1 - 20 of 24 Works by ColdColdHeart
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Summary
An AU for The Key to Oslov series in which Tilrey doesn't get left behind when Malsha flees to Harbour. Takes place about a year after their journey there.
We've had great discussions on Tumblr about whether it would have been better for Tilrey to go to Harbour with Malsha, so I thought it would be fun to explore the possibility. I don't have an actual plot in mind for this, so it may be just a few vignette chapters.
The title is a play on the Oslov imprecation "verdant hells"—this won't be that hellish, though of course with Malsha involved, you never know.
Series
- Part 22 of The Key to Oslov
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Summary
Being the General Magistrate of Oslov's kettle boy is supposed to be an honor and a stepping stone to a better life. It doesn't feel that way to Tilrey Bronn. Plucked from obscurity to warm the bed of the most powerful man in his world, he does what he can to escape, and then to survive.
This is a prequel to A Serviceable Boy that was designed as a standalone. It can be read without reading the rest, and you won't need to read it to understand the next proper installment in the Key to Oslov series.
Series
- Part 20 of The Key to Oslov
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Summary
The lights have gone off in Redda. The Arctic cold is seeping in. Upstarts are panicking. Laborers are rioting. For the revolutionaries, it's do-or-die time.
How inconvenient that the head of the revolution and the head of the government he's revolting against happen to be in bed together when it all goes down.
This is it. The final story in the main sequence.
Series
- Part 19 of The Key to Oslov
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I've been asked about posting some "deleted scenes" from "All the Kinds of Broken." This is the story of how Tilrey got from Thurskein to Redda in the first place. It will cover most of what happened to him with Fir Jena, before he went to live with Malsha.
Series
- Part 21 of The Key to Oslov
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Summary
You say you want a revolution… but are Gersha, Tilrey, and the True Hearth ready for one? They may have to be. In the wake of Councillor Lindahl’s murder, tensions in the city rise to a boiling point. What starts with a whodunit could end in civil war or worse.
Series
- Part 18 of The Key to Oslov
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Summary
At last, Oslov may be ripe for a revolution. And Tilrey Bronn is poised to take control of it, playing both sides with his alliances in the Council and the Brothel, as he prepares for a crucial new trip to Harbour.
The question is, will someone else outplay him?
Series
- Part 17 of The Key to Oslov
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Tales From the Sanctioned Brothel: Part 3: The Chase by ColdColdHeart
Fandoms: Original Work
20 Nov 2021
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Summary
Once a helpless piece of sexual "currency," now Tilrey Bronn is the unofficial leader of the revolutionary movement to reform and transform Oslov. But inside the Sanctioned Brothel, there's someone with a different plan: She wants to set Oslov on fire and watch it burn. When they meet, sparks will fly, but who will end up in control of the blaze?
Series
- Part 16 of The Key to Oslov
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Summary
Tilrey is still Gersha's kettle boy. They're still trying to figure out how to make their unorthodox, semi-secret relationship work—and that means ironing out some bedroom matters.
This is an interstitial story that takes place after the events of "A Serviceable Boy" (except the epilogue) but before the stories that follow.
Series
- Part 2 of The Key to Oslov
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Tales From the Sanctioned Brothel: Part 2: The Lure by ColdColdHeart
Fandoms: Original Work
12 Feb 2021
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Summary
Fifteen years have passed since the events of Tales From the Sanctioned Brothel: Part 1: The Painted Boy. Hulda still isn’t dead. Einara still doesn’t have her vengeance. She, Kai, and Bors are biding their time, but it’s coming. It’s Ceill who will put the Brothel story and the True Hearth/Tilrey/Gersha story on a collision course.
Series
- Part 15 of The Key to Oslov
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Summary
Ceill Linnett is thirteen now. It's a difficult age, even when you have three loving parents. And those loving parents are still keeping a secret from him.
Series
- Part 14 of The Key to Oslov
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Tales From the Sanctioned Brothel: Part I: The Painted Boy by ColdColdHeart
Fandoms: Original Work
22 Jul 2020
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Summary
In a government-run brothel, a young killer on a revenge mission meets a broken, fallen addict whose body is covered with the marks of powerful men's desires. Society defines them as trash, but together, they might just take the power back.
So yeah, the "Key to Oslov" series continues. Where will we be spending the 20 years or so that it takes Ceill Linnett to grow up? In the Sanctioned Brothel, mostly, following Einara's machinations until they (inevitably) collide with Tilrey's.
The Brothel stories may or may not work as standalones. The prologue to this one makes more sense if you've read "A Serviceable Boy" , as it fills in an episode from the two years that story skipped over. Einara's origins are covered in "Crosscurrents and Consequences".
Series
- Part 13 of The Key to Oslov
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Summary
Ceill is eight and spending a holiday in the Southern Range with Gersha and Tilrey. Featuring skiing, hygge, daredeviltry, snuggling, and some Uncomfortable Conversations about Oslov society that have to happen sooner or later.
Series
- Part 12 of The Key to Oslov
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A lot went down both before and during Tilrey and Gersha's Trip to Harbour. Now they're back in Oslov, and it's time for them to face the consequences and figure out their path going forward. That may involve a little side trip into the cold heart of the Wastes.
Vera Linnett has tough choices to make, too. And there's another character working way behind the scenes who could, if she has her way, bring this whole world down.
Series
- Part 11 of The Key to Oslov
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Gersha and Tilrey were supposed to take the trip of a lifetime together. Then everything went wrong.
It's their first time outside Oslov, their first time feeling a warm breeze on their faces or walking barefoot in the grass. Their first time in a place where the iron rules of meritocracy don't apply. But while Tilrey is exhilarated by the freedom, Gersha's scared stiff. Given what he recently learned about Tilrey, he's afraid to let him out of his sight, even to go on a risky classified mission. Afraid enough to do something risky himself.
Then there's the small issue of the bed they're being asked to share ...
This story may be novel-length, with (probably) twice-weekly updates, also posted on Tumblr.
Series
- Part 10 of The Key to Oslov
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Summary
Tilrey reacts to the events that ended “I’ll Be Watching You.” He is not taking it well. This is a little interlude before Gersha and Tilrey take their trip to Harbour.
Series
- Part 9 of The Key to Oslov
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For the past four years, Tilrey has been forging Gersha’s rise to power in the Council while maintaining his own secret connection to the Dissident group the True Hearth. He knows how to keep the dangerous half of his double life separate—and hidden from the man he loves. When Vera Linnett, the granddaughter of the man who molded and tormented him, comes to him with an unusual request, he sees no risk in granting it.
But somebody is watching Tilrey. Somebody with a dark obsession and an interest in proving he’s not what he appears.
This takes place nearly five years after the epilogue to A Serviceable Boy and about four years after It’s Her Party.
Series
- Part 8 of The Key to Oslov
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Summary
Gersha, Besha, and Tilrey have a pretty nice alliance going, in the Council chamber and in the bedroom. There’s just one problem: Besha’s haughty wife, Davita. If they don’t get her on board, she could put an end to their productive activities à trois.
Luckily for them, Davita’s bored with her privileged life. She finds Tilrey very “interesting,” and she likes to play games…
This takes place a month after “The Trip to Thurskein” but also picks up plot threads from “The Slap” and “Tea and Other Stuff.” The Council has finally voted on the Notification bill.
Series
- Part 7 of The Key to Oslov
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Summary
Tilrey hasn’t been home since he was forced into sexual servitude to Upstarts at age eighteen. He doesn’t want to revisit his past, but when Gersha finds out that Tilrey’s mother is desperate to see him, he convinces Tilrey to make a visit home to Thurskein, the city of Laborers.
And Dissidents get involved. This takes place about a year after the epilogue of A Serviceable Boy.
This will be a longer story with updates twice a week. My updates are also on Tumblr.
Series
- Part 6 of The Key to Oslov
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Summary
You should call his bluff, love. Personally, I don’t think he can make you scream.
Besha has many skills, but there’s one he hasn’t demonstrated to his new friends/allies yet. Tilrey asks him to and gets a more detailed demo than he bargained for. Studying legislation isn’t supposed to be this fun.
Series
- Part 5 of The Key to Oslov
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Summary
Besha felt his jaw tighten; he was not going to leave without a bit of excitement.
Gersha and Tilrey really need Besha’s support in the Council chamber. So they invite him over for tea, because tea is the lubricant of civilization.
This is the closest I get to PWP (there’s still some plot). It takes place a couple of months after “The Slap” but is relatively stand-alone. Special thanks for mugi_says_eep and everyone else who suggested this threesome had further possibilities, for your gracious incitement.
My updates are also on Tumblr. Thanks for reading! <3
Series
- Part 4 of The Key to Oslov