Recent content by Nym

She settled into him without resistance, without thought. Just instinct, just need. His warmth, his strength, his steady breathing and fingers in her hair… it was all so achingly familiar. A comfort she had convinced herself she no longer deserved, a peace she had starved herself of. And now...

Something broke in her, quietly and cleanly like a thread pulled too tight for too long, finally snapping. She had believed she was numb, that she had cried herself dry days ago, but the moment his lips brushed her brow and that gentle smile softend his features, something inside her simply...

She flinched at his shout, an instinctive recoil, sharp with pain and sharper with shock. Settra didn’t yell. Not at her. Not ever. But she wasn’t Sultana anymore. Nobody had to temper their tone for her. Nobody had to tread carefully. She was no one. Nothing. Not worth shielding. When he...

His words struck too deep and something inside her finally tore open. “Then I do not belong anywhere.” The fury blazing in her eyes was wounded and desperate. Her breath shuddered as she lifted what remained of her arm, forcing him to look, forcing herself to face it even as her vision swam...

Her fingers tightened around his instinctively at the first brush of his touch. Her hand trembled and her throat ached, but she had no tears left to cry. Nothing was left but the dull throb of exhaustion and the confusion that she wore so openly on her face. She studied him through half-lidded...

She slept deeply, swallowed whole by a darkness so complete it felt like mercy. No pain in her arm. No fear twisting in her ribs. No sorrow, no heartbreak. Just weightless, silent, blissful oblivion. And for a time, however long or short, she truly believed she would never wake again. So the...

Her vision swam, the world blurring at the edges like wet paint, and yet, there he was. She saw him, felt him Settra’s eyes met hers for the briefest, most precious heartbeat. Once, her gaze had been sharp enough to cut a man down at ten paces. Now it was dulled, heavy with exhaustion and a...

She was going to her death. She’d made her peace with that. No, not peace, but acceptance. A tired, hollow surrender. She had swallowed the tincture with shaking hands, reluctant even as she forced it down, and the last thing she remembered clearly was Medja’s face swimming behind tears she’d...

Nym stayed pressed into Medja’s side, the warmth of the Empress’ body a strange and unfamiliar anchor. Her tears soaked the fabric of the woman's robes, but she made no move to pull away. The quiver in her chest was slower now, the jagged ache in her stomach dulled only slightly by the nearness...

Nym shook. When was the last time she had allowed herself to cry like this? To shake like this? Had she ever been so completely undone in her life? She wasn’t supposed to be vulnerable, she had spent her whole life armoured in anger and venom, but then, she wasn’t supposed to be held like this...

Nym’s brows knit tighter as Medja spoke. She was never capable of being as strong as this woman. Medja had clawed her way up from the ashes where Nym had been born into fire and had only ever managed to dig herself deeper into it, choking on smoke and ash until there was no way out. When the...

Stupid girl... There it was. The anger and frustration starting to breach the surface of Medja's composure. Something loosened in her chest. She shook her head slowly, almost in disbelief, a hollow laugh rasping out of her as she lifted her arm, staring at the space that her hand should have...

Nym hated that look in Medja’s eyes. Hate, rage, even mockery she could survive - she could spit in the face of those things, strike back at them and feel some small victory. But pity? Pity made her want to crumble to dust where she stood. Pity made her want to cease existing. She swallowed...

Nym's heart was racing as she awaited the inevitable, adrenaline flooding her system, causing nausea to churn in her stomach. She had expected fury, fire, some great display of Medja’s wrath, expected to be torn apart by the woman’s power and left in pieces on the palace floor. But this quiet...

The sound of Medja’s voice, that raw betrayal in it... Nym felt it coil around her throat like a noose, strangling the air from her lungs, making her chest ache with the weight of it. Her lips parted, but no words came at first. Only silence, thick and suffocating. Her gaze, sharp as a...