The fifth chapter of The Pale Princess, in which Nanny provides lunch, Nikodemus lays down some groundrules, and Silkin and Rooks get a little bit of clarity.

Expect Christopher being afraid, Sally taking things in her stride (and doing a bit more stabbing), religious people being shifty, and irreligious people being shiftier still.

And, of course, some mutilation...

The Heartless Knaves is a new dark fantasy audiobook podcast featuring clever heists, gory scraps, sad bits, saucy bits, murderous nuns, talking donkeys, and an 8-year-old boy king who won’t take no for an answer.

Set in a twisted version of the English Renaissance, the story hinges on the macabre adventures of assassins Silkin and Rooks, who may be dead, their hearts stolen by the church, their severed heads mounted on the royal battlements, but there’s no rest for the wicked...

Blending black humour and squishy violence with a whip-smart plot and a cast of loveable rogues, the first book, The Pale Princess, is a bit like a haunted roller coaster: fundamentally unsafe, shuddering in the wind, and threatening to come off the rails as it gathers pace.

If you have ever been betrayed, and wanted revenge.

If you have ever had your heart cut out, and wanted it back.

If you have ever known something was sickeningly wrong, and wanted to wreak havoc in reply, you are one of us.

For we are The Heartless Knaves.

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