Lin

She had a full name and she would fight anyone who used it. That, a post outside Manon's door, and going second — the books gave her three things and she made all three of them count.

Of the Thirteen. Gold through her black eyes, so the Valg could not reach her. Second of the coven to Yield.

Not Linnea

Linnea is the name on the record and Lin is the name she answers to, and the distance between the two is enforced physically — she goes after anyone who reaches for the long version. It is very nearly the only preference the books hand her, and it is a good one. A witch inside a coven of thirteen, inside a clan of thousands, inside a host being assembled to serve a demon king, drawing exactly one hard line about the one thing that was actually hers.

At the door

Asterin posts Lin and Vesta outside Manon's room for the night, and that sentence is doing more work than it looks like it is. The Second picks who stands between the Wing Leader and the dark, in a fortress packed with witches who would be delighted to inherit that rank. She picks Lin. The same temper that makes her impossible about her own name is precisely the qualification for the job.

The gold in her eyes

Gold flecks through black eyes, the trait the Blackbeaks prize over every other, and what it actually buys her is immunity — the Valg cannot get inside her. So Lin is upright at Morath while Faline is on the floor being sick and Ghislaine, who could recite the Valg's entire history, is screaming. She did nothing to earn it. It is eye colour. The Valg sorted the Thirteen into the ones they could reach and the ones they could not, and Lin drew the long straw and then had to stand there and watch her sisters lose.

Second

Imogen went first at the tower. Lin went straight after her — second of the twelve, with the entire rest of the coven still behind her and nothing yet on the ground to suggest that any of it was going to be enough. Ten more followed. Whatever else the books withheld from her, they gave her the second-hardest place in that line and they wrote her name into it.

Her people

The coven.

Swipe to meet them all

The Thirteen Manon's Coven · IronteethThe Thirteenher covenEnter The Thirteen →

Manon Blackbeak Wing Leader · Heir of the Blackbeak Witch-ClanManon Blackbeakher Wing LeaderEnter Manon Blackbeak →

Asterin Blackbeak Second of the ThirteenAsterin Blackbeakthe SecondEnter Asterin Blackbeak →

Sorrel Third of the ThirteenSorrelthe ThirdEnter Sorrel →

Imogen Crochan Of the Thirteen · The First to FallImogen CrochanYielded just before herEnter Imogen Crochan →

Ghislaine Of the Thirteen · The ScholarGhislaineYielded just after herEnter Ghislaine →

Also in the story

Connected

The ones this story crossed.

The YieldingHow she went

Of the Thirteen

Three facts on the record, and she made all of them hers.

Posted at Manon's door
Asterin sets Lin and Vesta on the night watch outside the Wing Leader's room — the coven's plainest statement about who is trusted with Manon's back.
The gold in her eyes
Gold flecks through black leave her untouchable by the Valg, standing upright at Morath while witches without it go down around her.
The Yielding
Second of the coven to go at the witch tower, straight after Imogen, with ten more still to follow her into it.

The File

OF: The Thirteen
TWIN: Faline (sister-pair)
EYES: Black, flecked with gold
THEREFORE: Immune to Valg possession
POSTED: At Manon's door, with Vesta
DIED: SECOND of the Thirteen, in the Yielding

We're Caffeine and Curses. The Library started as my design research — I can't put Manon on a shirt without knowing which way the iron teeth snap — so we keep the notes here where everyone can use them. The pages are fan-made, not official; the licensed designs are in the shop.

Officially licensed