Raya Banks“Are you ready? The party’s about to start,” Some of the old maidens I had met earlier in the day crowed loudly and I turned to see them sticking their heads through the door.I hadn't slept a wink the other night, or the nights since Nikolai’s public rejection. It had been one nightmare after the other, dark twisted things reaching for me until I snapped awake, gasping and panting and covered in my own sweat.“Almost done! I'll be out in a minute,” I called back, smiling at the plump, powdery faces of the geisha wolves. They were part of the king’s royal court, the mid-ranks that handled the castle’s accounts and they had welcomed me in their circle.Ymir, the tallest of the group had caught me crying on the stairs one night, I had heard her creep up behind me but had been too tired to care. Until she wrapped her hands around me.“It's okay beethí, child...” She sighed as I struggled for breath, wheezing and ugly crying until my body shuddered in her arms, spent.I told he
Last Updated : 2023-05-08 Read more