpetual bone/ash

## Cavalier Stats

### Main

Double-Handed Sword
Cavalier's Rapier

## Affiliation

### Allegiance

The Body
The Locked Tomb
The Ninth House

### Family

Pelleamena Novenarius (Mother)
Priamhark Noniusvianus (Father)
Sister Aisamorta (Great-Aunt)
Sister Lachrimorta (Great-Aunt)

## Physical Description

### General Build

Shorn black hair with a small, sickly build

> *"Harrowhark said, in the exact sepulchral tones of Marshal Crux: 'Death first to vultures and scavengers.'"*
>
>

**Harrowhark Nonagesimus** *(HA-row-hark Noh-nah-GUESS-i-mus)* is the Ninth Saint to the Serve the King Undying, formerly known as the Reverend Daughter of Drearburh and Heir to the House of the Ninth. Born of her parent's genocidal plot, she is a powerful bone adept with the entire future of the Ninth House on her shoulders.

## **Biography**

### **Early Life**

Harrow's life was ordained before her conception. After failing to carry a necromantic child to term, her parents, Pelleamena Novenarius and Priamhark Noniusvianus devised a plan to ensure the future of their House. The Ninth House Genocide harnessed the thanergy bloom of the deaths of two hundred Ninth House children to ensure the viability of Pelleamena's pregnancy at the cost of an entire generation.

> *"The Tomb I will serve till the end of my days, and then see me buried in two hundred graves..."*
>
>

From a young age, Harrow was raised with the full knowledge of the circumstances and cost of her birth. Her aunts, the Sisters Aisamorta and Lachrimorta, led her in forty-five minutes of prayers each night, specifically written to reflect her situation. She treated each birthday as a memorial.

Following the Ninth House Genocide, the only children in the House were Ortus Nigenad, Harrow's cavalier, and Gideon Nav, an indentured servant. Though there was some talk of marrying Harrow to Ortus, the idea was abandoned as it was decided that this would irreparably mix the necromantic and cavalier lines.

Harrow's necromantic training was largely self-directed in the Drearburh library where she studied advanced necromatic texts. Her parents' only contributions were requiring her to recite theorems, grow bones from powder, or rebuild skeletons that Marshal Crux had dropped to the bottom of the drill shaft.

> *"I was tired of being two hundred corpses, [...] I had decided to go and look at the Tomb—and if I didn't think it was worth it—to go up the stairs [...] open up an airlock, and walk..."*
>
>

Before age ten, Harrow decided to look inside the Locked Tomb and decide for herself if her birth had been worth it. One day, she got into a particularly violent fight with Gideon, wrote a suicide note, and began the process of opening the Locked Tomb. After a year of study and slow progress, she was able to get past the wards leading up to the stone guarding the Tomb. Once inside, she fell in love with the Body.
Discovering that Harrow had opened the Tomb, Gideon reported Harrow to her parents. Believing her actions to be a betrayal of God and the Ninth House's purpose, Harrow's parents and their cavalier Mortus hanged themselves. After her parents' death, Harrow found theorems that allowed her to puppet their bodies and pretend they are still alive. She told the penitents of the Ninth House that her parents' had taken religious vows of silence, fasting, daily contemplation, seclusion, and more as explanation. Their death remains a secret.

> *"You are my whipping girl! I hurt you because it was a relief! [...] I have spent your life trying to make you regret that you weren't dead, all because―I regretted I wasn't!"*
>
>

Harrow spent the remainder of her childhood tormenting Gideon. They blamed each other for the hardships they were forced to endure and spent much of their youth plotting against each other. Harrow often devised terrible traps and punishments for Gideon that went far beyond childhood rough-housing. By the time Gideon turned eighteen, Harrow foiled her plans to leave eighty-six separate times.

A week before Gideon's eighty-seventh escape attempt, Harrow receives a summons from The Emperor of The Nine Houses calling for the Heirs of the Eight Houses to travel to First House as postulants to the position of Lyctor. The summons includes instructions to send her reply with a shuttle already scheduled to leave the Ninth next week, which Harrow quickly realizes was ordered by Gideon as part of an escape plan. The night before the shuttle is due, Harrow works to bury bone pieces throughout the entirety of the landing field.

### **Gideon the Ninth**

#### Act I

The morning of Gideon Nav's escape attempt, Harrow approaches her while she is waiting for the shuttle and she offers her a bribe to stay: a purchase of her Cohort commission that ensures Gideon a good military career and releases her from her Ninth House servitude. After Gideon declines, Harrow proposes a duel. Her terms are as follows: if Gideon wins, she leaves the Ninth with the commission; if Gideon loses, she must attend muster before she can leave with the commission. She makes a show of disarming herself, baiting Gideon into believing she has set aside her source for necromancy, and Gideon accepts. Harrow easily pummels Gideon with a skeleton-construct army formed from the previously buried bone and instructs her Marshal, Crux, to bring Gideon to the muster.

At muster, Harrow reads The Emperor's summons and announces her intent to travel to the First House with her cavalier, Ortus Nigenad. Ortus's mother, Sister Glaurica, cries out that her husband, Mortus, gave his life for Harrow's family already and begs Harrow not to take her son away too. Ortus expresses his fear of dying and holds his distraught mother. Crux tries to usher them out, but it takes Harrow beginning a prayer to restore silence and order. As Sister Glaurica's sobbing continues, Harrow has Crux follow through on his threats and take them out of the sanctuary knowing that they will take the opportunity to flee on the waiting shuttle. After the meeting has finished, she meets Gideon outside and shares the unhappy news that her shuttle has already departed.

One week later, Harrow collects Gideon from her cell and insists that she take up the position of cavalier primary to attend her on her journey to the First House. In return for her service, Harrow insists that Gideon will receive rewards—her freedom, riches, a position among the Cohort—anything she desires. Gideon tries to refuse, going so far as to draw her blade on Harrow, but Captain Aiglamene convinces her to reconsider.

During Gideon's preparations, Harrow insists that Gideon upholds the traditional appearance and values of the Ninth House. She explains that Lyctorhood is her only chance to gain God's ear and revitalize the failing Ninth House. Harrow and Aiglamene give Gideon crash-course cavalier lessons on traditional face paint, traditional dress, proper use of a rapier, and unsuccessfully attempt to instill within her a cavalier's attitude. Between her own preparations, Harrow finds the time to watch Gideon train, and Aiglamene begins having Gideon learn to shadow Harrow, walking half a step behind her like a proper cavalier.

As Gideon continues training with Aiglamene, Harrow locks herself in the library studying everything she can about Lyctorhood and her competition. Additionally, she arranges an undisclosed project with Crux that requires him to take a large number of skeleton servants into the depths of Ninth House. Before leaving, Harrow tells the members of the Ninth House that her parents will be in solitary penitence until her return, to continue hiding their deaths while she is gone and unable to puppet them. Before departing Harrow promotes Crux and Aiglamene to Seneschal and Marshal, respectively, to oversee the affairs of the House.

Travel to the First House is uneventful and Harrow spends the majority of the hour-long journey withdrawn and quiet as she suffers from the lack of thanergy in deep space. Several security clearance abnormalities delay landing, but when they finally receive the okay Harrow veils herself, walks off the shuttle, and kneels in prayer. They are greeted by Teacher, and Harrow confirms that Gideon has replaced Ortus as cavalier primary. As the other houses disembark, Dulcinea Septimus faints. Gideon rushes over to aid her, and Dulcinea's cavalier, Protesilaus Ebdoma, draws his rapier on her. Harrow snaps at Dulcinea, but Dulcinea smooths over the situation by promising Protesilaus will be more mindful of his sword and seeming delighted to meet the nuns of The Locked Tomb.

Teacher invites everyone inside and offers tea, which Harrow does not drink. She listens politely to the traditional prayer of the other eight Houses, and then, at Teacher's request, speaks the Ninth House prayer. She listens to Teacher, who does not offer much by way of instruction on the process of becoming a Lyctor, only handing out metal rings to each cavalier and asking that no one attempts to open any door that is locked without first asking permission. Afterward, a skeleton servant leads Harrow and Gideon to their rooms beneath the shuttle dock. While Gideon sleeps, Harrow takes the metal ring, leaves several notes, and goes out and begins to map the entirety of Canaan House—labeling each door and noting which are locked.

#### Act II

After taking the metal ring and leaving Gideon a note ordering her not to talk to anyone or to come looking for her, Harrow continues her investigation of Canaan House. She discovers a locked trap door in the basement and, remembering Teacher's instructions, comes to see him for permission to go inside. Teacher gives her a key, which she puts on the key ring and then uses to unlock the hatch and descend into the Facility. There she discovers several necromantic tests she believes must be beaten to unlock the secret to Lyctorhood. Not bothering to include Gideon in her discovery, she begins throwing herself at the first test—Imaging/Response. Harrow does not spend any time in their shared rooms aside from leaving instructional notes for her cavalier and occasionally sleeping. One day, Harrow is walking down by the pool room and stops to watch the cavaliers train long enough to see Gideon and Naberius Tern duel. Gideon spots her after the duel is finished, but Harrow walks away without saying a word.

Later that week, Harrow again goes down to the Facility to attempt the Imaging/Response laboratory. Initiating this test locks in the Imaging room after she places her hand on a glass panel, and locks the door to the Response room as well. From the Imaging room, Harrow raises skeleton construct after skeleton construct in the Response room to fight an unseen enemy until eventually her energy drains completely. To prevent herself from passing out unprotected, she builds herself a cocoon of bone. When she does not return to their rooms, Gideon goes looking for her with the help of Harrow's rivals, Palamedes Sextus and Camilla Hect. They find her and Palamedes performs a brief medical exam before Gideon carries her back to their rooms. Harrow comes to and tries to scold Gideon for removing her from the basement, but Gideon forces her to explain her actions. Harrow shares what she has been doing, and shows Gideon the map of doors. Gideon reveals that she knows of a door that Harrow had not yet located. Gideon then tells Harrow that if Harrow wants her to continue wearing face paint and following the Ninth House cavalier standards and rules Harrow puts in place that she will include her moving forward. Harrow is opposed at first, but eventually relents and agrees to include Gideon–warning her of the dangers that lie ahead.

After resting, Harrow and Gideon return to the Facility. Harrow explains the Imaging/Response test as she understands it, and instructs Gideon to wait outside the "response" door and gather information on the opponent. After a round of skeletons, Gideon describes a hideously complex and large construct that does not even seem necromantically possible, and Harrow becomes frustrated. Her tirade of confusion is cut short by Gideon's request to go into the response room to fight the construct herself. Harrow denies her and tries her skeletons multiple times before Gideon intercepts a skeleton and sneaks inside. Once Gideon is inside, Harrow understands the test—she must connect to Gideon's living spirit and see the construct, literally, through Gideon's eyes to guide her attacks. After this first attempt, Harrow faints in exhaustion.

Gideon bullies her into returning to their rooms for a meal and Harrow does her best to explain the theory behind the test. Magnus Quinn interrupts their conversation to give them an invitation to his and Abigail Pent's Anniversary Dinner. Harrow states she doesn't want to go, but Gideon puts her foot down and claims it would be advantageous for them to spend time with their competition. They arrive at the party and greet the hosts. Harrow sits beside Silas Octakiseron, Ianthe Tridentarius, Protesilaus, and Naberius; she endures an incredibly awkward and stilted meal. After dinner, Harrow questions Teacher about the progress of the other competitors and discovers that Abigail and Silas, in addition to Palamedes and the Third House, have discovered the basement Facility. Furious, she immediately pulls Gideon from the party and brings her back to the Facility to continue.

The prospect of taking over another living soul is wickedly complicated, and it takes numerous painful tries before finally Harrow can manage it. As Gideon attacks the construct, Harrow directs her to the weaknesses in the necromancy and they peel back the theorems animating the construct. Once defeated, the construct reveals a black box containing a key. Victorious, and more than a little in awe of the magnitude of the task they had accomplished, they go to leave the Facility. At the foot of the ladder, they discover the murdered bodies of Magnus and Abigail.

#### Act III

Despite already exhausting herself in the Facility laboratory, Harrow sets to work on raising the ghosts of Fifth House. She and most of the other necromancers work for hours attempting to make contact with Abigail and Magnus, to no avail. When Harrow finally faints, Gideon removes her to recover. Upon waking, she shadows Palamedes and the two discuss their work as if they had not been treating each other as enemies earlier that day. Once all of the necromancers have exhausted their options, Silas Octakiseron comes to the Facility. Harrow tries to warn him off, but he dismisses her. Silas sets to siphoning his cavalier, Colum Asht—a taboo type of necromancy that involves sending Colum's spirit away from his body and drawing energy from him.

As Silas siphons his cavalier, the necromancy begins to affect the space—dimming the lights, chilling the air, and even drawing on the postulants themselves, though not as starkly as Colum. He has just begun to make progress on calling the spirits of Fifth House when Dulcinea Septimus faints and her cavalier knocks out Silas. Teacher appears at the top of the hatch, fetched by Judith Deuteros and Marta Dyas, and claims that everyone is in grave danger and demands they return upstairs immediately. Harrow uses her skeletons to carry the bodies up the ladder and bring them to the morgue but has little to add to the following conversation about how to proceed with the investigation and Lyctor trials. She only rouses herself to defend Ninth House from Silas's veiled accusations and to make clear she has no intention of collaborating.

After the meeting, Harrow and Gideon investigate their new key. Gideon recognizes the markings on the key to be the same as on the room she discovered—room X-203—and the key fits. The room is a combination of a laboratory and living quarters, where a necromancer/cavalier team could have lived and worked in tandem. On the laboratory side, Harrow discovers a preserved record of the entire theorem of transference, which she copies into her notes. On the living quarter's side, Gideon investigates the life of the room's former occupants. The girls take a moment to discuss Abigail and Magnus, and Harrow concludes that she and Gideon can no longer afford to operate as strangers. Gideon says Harrow can prove her trustworthiness by letting them sleep before they tackle any more testing rooms, which she accepts. On their way back to their rooms, they pass the Fourth House teens.

The next morning, Dulcinea finds Harrow and Gideon in the Facility and proposes a trade: she will explain the trick to the avulsion laboratory (which she is too sick to complete) if Harrow agrees to share the key. Fearing that she will turn to another necromancer, Harrow agrees. Dulcinea explains that the avulsion test is about the necromancer siphoning thalergy from the cavalier to sustain them as they cross a vicious necromantic field and open a box. Harrow is uncomfortable using this taboo magic, but Gideon surprises her by accepting easily. They begin immediately and the ferocity of the field catches Harrow off guard. It strips her of all of her bones, her clothing, the ends of her hair and eyelashes, and even her face paint, but she makes it back without killing Gideon or herself. After, Harrow is seemingly angry with herself, Dulcinea, and even Gideon. She immediately takes Gideon back to their rooms.

After putting Gideon to bed, Harrow leaves several threatening notes and arranges for Sixth House to examine her once she's had some time to rest. She takes the newest key and goes to the study to copy down the theorem notes for aluvsion before fulfilling her end of the bargain by giving the key to Dulcinea. Harrow intends to return to the Facility, but on her way to the laboratories, she encounters Protesilaus Ebdoma. She suspects that he may not be as alive as he is pretending to be and accidentally beheads him by pushing at the theorems that animate him. She only has a few minutes with him before she hears someone coming, and has to take the head with her and stash it in her closet. She is asleep by the time Gideon wakes again and refuses to get up when nudged.

As the rest of the postulants discover that Dulcinea and Protesilaus are missing, Harrow does not divulge what has happened. Dulcinea is found, sickening after falling in the rain, and all of the necromancers are gathered to examine the cremains Isaac Tettares has found in the incinerator. Harrow has little to say about the ashes themselves but is interested in what others can glean and what that says about their skill—particularly Ianthe, who has keener observations than she expected. Likewise, Harrow is less interested in the speculation and accusations of the other teams and more interested in who has what keys—especially after Silas arrives having secured Dulcinea's set, allegedly for safekeeping.

Silas's actions begin a new chain of accusations, and then dueling challenges that Harrow watches passively until she notices Gideon's poorly concealed anticipation. Obediently, she attentively watches Camilla the Sixth and Marta the Second duel and learns that Palamedes and Camilla are a much more formidable team than expected. When Ianthe challenges the Sixth for their—and Dulcinea's—keys, Harrow catches Gideon's silent plea and announces that the Ninth will represent the injured Camilla. She rejects the claim that Sixth and Ninth are in cahoots, and instead claims contempt for Ianthe's blatant power grab. Jeannemary Chatur joins in, challenging Naberius after Gideon, and the duel falls apart. The group disperses as enemies, leaving only Fourth, Sixth, and Ninth as tenuous allies.

Palamedes reveals that he has completed every test and tracked every key, leaving only one unaccounted for. He suggests that they search for Protesilaus and, having noticed Protesilaus's key ring was missing a hatch key, Palamedes suggests that he may still be in the Facility. He recommends splitting up, thinking it would be unwise to leave Dulcinea unguarded, and suggests he, Camilla, and Harrow go to the Facility; and Gideon, Isaac, and Jeannemary guard Dulcinea. Harrow, thinking that he is working with Dulcinea and planning to spring something on Gideon and the Fourth, points out that with his cavalier wounded this puts Sixth in a dangerous position. Palamedes claims to place his trust in Harrow, but she insists that they switch assignments.

Palamedes leaves it to Fourth House and Gideon to decide, and they agree to the plan. Harrow gives Gideon their set of keys and warns her about working with children. Unexpectedly, Gideon picks her up and hugs her, thanking her sincerely for allowing her to take the duel with Naberius. Harrow, startled by the affection and turn from their usual antagonistic relationship, tells her not to make it weird and hurries after Palamedes.

#### Act IV

When they do not return from the Facility, Harrow, Palamedes, and Camilla go looking for their missing companions. Harrow finds her cavalier in the Lyctor study with the body of Jeannemary Chatur, impaled by shards of bone. She continues to team up with Sixth House, meeting to negotiate a trade of information—Harrow will give Palamedes her map of Canaan House and helps him pick a lock if he will give her all his notes from the Lyctor studies he's accessed. The lock turns out to be another Lyctor study, one that is jammed with regenerating ash. Harrow lacks the power to undo it, but Gideon offers herself up to siphoning, and together they unblock it. Palamedes warns Harrow not to use her cavalier that way, but she ignores him.

Lacking the key to get into the room, they go to continue with their business. As he departs, Palamedes asks Gideon to keep an eye on Dulcinea. In response, and because she does not believe she can trust either Palamedes or Gideon with Dulcinea, Harrow bans Gideon from seeing Dulcinea. Harrow claims Gideon should stick with her house, and Gideon fights back saying Dulcinea has been more of a friend to her than Harrow ever was. Gideon tries to explain that the Lyctor trials are based on teamwork between necromancers and cavaliers, but Harrow claims she does not need anyone's help. Gideon asks to be released from her service but Harrow refuses. The two girls part on worse terms than when they were on Ninth House.

Later that day, Camilla comes to find Harrow. She handcuffs her, citing that Protesilaus's decapitated head has been found in her closet, and brings her back to the Sixth House chambers. When they arrive, Palamedes does not accuse her of murder and Harrow realizes that Palamedes has been truthful about his motivations the entire time, and thus a trustworthy ally. The two gather the rest of the postulants in Dulcinea's sickroom and Palamedes proposes that Protesilaus has been dead the whole time. Dulcinea confirms that her cavalier was reanimated by flesh magic called the beguiling corpse and claims her house intended to send her with a living Protesilaus, but that he had had an accident and died. Harrow tries to claim carrion rights over Protesilaus' body, which would allow her to scrutinize the bones without an audience but is denied. As Dulcinea's illness flares, Harrow leaves and is followed by Gideon.

Harrow leads Gideon down to the pool room. Setting skeletons at the doors and around the pool, she proclaims that it is time to tell Gideon everything. Following Harrow's family tradition, they strip their outer robes and get in the saltwater pool. Harrow tells Gideon the whole truth about Ninth House: the Ninth House Genocide, the horrifying miracle of her birth, and her suicidal opening of the Locked Tomb. Gideon expresses sympathy for Harrow, causing her to agonize over her treatment of Gideon as a child. Gideon does a ritual drowning before affirming their vows of one flesh, one end. Harrow explains that she has fallen in love with the body in the Locked Tomb and makes Gideon promise that if she (Harrow) dies, Gideon must return to the Ninth House and continue to guard the Tomb. They talk all evening and eventually go to bed with Gideon in her proper place on the cavalier's bed.

The next day, Sixth and Ninth go to the Lyctor study they unblocked and Harrow uses Palamedes psychometric perception of the key to build a copy out of bone. Inside, Harrow goes for the theorem notes, but Palamedes and Camilla take their time examining the other objects in the study. Camilla discovers a binder full of photos, including one of Teacher. Their investigation is cut short by the fire alarm as they all immediately leave. In the halls and Dulcinea's room, they find slumped, broken skeleton servants. Dulcinea tells them Teacher went to close a door and hasn't yet returned. They find a pile-up of bones leading into a room that contains Judith and the bodies of Teacher and Marta. Judith describes a fight with Teacher over access to the communication devices gone wrong but confirms that she got through to the Imperial flagship. Palamedes informs her that he cannot save her and she asks to be left where she is with a sword.

They return to find Eighth House waiting outside Dulcinea's rooms. Silas reports that Third House has defiled the corpse of Abigail. They investigate the body and Palamedes discovers that a key was hidden inside of Abigail, which Third House now has in their possession. Together, Ninth, Sixth, and Eighth House return to the Lyctor study they had just left to discover Coronabeth sobbing, Naberius dead, and Ianthe a newly-born Lyctor. She does not deny her actions and triumphantly explains that she has reverse-engineered the entire Lyctoral process from the tests in the Facility—killing Naberius and eating his soul to fuel her power. Though all take great moral offense to her actions, only Silas is stupid enough to challenge her—dooming Colum to a horrible siphoning tragedy. Harrow does not engage in the fight and, afterward, they leave Coronabeth with the corpses of Naberius, Silas, and Colum.

Back in the hall, Camilla realizes they've lost Palamedes and explains Palamedes's history with Dulcinea. Stricken, Gideon asks Harrow to fetch her sword and runs after him. When Harrow and Camilla catch up with Gideon, Cytherea the First is about to attack. Camilla drives Cytherea back and Harrow buries her in skeleton constructs to allow Camilla the chance to retreat. Cytherea summons the construct that killed Isaac, and Gideon and Harrow launch into battle as a team. Harrow clears the way for Gideon, and Camilla fights around them, darting in and out of sight. Harrow is winding up for an attack when Cytherea, healed, attacks Gideon directly. Gideon fights her back and she disappears again. Harrow topples the construct and, by using Gideon's perceptions and directing her strikes as in the transference laboratory before, plugs up his joints with perpetual ash. Exhausted, Harrow passes out.

Gideon protects Harrow's unconscious body, keeping her out of the way of a fight between Cytherea and Camilla and then Cytherea and Ianthe, and drags her outside. Harrow finally comes to as Cytherea and Gideon fight. She sends more skeletons after Cytherea, who in turn summons the construct again. Harrow builds a shield of bone around Camilla, Gideon, and herself, but she can't hold it long. Gideon begs her to siphon, but after Colum's horrible death she refuses. Harrow begins to outline a plan where she holds off Cytherea as Gideon and Camilla escape, but Gideon refuses outright. They share a tender moment before Gideon turns and falls on the spikes of the fence. She dies, offering her soul to make Harrow a Lyctor capable of defeating Cytherea.

#### Act V

Harrow comes through the Lyctoral process screaming, with the voice of Gideon in her head. Gideon's voice tells her to take down the construct, and she does. She picks up Gideon's sword and walks towards Cytherea. She completes Palamedes's work and nudges her illness beyond its limits. Then, Harrow drives the sword into Cytherea's heart, killing her. She runs back to Gideon's body, pulls it off the spike, and lays down in the grass with her.

#### Epilogue

Harrow wakes on a sterile spaceship in deep space. There is a man in the room with her working at a tablet, and she recognizes him as The Emperor, her God. She begs him to resurrect Gideon but he refuses, claiming that he cannot separate their souls now. Harrow angrily confronts him, and he replies simply *"The Empire is dying."* He tells her about who Cytherea was before, and is apologetic that she did not get to make this choice for herself. The Emperor tells her that Ianthe also survived, but that bodies of Gideon, Camilla, Judith, and Coronabeth were not found. He promises to restore the Ninth House and asks her to come with him and join him. She agrees.

### **Harrow the Ninth**

#### Fourteen Months Before the Emperor's Murder

*Harrowhark Nonagesimus sits in Drearburh with her cavalier, Ortus Nigenad, as he reads through a summons from the Emperor calling the necromantic heir from each House and their cavalier primary to Canaan House to compete for the position of Lyctor. Ortus protests that he cannot accompany her, as he has no skill in swordsmanship, but Harrow dismisses his concerns. Confusingly, he asks her to consider* Ortus Nigenad, *but the conversation continues in circles. A serving sister enters the rooms and Harrow recognizes her to be a hallucination of the Body in the Locked Tomb. As the Body comes closer and proclaims that "*This isn't how it happens,*" Harrow explains to Ortus that she does not need his sword—she needs him to help hide her insanity.*

#### Ten Months Before the Emperor's Murder

A few days after Harrow is brought to the Mithraeum, the space station home of God, Harrow is eating in the kitchen when Ortus the First sneaks up behind her and stabs her between the ribs. With a quick struggle, she manages to free herself and she watches Ortus fight some skeletons that she summons. As he attacks, he drains the thanergy from them and they disappear into dust. Harrow runs into the hall and Ortus follows, throwing his spear and hitting her in the abdomen. Mercymorn the First stumbles upon them, pulls the spear from Harrow, and heals her; all the while shrilly chastising Ortus for attacking Harrow where she is duty-bound to intervene. Ortus requests Harrow's sword, but Harrow and Mercymorn deny him. After Ortus leaves, Mercymorn informs Harrow that unless she said something to anger him, Ortus just wants her dead.

Ortus continues to attempt to murder Harrow fourteen more times over the next several months. Each time, his attempts are foiled by either Harrow, one of the other Lyctors, or Teacher Himself. In one conversation, Teacher explains that Ortus made a pact with a higher authority to protect him—the Necrolord Prime—and that something has caused him to decide that Harrow is dangerous. Teacher says he cannot put a stop to it, and instead asks her to wear a rapier. In the same conversation, he recounts the story of Anastasia's time with the disciples, how she "*got the Lyctoral process fundamentally wrong*", and her creation of the Locked Tomb. He recites Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe to her but does not tell her anymore about who is buried in the Tomb.

#### Nine Months and Twenty-Nine Days Before the Emperor's Murder

Following the events of the Battle of Canaan House and Harrow's ascension to Lyctor, she decides that she will stop the process before the soul of Gideon Nav is consumed. She enlists Ianthe Tridentarius's help, and the two write twenty-four encrypted (and cursed) letters—two for Ianthe, and twenty-two for Harrow. Additionally, Harrow makes Ianthe swear a number of oaths and submit to the Sewn Tongue, a Ninth House vow. In return, she makes similar vows and oaths to Ianthe, which she promises to remake after the procedure.

With the letters written and vows extracted, they have reached the end of their planning phase and embark on the high experimental procedure. Harrow plans to perform brain surgery on herself—removing her ability to conceive of Gideon Nav so that she cannot be fully integrated into Harrow's soul. Ianthe begs Harrow to explain why she is doing this, but Harrow only vaguely explains that Ianthe can understand her grief. As her eyes begin to shift to gold, she presses Ianthe to begin and they perform the procedure. At a certain point, she sends Ianthe behind a curtain so that the full extent of the operation is kept secret from her.

#### Nine Months Before the Emperor's Murder

Harrow is healing poorly on the Erebos. She tries to recover and work at her sword, which she finds burning hot and immensely heavy, but each attempt ends with her vomiting. When she is not working at her sword and vomiting or asleep, she struggles to keep track of time—often finding that she has lost time or moved things in her room without any knowledge of having done so. In her worst moments, she even struggles to remember who and where she is. To comfort herself, Harrow crafts veils from bed sheets and paints her face with her blood. She is visited by the hallucination of the Body, who she finds comforting and who helps lull her back to sleep.

Eventually, the Emperor, who asks to be called Teacher, comes to her and asks Harrow to walk with him. Accompanied by the Body (that only Harrow can see), the Emperor brings her to the cargo hold to see the bodies that will repopulate her House and the caskets of those who died in Canaan House (some of which are empty). There, Teacher explains that the original Resurrection of the Nine Planets caused the birth of Resurrection Beasts—planetary revenants—that hunt him and the Lyctors, and that she can never return home. At this, the Body begins to speak to Harrow. Mistaking her conversation with the Body for grief, Teacher attempts to comfort her. The Body closes her eyes, and Harrow faints.

Harrow is woken by an attempt to suffocate her and flings keratin shards at her attacker before losing consciousness. When she wakes, the room is spotless and Ianthe sits in front of her bed. She gives Harrow one of the letters written in cipher. The letter explains that a former Harrow has done something, which she cannot reveal, and gives the current Harrow a list of rules to abide by in her new life. As the letter instructs, she confirms Ianthe's jaw and tongue are her own by kissing her before swearing her allegiance. Ianthe gives her a First House pearlescent robe and the other letters. She and Harrow quibble over the contents of the letters—including whether Coronabeth is alive. As Ianthe leaves, Harrow makes a snide remark about Naberius Tern. Thrusting his trident knife first into her hand, which heals, and then into Harrow's, she proves that Harrow has no regenerative power. Ianthe warns Harrow not to suggest her sister is dead and leaves. Harrow checks the room and discovers evidence of the earlier massacre behind a pile of boxes. She returns to sleep next to the hallucination of the Body.

*Harrow wakes to the sun of First House as she and Ortus arrive at Canaan House. As their ship is vetted, Ortus recites poetry from his work, The Noniad, and attempts to start a philosophical conversation about whether the immortality of Lyctorhood is a tragedy. Harrow is dismissive of his argument and, impatiently, goes to communicate with the men on the planet. She spots a note on the seats of the ship and reads a bizarre missive about eggs. Harrow shows it to Ortus and is dismayed to learn that he sees only a blank piece of flimsy.*

Harrow wakes up, paralyzed with necromancy, and rolling through the Erebos in a wheelchair. She sesses that her captor is another Lyctor, but not Ianthe. Mercymorn the First, her captor, bullies her way through Cohort underlings, to reach the elevator. Inside, Harrow undoes the binding and Mercymorn begins to berate her for being a child. She walks Harrow to the shuttle bay, and into the transport shuttle she has acquired for their journey. Ianthe joins her inside and shares that the Cohort has suffered the loss of three warships. As they wait, Mercymorn, Admiral Sarpedon, and Teacher argue over the shuttle's departure. Teacher asks about Harrow's health, and Ianthe promises to watch out for her. The argument between Mercymorn and Teacher continues but, seeing Ianthe's blatant eavesdropping, goes non-verbal. Harrow is more interested in watching the hallucinated Body, who has joined them on the ship. The argument ends, and Teacher instructs Harrow to attach her sword to the shuttle floor as they prepare to launch.

In space, Teacher informs them that the only way to reach their new home, the Mithraeum, on time is to go through the River, a liminal space filled with mad ghosts. Beginning their descent into the River, he explains that he will guide the ship and their physical bodies into the River, but that they must hold their souls. He instructs them to lay down and use the principles of the Imaging/Response chamber in the Facility to bind their souls to their bodies, warning them that if they fail they will be killed. Ianthe and Harrow pull their hoods over their faces, and the shuttle submerges. In the River, Harrow is initially watching Ianthe writhe in fear with a detached curiosity. She attempts to work theorems, but Teacher and Mercy stop her. At this point, Harrow loses focus and begins to drift. Teacher instructs Mercy to accelerate and, grabbing Harrow, gets them out of the River.

*Inside Canaan House, Harrow is asked by Teacher to lead a prayer and blanks, forcing Ortus to recite it for her. Teacher thanks them, and hands out one key attached to a keyring to each cavalier. He follows this with a lesson on the history of Canaan House, the original Lyctors, and the laboratory Facility they built to study Lyctorhood. Finally, he introduces the Sleeper, a monster in a coffin that would spell destruction if woken, but assures the postulants that they are safe upstairs. As the construct servants lead them to their rooms, Ortus again balks at his task and asks Harrow why she chose him. She responds that he was the only option. As they leave, the servant asks her,* "Is this how it happens?"

Harrow wakes up in a pew with Ianthe at Cytherea the First's funeral. Attempting not to make her presence intrusive, Harrow watches Teacher, Mercymorn, and Augustine the First mourn and eulogize Cytherea, and her cavalier, Loveday Heptane, with stories of their lives. Mercymorn notices Harrow and Ianthe are awake and Teacher brings them up to Cytherea's casket. Augustine introduces himself and asks several funeral-inappropriate questions of the girls. The third and final original Lyctor arrives, announcing that the Seventh Resurrection Beast is within ten months of Mithraeum. He calls Teacher "John" and asks if they are going to stay and fight or run, to which Teacher chooses to stay. Harrow hears Teacher call him "Ortus the First," and faints.

*Harrow enters the library where Fifth House team, Abigail Pent and Magnus Quinn, are listening to Ortus recite from his Noniad. Abigail attempts a conversation about the Lyctoral artifacts she has found, but Harrow is reluctant to discuss the bounds of her research. Abigail hands Harrow a piece of paper, asking for her opinion on its contents. Magnus asks to hear the end of the section of Ortus's poem and Harrow gives him a run down, after which, his eyes seem to change color and he asks* "Is this really how it happens?" *Abigail interrupts to ask Harrow about the 150+ revenant signatures she reads from her, causing her to flee. Harrow commands Ortus to avoid Fifth House and claims that she will kill Abigail if she looks further into Harrow's ghosts. She also criticizes Ortus's Noniad and his attitude, to which he calmly refutes her right to command his emotions. Harrow looks at the paper given to her by Abigail, finding yet another bizarre missive about eggs. According to Ortus, the paper contains only an informal invitation to a meal.*

Despite being taken to bed after her fainting spell, Harrow wakes to find herself back in the chapel. She has thrust her into the body of Cytherea, despite having no memory of waking, returning, or using her sword. She is found by Ianthe, who does not seem surprised.

As she continues to dodge Ortus's attempts to kill her, Harrow begins spending time training with Mercymorn: learning the specifics of killing planets, learning the River, and practicing for the upcoming Resurrection Beast. She kills twelve planets by thrusting thanergy into the core of the planet and chasing and defeating its ghost in the River. Each time, Harrow achieves faster times and neater skills, better understanding necromancy and the River, but never living up to Mercymorn's expectations. Mercymorn is an impatient and often unhelpful teacher, leaving Harrow to figure out and fix her mistakes largely on her own.

#### Six Months Before the Emperor's Murder

Mercymorn takes Harrow on her thirteenth mission to a frigid cold planet. Though she kills the planet smoothly, she's rather clumsy as she chases through the River and brings it down with constructs and bone harpoons. When she returns to her body, the hallucination of the Body is waiting with her now-hypothermic self. Mercymorn delivers her scornful review of this attempt—Harrowhark's incomplete Lyctorhood prevents her body from magically protecting herself when she is in the River, leaving her open to attack (and hypothermia). It does not matter how fast she can destroy something in the River—unless her body can protect itself she will sure die in the battle against Number Seven.

Later that night, Harrow goes to Ianthe's rooms. They compare mission times, and Harrow extracts as much information from Ianthe about her run as her mentor, Augustine, is more forthcoming. Though Ianthe's times are not as good as Harrow, Naberius's skill in her unconscious body keeps her protected as a proper Lyctor's should. Ianthe's issue comes in the form of her replacement arm, which becomes useless when Naberius is lending his fighting skill (believed by Harrow to be a psychological issue, rather than a necromantic one). Harrow offers various solutions to the arm problem, but Ianthe rejects them all. She asks Harrow to remake her arm, but given her inexperience with flesh Harrow refuses.

That night, Harrow dreams of eating dinner with her Lyctor siblings and the Body. In the dream, the Body commands her to wake up and she does, waking in her Mithraeum rooms late at night. She leaves her room and in the corridors she sees the body of Cytherea walking with a stilted reanimation. Cytherea starts down the hall after her, but Harrow ducks back to her rooms, refreshes the wards, and pushes a door under the handle. Cytherea tries the door, but cannot get in and gives up. The next morning, Harrow tries to recount the tale to Ianthe, but Ianthe shuts the door in her face.

Some time later, Harrow finds Teacher in his study looking over the reports of the attack on the Erebos. When she asks, he explains that there is an insurgent group, Blood of Eden or BOE, that hates necromancers and, by extension, the entire Nine Houses System. He shares that he suspects that Cytherea's attack on Canaan House was driven by BOE. Teacher asks her about her family and, gently, presses to discover why her necromancy is so strong. When Harrow explains the Ninth House Genocide, he proclaims her a miracle—a type of resurrection―and pledges to make her family's crime right. Another day, Harrow visits Cytherea's tomb and believes her to be moving. When she tells Teacher, he brushes aside her concern and instead suggests she stay out of the room.

As more time and murder attempts pass, Harrow and Ianthe begin to get lessons from Augustine, the best living spirit adept, on the River, spirit magic, and the properties of a Resurrection Beast—all of which are horrifying and sure to kill Harrow if she can't fix her Lyctorhood. Harrow also continues to see and dream of the Body around Mithraeum. In her sleep, she is transported back to her room in Drearburh and has conversations with the Body about her confusion and fears. At one point, the Body refuses to answer a question about her eyes saying, *"She asked me not to tell you."*

During this time, Harrow begins a ciphered collection of notes on her Lyctor siblings and Teacher. Augustine is forthcoming, providing her a (rather flippant) biography of his life, but Mercymorn is much less so and Augustine does not remember enough about her youth to fill Harrow in. Teacher explains a little of Mercymorn's life and her cavalier, Cristabel Oct, but without much detail. Harrow observes a confusing and dense argument between Augustine and Mercymorn, after which they are rarely seen in the same room, but she doesn't know what they are angry about. She also studies Augustine's relationship with Ianthe, which is good aside from her issues with her sword arm. Of Ortus, she only knows that he wants her dead.

*Harrow, despite her attempts to avoid the Fifth House, autopsies and prepares the body of Judith Deuteros with Abigail, Magnus, and Ortus. She and Abigail extract the eight bullets from her body, and the men wash and arrange it. Harrow determines the order of bullets and damage, and Abigail uncovers that the weapon was a Carbine rifle. They theorize on why the Sleeper continued shooting after a fatal first shot, but come up with little proof for any of their theories. The four of them go out into the hall where Marta Dyas waits and hear her retelling of the circumstances surrounding the death. They determine that the Sleeper can move, pass through necromantic wards, and isn't necessarily woken by noise.*

*An unseasonable rain begins to fall at Canaan House, creating a cold fog around the base of the buildings. A second set of bodies is found and brought to the mortuary—those of Camilla Hect and Palamedes Sextus. Abigail brings Harrow and Ortus to see the bodies, and Ortus mourns for them.To identify the mutilated bodies, they bring in Dulcinea Septimus and her cavalier, Protesilaus Ebdoma. Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth decide that Sixth was most likely also killed by the Sleeper. They decide to stick together, philosophically discussing their prospects, and Abigail asks Dulcinea to attempt to win over Silas Octakiseron, Magnus to get Marta Dyas, and Harrow to bring the Third House to their side.*

*As they wrap up, Harrow looks at the things found in Palamedes's pockets and discovers another note about eggs. Ortus announces it to be a drawing of a calligraphic S, drawing Harrow's ire for speaking out of turn. Once the are alone, they argue about how much say a necromancer has over their cavalier's actions. To Harrow's surprise, he reveals that he has always known that Harrow's parents asked his father, Mortus, to kill himself. The argument is broken by a gust of wind and water through the window, bringing a handful of pipette needles into the room.*

#### Four Months Before the Emperor's Murder

As Number Seven draws near, Harrow and Ianthe's training begins to drop off as planning for the battle begins in earnest. The elder Lyctors attempt to explain the nature of the Heralds—external projections of the Resurrection Beast that precede the main corpus—but struggle to make sense. The Heralds are Harrow's greatest adversaries, as they will be attacking the Lyctor's bodies while the Lyctors are in the River, and Harrow has no defense. One night, Harrow asks Teacher if it is certain she will die in the battle and he does not give an overly optimistic answer but reminds her to keep training. Late at night and alone, she works at her sword, but with no cavalier experience to guide her it is to little effect.

Another night, Harrow discovers Ortus in Cytherea's crypt and engaging in the highly taboo act of grave lust. Despite his frequent attempts at her murder, Ortus simply demands that she leave. She brings this information to Ianthe, who enjoys the scandal and gossip more than she shows any concern for the act itself. Harrow's attempts to raise her concern about Cytherea's moving corpse quickly turns into an argument about whether or not God is a dickhead, both of their viability as Lyctors, Ianthe's vows to Harrow, and who is the better necromancer. The fight nearly turns into a duel before Ianthe gives up and goes to sleep.

Harrow, due to the attempts on her life and her paranoia, wards her room to the gills—covering it in regenerating ash and bone needles inside, out, and down the drains and vents. She is bathing when the wards fail—bone particles turned to powder, dead of all thanergy—and Ortus breaks into her bathroom to kill her. As she fights him, he strips the thanergy from her every defense causing them to break to ash and fall apart. She fends him off with her teeth, hitting him in the eyes to blind him, and he finally retreats. Ianthe walks in but leaves without helping. At the display of his true power, Harrow decides that Ortus must die.

Harrow goes to Teacher to expose Ortus for defiling Cytherea's corpse. Though she is certain of what she saw, Teacher denies the likelihood, stating that Ortus is *"legendarily unamorous"* and unlikely to do such a thing to Cytherea. He advises that she take time to rest and pick up a hobby, clearly concerned the stress of the oncoming Beast is getting to her. Instead, Harrow convinces Mercymorn to teach her how to necromance her own organs and produce enough cortisol to stay awake so as not to be caught off-guard by Gideon. She convinces Ianthe to teach her to make soup to abide by Teacher's suggestions.

To encourage her interest in cooking, Teacher asks her to make dinner for everyone. Harrow decides to use this as an opportunity to kill Ortus—she chooses to make a soup and uses her own marrow as an ingredient. As the Lyctors eat her mediocre soup and give polite suggestions on how she can improve, Harrow works at the marrow inside Ortus until she can explode it inside him, rending him to pieces. Teacher magically freezes everyone and chides Harrow. She pleads that he protect her from Ortus's attacks, but he only asks her when she last slept. At her response (six days), he heals Ortus and sends everyone out of the room—instructing Ianthe to put Harrow to bed. On her way out, Ortus salutes her with a cigarette.

*As she's walking through Canaan House, Harrow sees two figures on the docking terrace—Coronabeth Tridentarius and Silas Octakiseron. She hears him curse her and watches as he pushes the Princess over the edge of the terrace. Harrow confronts him, demanding he fights her for his crimes. Silas seems wild and undone and says several vaguely religious and unclear statements. He turns, and before Harrow can reach him, launches himself off the terrace. Harrow believes she sees a splash,* *but it disappears moments later.*

After the soup incident, Harrow wakes in Ianthe's room to see her practicing her sword work. Harrow warns her about Ortus's thanergy void powers, but Ianthe sends her back to sleep. When she next wakes, she finds Ianthe on the floor in the process of cutting her attached arm off—defeated by her self-healing Lyctor powers. Harrow drops down beside her and takes over. With a bone knife, Harrow cuts her arm off in one move and begins sealing the flesh and creating a new skeletal hand. She weaves tendons and nerves into the bone where necessary for Lyctor healing but doesn't bother with flesh. Ianthe adds her own palm of flesh to help grip her sword and it is finished. She picks up Naberius's rapier to experiment and fights beautifully with all his skill. Ianthe leaves to challenge Augustine, and she returns twenty-five minutes later satisfied that it will work. In thanks, she promises to help Harrow kill Ortus.

*A week later, Harrow is in Second House's chambers with Ortus, Marta, Fifth, and Seventh. Abigail and Magnus are awake and offer her a cup of coffee while the others sleep. Their small talk leads to Harrow revealing what she saw transpire between Silas and Coronabeth, and they discuss the loss and what it means for their plans. Abigail asks Harrow to do her a favor and hands her a small note to read. Without Ortus's help, she is forced to read another egg letter and reveal her infirmity. Instead of being shocked, Abigail asks her gently if she has ever considered she may be haunted.*

Ianthe's success with her new arm changes the mood of the Mithraeum. Augustine is delighted with Ianthe's progress, but Mercymorn becomes suspicious of Harrow. She questions Harrow on the construction of the arm and touches her, probing her brain with necromancy. Harrow tries to share her concerns with Ianthe, but Ianthe is unbothered by Mercymorn's behavior. Unable to trust her own wards, Harrow now spends most nights in Ianthe's room. One night, Ianthe tells Harrow that, at Ianthe's request, Augustine has agreed to help Harrow kill Ortus by arranging a distraction for Teacher tomorrow night. Before sleeping, they talk about Coronabeth, their lives before Canaan House, and if they have regrets (they don't). Ianthe compliments Harrow's foresight, and Harrow quotes a piece of the Noniad at her.

The next afternoon, Harrow and Ianthe receive an invitation to a formal dinner party hosted by Augustine. Despite Harrow's best protests, Ianthe delights in dressing her for the occasion—sewing Harrow a slinky dress and doing her hair. Harrow repaints her face and returns to find Ianthe dressed in a purple gown. Following their instructions, they go to Augustine's rooms. Harrow asks him why he would help them kill Ortus, but he evades a true answer stating only that he no longer listens and has caused him pain. Augustine tells them that he can guarantee Ortus will leave and go to the training room and that he will give them a signal to follow him shortly afterward. Mercymorn joins their meeting and Augustine swears by his sword to get her to commit to his plan. When he reveals it, calling it only Dios Apate, minor she resists before grudgingly agreeing.

The dinner is vastly uncomfortable for Harrow—a long, decadent, multi-course meal full of drinking and pleasant conversation. Despite Teacher foisting water on her, she gets quite drunk as she watches the elder Lyctors toast and drink and toast again. Once Augustine's crass toasts finally get Ortus to leave the party, she waits impatiently for their cue. Finally, Augustine and Mercymorn orchestrate a false reconciliation before kissing both each other and Teacher. Horrified, Harrow allows Ianthe to drag her from the room.

In the hall, Ianthe and Harrow express mutual distaste at being forced to see their much older peers engage in sexual activity. Before she leaves, Ianthe goes to kiss Harrow, but she turns away and gently declines—stating her ties to the Locked Tomb. Ianthe makes a snide remark, wishes her luck, and walks off to her room. Harrow continues to the training room, deploying a bomb of osseous material into the room before Ortus has a chance to see or sense her. Once detonated, she enters and finds the room empty. Harrow tries Cytherea's tomb next, and finds Cytherea gone, Ortus's spear bloodied, and a trail of blood. She follows the blood trail to the incinerator where Ortus has been left conscious but with a gaping chest wound.

Harrow looks for Cytherea and finds her in the operating room above. Making her choice, she uses her necromancy to pry open the incinerator and remove Ortus from the flames—causing the incinerator alarm to go off. When they have made it safely to the filtration room, Ortus speaks. With his eyes closed, he explains to Harrow that his thanergy void is ineffective against fresh blood wards. He coughs and begins a completely different line of questioning. Teacher, Augustine, and Mercymorn come in and Harrow recounts her version of events. They move on to inspect the incinerator and Ortus denies any knowledge of these events and claims that he forgets things sometimes, which Harrow likens to her own insanity. There is a search, but Cytherea's body is not found.

Back in her rooms, Harrow replaces her bone wards with blood wards and overhears an angry conversation between Mercymorn and Augustine in the hallway. She cleans up and goes to bed beside her sword and the Body.

#### Two Months Before the Emperor's Murder

A few days after the dinner, Teacher has a conversation with Harrow in which he expresses an intent to keep her locked up with him when they fight Number Seven so that he can protect her but she turns down the offer.

Two days later, Harrow and Mercymorn are sent to kill a planet in the path of Number Seven. Mercymorn decides that they will split up, leaving the planet to Harrow and going off to take care of a nearby moon herself. Harrow hikes through a lush and vegetated forest, struggling her way to the pole for an hour before building a construct to carry her in its hand. Four hours after arriving on the planet, Harrow realizes she is being followed. She stops, covers the ground around her with bone, and waits.

Camilla Hect approaches, causing Harrow's right ear and nose to begin to bleed. She gives a construct the appropriate envelope to deliver to Camilla and allows her time to read it. Camilla recites part of the letter, a past-Harrow's promise to give her aid that displeases the current Harrow. Harrow reaches out with her constructs to verify that Camilla is real but Camilla breaks apart her construct and instructs her to make no sudden moves. She comes closer and examines Harrow's head, proclaiming that she would be dead if she was not a Lyctor.

Camilla explains that she has come to find Harrow and gives her a bag. Inside, Harrow finds a carefully glued-together portion of Palamedes Sextus's skull. Camilla explains that they planned for his death and he deliberately fixed his soul to his skeleton. She asks her to confirm that his revenant is attached to this particular piece of skull. Collapsing her constructs, Harrow wades into the River using the skull to find Palamedes.

*She finds herself in a room in the River currently inhabited by Palamedes. He hugs her and, when she balks, explains the necromancy behind his improbable existence in the River. He has constructed a bubble encompassing his moment of death, animated by a single theorem, that he can maintain limited control over. Harrow is confused by his familiarity and references to people and events she does not remember and did not participate in. She informs him that she is a Lyctor and that she consumed her cavalier, and he sincerely apologizes.*

*Lightning strikes the terrace outside the room and the Sleeper appears.* *He quickly asks her to leave, assuming she has unintentionally brought something with her. Before she returns to consciousness, he asks her what section of bone Camilla has and asks if she can turn it into something more useful. As the Sleeper attempts to break in, Harrow and Palamedes knock heads and Palamedes seems to have a revelation. Harrow returns to the River feeling ignorant.*

When Harrow returns to her body, she finds herself on a blanket beside a bizarre, rundown shuttle. She confirms that Palamedes is attached to the fragment and mends the bone before transforming it into a hand. Before she can be stopped, she walks around the shuttle and discovers Coronabeth Tridentarius and Judith Deuteros, as well as the portrait of a woman who seems familiar to her. Harrow reads the letters addressed to her in these situations and necromantically seals their jaws shut as instructed.

Camilla attempts to defuse the situation but Judith comes forward and tries speaking anyway. Curious, Harrow unseals her jaw but Judith only gets a few sentences out before Corona manhandles her back into the shuttle. Camilla apologizes, but claims they aren't on the same side anymore. When Harrow attempts to force her to stay, she evokes the Locked Tomb and secures Harrow's promise to tell no one they were there. Harrow asks who they are with, and Camilla tells her they are with the Blood of Eden. After they leave, Harrow kills the planet and is picked up by Mercymorn and returned to Mithraeum.

*The weather in Canaan House turns—rain becoming sleet becoming snow that blankets the House. Additionally, fleshy organs begin growing up through the cracks in the building. Harrow, Magnus, and Marta lay wards in an attempt to gather more information on the Sleeper. They attempt to move the coffin but find it immovable. When she's finished, Harrow returns to the library and finds Ortus and Abigail attempting to use psychometry on his sword.*

*Ortus protests the risks Harrow has taken in her mission but as he is too cowardly to participate himself she won't hear his complaints. Abigail and Harrow discuss their dubious strengths against the Sleeper and the changing circumstances when Teacher interrupts with a seemingly drunken story about the original Lyctors. He claims that they are doomed, that the Sleeper is waking and coming for Harrow, that the Emperor will never know peace again, and several other doomsday claims before running off.*

Harrow is praying before bed when an emergency alarm goes off throughout Mithraeum. Mercymorn has spotted Number Seven and raised the alarm—automatically trigger shuttering the windows of the Mithraeum and beginning a lockdown. Mercy screams over the comm, having accidentally looked at the Beast and fallen victim to its psychological effects. Augustine pronounces the Beast early and sends everyone back to bed. Harrow attempts to seek comfort with the hallucination of the Body, but the Body says she will have to go away.

#### One Week Before the Emperor's Murder

Harrow begins praying more frequently and finds comfort in her old religious practices as Number Seven approaches. She is also deeply bothered by Judith's accusation of a traitor and attempts to figure out who it could be. Teacher and the Lyctors meet to discuss battle plans, and Mercymorn begins outlining the strategy to fight the Resurrection Beast. She explains the levels of the River and that they must wait for the Beast to tire before making the final effort to dispose of it through the stoma, or Hellmouth. Each Lyctor is assigned a direction of the Beast to cover, and Harrow is left to fill in the gaps assuming she manages not to die.

Teacher calls Harrow to his study, again attempting to convince her to stay by him during the battle. She asks why he is locked in and he explains that he cannot fight the Beast, for if he were to die the entire system be consumed in a black hole. Harrow asks about A.L. and Teacher tells her about his companion and the Resurrection. He claims she was angry and monstrous when she was resurrected, but it's clear he loved her. Teacher explains that his Lyctors are all "the First" after A.L., that he thinks she would have liked Harrow, and that he would have liked Harrow as a daughter. Harrow is so overcome that she throws himself at her feet and confesses to opening the Locked Tomb. He explains that the blood ward is tied only to his blood and that she could not have broken it. He reaches down to comfort her but instead realizes her temporal lobe has been necromantically altered.

As the hour of battle draws closer, Harrow comes to accept her impending death. She eats, bathes, and dresses robotically with little to do but meditate on her limited future. The night before the Resurrection Beast is due, she accidentally drops a glove under her bed. When she climbs under to retrieve it, she finds the corpse of Cytherea. Harrow secures her with bone manacles and fetches Ianthe, but Ianthe claims she cannot see anything and excuses herself. When Harrow checks, Cytherea's body is gone.

The next day, Ortus makes one last attempt to kill Harrow. He attacks her and demands that she draw her rapier but Harrow stops to question why he is bothering to kill her when no one expects her to survive Number Seven anyway. He does not explain himself but instead warns her to end her own life before going into the River and admits that this was not his idea.

#### The Night Before the Emperor's Murder

Harrow waits in her rooms in Mithraeum waiting to do battle with Number Seven. The Heralds begin their attack on the Mithraeum in the east quadrant, and Harrow and Ianthe are hit with the worst waves of psychological attack from them. They continue their attack on Mithraeum for almost an hour as the Lyctors wait out the waves of fear in the darkness. Teacher gives instructions over the comms, including informing Harrow her door will be closed as long as possible as she is not as strong as the other Lyctors.

Ianthe comes to her rooms and offers her protection, which Harrow rejects. She attempts to impress on her the danger she is in, but Harrow refuses her again. Ianthe pleads with Harrow to allow her to undo what she has done but Harrow grows angry with her persistence and tells her she should have killed Coronabeth instead. Teacher tells the girls to get in place, and Ianthe leaves. Harrow begins to pray and sinks into The River to fight the beast. She is quickly thrown out again, stabbed through the stomach with her own rapier, and dying faster than she can heal herself.

*In a constructed River-world scenario, an alternate version of Harrow, Harrow Nova, challenges Ortus to a duel for the position of cavalier primary and the chance to serve the Reverend Daughter at First House. Ortus, a skull scarified onto his face, begs her to see reason. He admits that she is the greater swordsman and better cavalier, but claims that the Reverend Mother and Father would never allow Harrow to serve while he lives. Harrow readies herself to kill him when Crux rushes in. Crux berates Ortus for drawing his sword on sacred ground and tells him to leave. Crux instructs Harrow to apologize to two pilgrims praying, and she realizes they are Abigail Pent and Magnus Quinn. They tell her "this isn't how it happens," and the world shifts.*

*Harrow finds herself at a formal event as part of a competition to win the hand of "Her Divine Highness". While the other Houses flaunt and flirt, Harrow keeps to herself. Aiglamene, her captain, tries to convince her to put herself out there and Ortus, her cavalier, continually writes poetry. Harrow notices the Sixth House keeping themselves separate, and that they are joined by Coronabeth Tridentarius. She is interrupted by Abigail and Magnus who again disrupt the scenario and cause the world to shift.*

*Harrowhark, a Black Anchorite and Lieutenant of the Cohort, is chased down by Lieutenants Tettares and Chatur. Tettares explains that as the only House heirs enlisting at the same time, they should stick together and be friends. Harrow attempts to decline, using the Cohort's reluctance to allow her to join as an excuse, but Tettares ignores her and invites her to the cafeteria. Chatur convinces Harrow to try the specialty Cohort coffee, and she approaches the bar to find Gideon Nav as her barista. Abigail interrupts again and drags her out of the scenario.*

> *"My soul is under siege, and I overwrote my real memories with a ghost-filled pocket dimension, which has now apparently been co-opted by some kind of poltergeist."*
>
>

*Harrow stabilizes in Canaan House again, laying in a bed and tended to by the remaining postulants. As she wakes, she remembers Gideon and sobs. Abigail sends everyone out of the room and sits with her as she cries. Harrow eventually calms down and tries to come to terms with what is going on. She asks Abigail to describe her childhood bedroom to see if she is real or a delusion. Abigail begins to question her and Harrow explains the details of her procedure. Abigail clarifies she is asking about "the invasive soul" haunting her. Harrow comes to understand that she is in a "bubble" creation in the River, the same as Palamedes. They discuss the limitations and realities of the bubble and the circumstances in Mithraeum above. A tentacle explodes into the room, and Magnus comes to fetch them.*

#### An Amount of Time Before the Emperor's Murder

*The organs and viscera continue to grow in Canaan House, and a collection of pipettes, containers of fluid, broken skeletons, and pills have appeared in the snow. Magnus and Abigail lead Harrow into X-203, the Lyctor study of Gideon and Pyrrha. Marta, Dulcinea, and Protesilaus are already inside. Harrow notices the room has a lived-in feel and Abigail explains that she put Isaac Tettares and Jeannemary Chatur before helping them to pass on. She speaks about her research on the River and says that she believes in the River beyond. She also claims that something has gone wrong with the River itself.*

*Harrow leaves Abigail and goes to speak with Ortus. She tries to apologize for her role in his death and take responsibility, but he won't let her. He speaks of himself as cowardly and weak, but Harrow stops him. She states plainly that he owes her no loyalty and that if he wishes, she will instruct Abigail to release him into the River. He asks how Gideon died and she tells him. When he attempts to comfort her, Harrow lashes out in her guilt. Ortus apologizes for being cowardly and letting two children bear the fate that should have been his and explains that that is why he is staying to fight now.*

*He invites her to come and hear their plan. As they go down she finds the same note Gideon Nav did back in the real Canaan House and she realizes that the man she knows as Ortus the First is actually named Gideon the First. Beneath it, she finds another egg letter. Abigail interrupts to tell them it is time to move again. She explains that the plan is for her, as Speaker to the Dead, to exorcise the Sleeper.*

*The seven of them all return to the Facility and the coffin of the Sleeper. Harrow sees a final egg letter on the whiteboard and Ortus confides in her that he does not believe she was ever insane, just young and stricken with grief. Abigail draws a chalk diagram while the rest place candles warded by Harrow. After, Abigail puts counter-wards on the dead—everyone but Harrow. As they work, Dulcinea, seeing Harrow's confusion, explains why she and Protesilaus have stayed to fight: Protesilaus because he is* *noble* *and Dulcinea because this* is *her fight—for her own death, for Palamedes, and for being able to do what she as she pleased which she was never allowed to do in life.*

*Abigail asks Harrow if she can pinpoint what the thanergetic link is, and Harrow realizes it is Gideon's sword. Harrow tries to thank her for her help, but Abigail downplays her contribution as being an egotistical busybody. Harrow blesses her in the name of the Locked Tomb anyway. They finish the preparations and Abigail pairs them and places them around the candle circle. Abigail pours a libation over the foot of the coffin and begins the summoning. Abigail notes that spirit is tied to two places and that its banishing in the River will not necessarily banish it on the Mithraeum. A panel of the coffin shatters and they see it is empty. The Sleeper emerges from the corridor.*

*The Sleeper fires on Harrowhark, who blocks with a bone shield and is dragged to safety by Ortus. As she speaks, Harrow realizes it is a woman's voice. Protesilaus engages the Sleeper and knocks her gun out of her hand. Before he can disengage, she gets past him and shoots him in the back. She fires twice more, and Protesilaus is still. The Sleeper demands that Harrow turn herself over and begins counting down from ten. Dulcinea breaks cover and the Sleeper easily shoots her in the leg. Magnus makes his move, grabbing the Sleeper and holding her in place. Marta picks up her gun and shoots her three times, but the Sleeper does not bleed. Marta comes at her with a knife, and the Sleeper drags all three of them to the floor. A quick fight ends with Magnus shot and Marta disarmed with a gun in her face.*

*Protesilaus gets up, learning that his will not to die again can influence the River world, and wraps his chain around the Sleeper's neck. The Sleeper causes two more guns to appear, shoots Protesilaus again, and knocks out Marta. Harrow tosses bone at the Sleeper, but she shoots it out of the air and causes it to go inert. Harrow asks what the Sleeper wants, and she replies that she wants Harrow's death so she can take her body. As the Sleeper reaches one, Ortus begins to recite poetry.*

*As he declaims from the Noniad, Harrow, unable to access her Lyctoral power, struggles to cover them with bone shields. The Sleeper pushes her way through Harrow's shields, crumbling them to dust, and shoots Ortus. Harrow pushes the Sleeper back with a wall of bone and sends skeleton constructs after her which are also dissolved. Harrow takes over for Ortus, finishing the lines as Abigail summons. The Sleeper reaches Harrow and fires a shot into her head, but Matthias Nonius solidifies between them. The Sleeper attacks, but Nonius counters with superhuman speed and manages to wound her.*

*As Nonius fights the Sleeper, the postulants begin to regroup. Harrow stabilizes Ortus's wound, and all the pairs watch in awe of the fight. Harrow notices that as they fight, the room begins to shift with them—the rules changing to fit a Nigenadian epic poem rather than Harrow's memory of Canaan House and the Sleeper's hatred of necromancy. Harrow and Dulcinea try to use necromancy to aid Nonius, but Ortus stops them convinced that breaking the rules of his poetry would sink them. Nonius drops his rapier but manages to catch the Sleeper's arm, disarm her, and drive her back into the wall. Protesilaus tosses Nonius his rapier and he plunges it into the Sleeper's chest.*

*They unmask the Sleeper and Harrow realizes it is the woman from the portrait in Camilla's shuttle. Harrow examines the body of the Sleeper and pulls out dog tags reading "Awake." Harrow tells Nonius she has no other enemies here and Abigail confirms the invasive soul is gone. As she speaks, the "bubble" begins to crumble, falling apart as the scenario has concluded and in response to whatever is happening above.*

*Matthias Nonius shares his desire to go help the Lyctor's battle Number Seven. Protesilaus, Ortus, and Marta decide to join him, despite protests from Harrow and Abigail. Harrow release Matthias and Abigail sends the four of them to aid Gideon the First. Harrow asks Abigail what will happen to her now, and Abigail gently explains that she can risk the River or she can return to her body—likely finally absorbing and destroying Gideon's soul. Abigail and Magnus attempt to convince her to return to her body and honor Gideon's sacrifice and Harrow unwillingly agrees to live. They leave, re-entering the River.*

#### Half an Hour Ago

*Dulcinea stays behind and informs Harrow that she has a sense that her body is not being puppeted or possessed by a revenant or fragment. She explains that she doesn't know what it means and has never seen it before, but she couldn't leave Harrow with only part of the truth. As Canaan House collapses, Dulcinea slips back into the River. Harrow pops the bubble and slips into the River, sliding through memories of her and Gideon. She surfaces in the Locked Tomb, walks over to the empty coffin, lays down, and falls asleep.*

## **Appearance and Personality**

Gideon first describes Harrowhark as thus:

> *"The Lady of the Ninth House stood before the drillshaft, wearing black and sneering. Reverend Daughter Harrowhark Nonagesimus had pretty much cornered the market on wearing black and sneering. It comprised 100 percent of her personality. Gideon marveled that someone could live in the universe only seventeen years and yet wear black and sneer with such ancient self-assurance."*
>
>

and later:

> *"A lot of her paint had been peeled away or been sweated off down in the facility, and the whole left side of her jaw was just grey-tinted skin. A hint of her humanity peeked through. She had such a peculiarly pointed little face, high browed and tippy everywhere, and a slanted and vicious mouth."*
>
>

Harrowhark Nonagesimus is a complex and grief-stricken young woman. The circumstances of her birth, and the dire requirements that she save her House from the extinction it caused, have weighed heavily on her, creating a serious and irascible necromancer. She is extremely intelligent and incredibly hardworking, but the secrecy upheld throughout her life makes it difficult for her to trust others—even those proven to be on her side. All of this is further exacerbated by her sense of guilt for opening the Locked Tomb (which led to her parents' suicide) and complicated by her undeniable love for the body she saw inside. She is strongly connected to motifs of drowning and insanity.

## **Powers & Abilities**

* **Lyctorhood:**
* **Necromancy (Bone Adept):** the ability to perceive and manipulate thalergy and thanergy, with a special talent in bone magic.
	+ The creation and manipulation of full skeleton constructs in scale—"...able to make an army of [constructs] from what anyone else would need for one."
	+ The preservation and animation/puppeting of the dead—"...she had derived at great cost some forgotten way of preserving and puppeting the bodies [of her parents]."

## **Possessions**

* **Prayer Beads:** Harrow possess a set of prayer beads (knucklebones, threaded on cords), which have likely been left on First House.
* **Veil:** As an inhabitant of a low-light planet, Harrow prefers to keep herself veiled as much as possible. Originally, her veil is *"a piece of black voile"* tied around her eyes, but she goes through several iterations throughout the series (such as pillow cases, official robes, etc).
* **Gideon Nav's Two-Handed Sword:** Gideon's sword, a 6' steel two-handed sword, was given to her by Ninth House at the request of Aiglamene. Since her death, Harrow has kept the sword washed in arterial blood and covered in a sheath of bone.
* **Gideon Nav's Sunglasses:** Gideon's sunglasses are mirrored, smoked glass lenses in thin black frames. Originally used to protect her eyes on First House, which receives significantly more sun than Ninth House, they have become her signature look. Harrow inherited them and kept them safe after her death.
* **Lyctoral Rapier:** Harrow's rapier was given to her by The Emperor around the time that Gideon the First begins trying to murder her when it became apparent that she could not sufficiently wield Gideon Nav's two-handed sword.

## **Relationships**

*Main Article: Harrowhark Nonagesimus's Relationships*

After a secluded and lonely childhood, Harrow has found herself with a rather large group of exceptionally complex relationships. Due to her somewhat cold and serious disposition, many of her relationships are fraught with misunderstanding and distrust. Her relationships can be broken down into those from Ninth House (her cavaliers, Gideon Nav and Ortus Nigenad, as well as her family and tutors), those from Canaan House (particularly Palamedes Sextus, Camilla Hect, and Abigail Pent), and those from The Mithraeum (Ianthe Tridentarius, The Emperor, Mercymorn, Augustine, and Gideon).

## **Trivia**

* Harrow is named for the harrowing of Hell, as well as the portentous history of "Hark" (such as Hark! A herald angel).

## **References**

1. ↑  tazmuir, Tumblr.com.
2. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Act III, Ch. 24
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Gideon the Ninth," Act IV, Ch. 31
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Harrow the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 3
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gideon the Ninth,"Act IV, Ch. 31
6. ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act V, Ch. 51
7. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Act IV, Ch. 30
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Gideon the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 3
9. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 1
10. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Epilogue
11. ↑ Italics denotes events taking place in the River "bubble" Canaan House, for clarity.
12. ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Parados
13. ↑ In Harrow the Ninth, this period of time is clearly marked as "Ten Months Before the Emperor's Murder, despite seeming to make little chronological sense.
14. ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 8
15. ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 10
16. ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act II Ch. 15
17. ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act III, Ch. 25
18. ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act V, Ch. 40
19. ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act V, Ch. 43
20. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 2
21. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Act III, Ch. 19
22. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 2
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "Gideon the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 7
24. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," A Little Explanation of Naming Systems