The old woman was shaking with anger. Sure enough, in all her years, no one must’ve handed her a tiny bottle and told her that one spoonful of poison was enough to kill, and painlessly at that. She opened her mouth, likely to curse at me, but I spoke before she could. “You wanted death to be a mer
The Crystal Palace is quiet when I enter. The hallways are familiar to me by now, and in nearly three minutes, I find myself standing in front of the door to the room. The door is unlocked as it usually is, and when I walk inside, the room is warm compared to the outside. From inside the bedchambe
There is a 90% probability that this is indeed a curse. But if so, why haven’t the witches or warlocks sent word to the church or crown? Why have they been targeting arbitrary people? What is the reason behind putting such a powerful curse into effect? “By drawing the culprit out, do you mean to ch
“The one good thing that came out of this is not having to take my lessons for a few days.” Dinah tells me, composing herself “Oh! The Empress told me I’ll be meeting the ladies from the other High Houses.” At once, all the ease I feel has vanished. “Since Arzen hasn’t met his soulmate yet, there’
Dinah is leaning out of the window, dark hair flowing softly in the breeze, looking at the garden below. “When you step on the windowsill, it’s enough to reach for the windowsills of the rooms above this one,” I lean out as well, and point upwards “After three more, we should reach the roof of the
“I apologize, My Lady,” I keep my hands on her arms, lest the strength hasn’t returned to her legs yet. The smile doesn’t leave my face “It was too tempting.” Dinah narrows her eyes at me, half disbelief and half irritation, “Why are you like this?” “Like what, My Lady?” “Never mind,” She grum
“They keep me grounded.” Dinah smiles, amused “Like emotional support knives?” My own mouth quirks up “Something like that.” There is no reason to speak further of it. But it seems that just as Dinah can’t tell me anything about her life, I’m all too eager to tell her everything of mine. “I name
Ch. 44. I wake up the uncomfortable feeling of being warm on one side and cold on the other. A shudder rakes through me, and I scoot closer to the warm side of the blanket, rather than reaching back to cover the other side with it too. I just want to sleep for a little bit long. “Tweet, tweet~”
I barely manage to find a waste bucket before everything I had for breakfast retches out. My throat burns. My vision is blurry. I dry heave every single thing in my stomach, warmth seeps out of the corners of my eyes. I can’t breathe. The smell of blood is everywhere. I sit there, holding the edges
The smell of rotting flesh is disgusting. Its muscle memory to pull the gloves over my hands, pick a scalpel off the medical tray. The body on the metal table in front of me has no head. ‘You have to take a sample of flesh, a sample of blood and take a look at the internal organs.’ Aunt Cynthia’s
How adorable. Apparently, I’m the only one who thinks so, since when I turn back around, everyone from the fourth prince and the first order to passing strangers and our coachman is looking on in disbelief. Is it so difficult to imagine Zen would get along with children? “Don’t leave your mouth ha
“My Lady, am I mistaken or is the fourth prince avoiding me?” I look up from knotting the satchel to my belt to face Zen. There’s a slight furrow in his brows, and he looks at Lukas, standing far, far from us and talking with the first order soldiers. The fourth prince has indeed, been avoiding Ze
I need to move. But even as I think that, I cant bring myself to move. He’s holding me too firmly, I think, entirely reasonable. I won’t be able to slip away like this. Even the most critical part of me can’t find that to be entirely an excuse. After last night, I doubt there’s anyone who would lik
I wake up to the sound of a door knock. My sleep hazed brain registers the sound, recognizes it, and promptly ignores it in favor of cuddling into the warmth of my bed once more. I don’t want to wake up just yet, since last night I fell asleep so late— Last night? My eyes open, blurry with sleep,
But he’s looking at me now, as if the answer might crush him, as if he’s bracing himself for it. I reach out to drape my arms over his shoulders gently, they hang down in front of his chest lightly. “Why? Because you did your job?” I ask quietly, hold his gaze “Or because you didn’t hesitate to do
“Lift your arm, please.” I say, and my voice comes out soft If we weren’t sitting so close to each other, I would’ve missed it. His shoulders tense up, the even breathing stilled into nothing. “You don’t have to do that, Dinah.” Zen finally says My brows furrow. Zen might be a warrior among warri
On the second floor hallway of the hotel, my eyes drift to the room where Zen is supposed to be. My room is just at its side. I wonder if I knock on his door right now, would he be annoyed? He did ask not to be disturbed. The image of his bloodied arm flashes in my mind. Just a moment. I just want