Dissolution — Ellen Kushner

Swordplay, scandal, and sex -- welcome to the world of Tremontaine, a glittering new entry in Ellen Kushner's classic Riverside series.

This is the final episode in the second season of Tremontaine, a 13-episode serial from Serial Box Publishing. This episode written by Ellen Kushner, Joel Derfner, and Tessa Gratton. 

As Kaab prepares to leave the City, Diane faces the Council regarding her petition to become Duchess in her own right. Rafe, meanwhile, seeks one final goodbye. Having solved a mystery, Tess enacts vengeance the Riverside way.

Welcome to Tremontaine, where ambition, love affairs, and rivalries dance with deadly results. A Duchess whose beauty is matched only by her cunning; a handsome young scholar with more passion than sense; a foreigner in a playground of swordplay and secrets; and a mathematical genius whose discoveries herald revolution when games of politics begin, no one is safe. Keep your wit as sharp as your steel in this world where politics is everything, and outcasts are the tastemakers.