ndria

irit dissolved, plunging into an endless, silent darkness.

, a

woven together. It formed a cocoon around my soul, warm and powerful. It stopped

hove, I broke th

ought m

fing ache in my wrists and ankles. The air was

snappe

d. It was a cellar.

the stone wall. My ribs ached with every shallow breath I took, the ghost of an older wound I had carried into the grave-one I had earned in a battle

d over me lik

she had looked at me with wide, wounded eyes as if I had personally betrayed her. I remembered standing before my father, trying to explain, my voice shaking-and he had not even looked at m

as

fury I had thrown at her indifferent face-she had caught it and answered. I did not know if

. The memory of betrayal, the fresh humiliation of these chai

had to

oul air, savoring the feeling of lungs th

ame from the co

in the shadows was a

maid. My only fr

ok, and I could see da

from me-the terror in her eyes, and beneath it, a stubborn, defiant love that refused to break. I remembered the cheap blue hair ribbon I had given her on her birthd

burly guards stepped inside. Their faces w

oward Jade, a whip da

e rat?" he sneered, raising the

d back at him, her chin

istled thro

to

rd of ice. Both guards froze, their heads snapping in my direc

Not this ve

hey knew was gone, burne

e were no tears in my eyes

angerously low, "and I promise you, y

g unspoken passing between them-a flicker of uncertainty. She sounds like she means it, his eyes seemed to say. But look at her-she's trembling, the o

eart hammered with the effort of restraint. Inside, the commander who had faced down armies was screaming to be unleashed, but I

st my skin. My mind, honed by years of battle strategy, a

kly dropped my gaze to hide it, letting my hair fall for

ice sweet as venom, though I pitched it with a sligh

, I

tural angle, focusing all my

ng pop, the jo

face remained a calm mask. My hand, now smaller an

stared, their mouths h

ther hand. Another pop. Anothe

as

with two more sharp, brutal movements, I forced my thumbs back into their so

omforting in my hand. Its cold iron was the only honest thing in this house-it di

d from the ston

sson yet?" my father's

iden. It was not

-was the first thread in the tapestry of their blood. I would not unravel it quickly. I wou

. And the first person to kneel would b