“The Six Deaths of the Saint”, Alix E Harrow
Published November 15, 2022
The Saint of War spares the life of a servant girl so she can fulfill her destiny as the kingdom’s greatest warrior in this short story of love and loyalty.
Always mindful of the debt she owes, the girl finds her worth as a weapon in the hand of the Prince. Her victories make him a king, then an emperor. The bards sing her name and her enemies fear it. But the war never ends and the cost keeps rising—how many times will she repeat her own story?
“That I have lived and killed and lived again in the name of a man who does not deserve it because I wanted so badly to be beloved. But only one person in all my lives has ever loved me, and he does not wear a crown.”
🔸 This short story is an Amazon exclusive (available on Kindle Unlimited) and is a part of the Into Shadow collection. It also appears on The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023, edited by RF Kuang.
Every word of this 31-page story carried the weight of an epic—the writing so lyrical and haunting that it felt like reading a myth whispered from one generation to the next. In this dark world, sacrifice is sacred and glorified. The knight goes through a journey of quiet rebellion, choosing someone softer over someone powerful, and reclaiming her own story. This story left me speechless for a while, but I know I’ll return to it again, chasing that same gorgeous, terrible ache.
Content Warnings
Note: This is not an exhaustive list of content and trigger warnings.
death • war • violence