Recent content by Keres

It felt wrong, deep in her marrow. She had used her blood to bargain with the dead before, to coax them near and barter for whispers, but never like this, never to wrench a living soul loose while its heart still beat. The ritual pressed at the edges of her being, cold and terrible and...

She feels the answer in the air before it comes, the Shrike’s clipped permission like a blade in a hand. She frowned, but didn't answer him. Her jaw tightened instead, and when Gwyddion stepped forward, the horned steward’s soft words caught her off guard. Captive to captor.. It seems the...

The voice inside her skull felt like ice under skin, intimate and obscene all at once. It burrowed in, naming things she had always skirted at the edges of, and the mention of them, of tearing a living soul free, made something in her recoil. “N-no,” she managed aloud first, a stupid little...

He hadn’t liked her choice, she could tell. The hard line of his jaw, the flick of red eyes over her before he turned away, that faint, barely contained fury that seemed to live just beneath his skin. Was it her defiance he despised, or the quiet dignity she’d managed to reclaim? The silks felt...

She flinched at the bite in his tone. The way his words struck, cold, and deliberate, made something in her chest twist sharply. She had not seen another woman since the dungeon, since Elide’s sneering face had been the last she’d known before waking in his. She was about to say as much when he...

She didn’t know why she had asked. Perhaps she had assumed that he might call on her. Perhaps it was the pull of his shadows, the cold comfort they offered in their strange, inhuman way that she was beginning to quietly crave.. Or perhaps it was simply that she hated being alone. She had spent...

Keres had drifted into a state that felt halfway between waking and dream, the sap’s warmth seeping through her until she could no longer tell where her body ended and the amber began. The ache was gone now, replaced by a slow, liquid heaviness that tugged her deeper into stillness. The ache in...

Keres moved like something half-haunted, half-reborn, every step a reminder of what had been taken, and what had been given in return. Dried blood still crusted in the creases of her hands, streaked down her face, neck and chest, smeared in dark stains where it had once run fresh and hot...

Keres’ palms and knees smacked the cold black stone as she stumbled forward, spinning to face him, panic blazing in her eyes. The door slammed like a hammer behind her, cutting off his silhouette and the faint light from the hall. “No!” Her cry cracked, echoing off the barren walls, swallowed...

Her face burned, each blow landing sharp and hot enough to leave her reeling, her skull snapping first one way and then the other. The taste of copper bloomed fresh on her tongue. Instinctively she tried to shrink from the next strike, arms curling in, only for his hand to knot in her hair and...

Keres let out a quiet huff as he asked about her conscience, shoulders lifting in a lazy shrug that tried to look indifferent and landed somewhere between insolent and exhausted. Her brows lifted as he threatened her with a pyre however.. “Burn me?” she said, amusement razor thin. “Save your...

Her stare only sharpened, blazing like flint struck against steel as his claws dug into her jaw. Gods, she hated him. Hated the smug certainty in his grip, the way he claimed to see through her like she was nothing but glass. “My stomach is just fine,” she shot back dryly, the words rough with...

Her stomach churned, a sick heaviness settling there that had nothing to do with how quickly she'd devoured her food. Just a taste.. The words clanged around in her head like iron striking iron. If that had been a taste, what was the meal? Would she even live through it? Her eyes tracked him as...

Her eyes rolled at his answer before she could stop them, a sharp flick of black at his pompous declaration. Gods, he had to lighten up. Every word out of his mouth sounded like it was carved into stone. She watched him crumple the parchment and toss it aside, lips pressing into a thin...

The sharp snap of the quill made her flinch before she could stop herself, shoulders jerking at the sound. She stared at her plate, swallowing hard and mentally scolding herself. Just make it to the end of the meal. Full stomach. Soft bed. Then she could crawl into oblivion for a few blessed...