re the chi

s like liquid fire

earned from the thorns on the forest path. A price worth paying. It masks

scars. The fabric rubs against my throat like judgment. The gates loom ahead, black marble threaded wi

warning signs.

sed fingers had gripped my chin that final morning, her breath smelling of bitter tea and fear. "

's not enough to keep my hands from curling int

cking lazily against the hilt of his sword as h

al

Doesn't ask who I am. He

of wolfsb

eyes hooded, expression schoo

smoothly. The lie rolls off my tongue

the peasan

where my teeth catch the inside of my cheek. His claws prick skin, sharp enou

meat and stale wine. His eye

her very brave or very stupid to walk i

l him. I shou

nd on his hilt, driving the blade up through his ribs into his lung. Watching his mouth work around the last breath

ld. E

Drunk. Over

is full of guards. And nothing screams "I am not a threat

curl in my stomach like a coiled serpent a

ye

ain D

he moment like a thrown bl

see the war flicker behind his eyes. Then he rele

ging like a pendulum. She's barely older than me, but she walks like she's already surv

Her green eyes glint like broken glass. "Transferred from the border villages. Unles

the parchment with unnecessary force.

out of my

moves-light but deliberate. The twitch of her fingers toward

past a group of black-clad guards. "Eyes down, mouth shut. Th

ard swallow

weat, and the sickly-sweet reek of desperation. Statues of twisted, half-hu

re a moonstone al

my skin. The oath she f

eak only when spoken to. My

ough bone. I bite my tongue until copper floods my mouth

tly-a crescent moon split by three cl

urns. Try to run, and it sears straight to the bone." She leans in. "They say th

rs. The pallet is thin. The bucket is rancid. The can

arga works servants until they dr

. So I guess just... don

and exhale for the first time in hours. The ache in m

ad no idea how

m would've

ask of fear, obedience, sma

the rea

arved into the wooden slats above

ls don't last

thing. Somewhere deep in its belly, a m

dle and let the da