I didnât sleep.Even as dawn broke through the heavy velvet curtains like a thief, pale gold light spilling over the cold stone floors, I remained where Iâd been for hoursâsitting with my back to the wall, knees drawn to my chest, eyes wide open. My bones ached, but I didnât care. Pain was familiar. It was safer than sleep. Sleep meant surrendering to dreams, and my dreams had long stopped offering comfort. These days, they were plagued with images I couldn't eraseâof burning walls, blood-drenched roses, the weight of Sebastian's body above mine, his scent clinging to my skin like a brand. And worst of all, the silence.Not mine. His.That terrifying, calm silence he carried like a crown. Sleep could wait. I couldnât afford to let my guard down, not now, not ever again.The engagement ring sat a few inches from my bare feetâsmall, glittering, mocking. At some point during the night, I had yanked it off my finger, not out of anger or despair, but because it felt like it was leechi
The hallways of the palace twisted like veins, ancient stone pulsating with secrets. My bare feet moved silently over the polished marble, the echoes of my steps swallowed by the suffocating quiet that followed me everywhere in this cursed place.I could still feel the imprint of Sebastianâs hand on my wristâfaint, fadingâbut it burned more than any brand. My body mightâve been released from his grip, but my soul? It remained chained, bruised in places no one could see.I passed by guards who dared not meet my eyes. Maybe they feared Iâd turn them to ash with a glance, or maybe they just couldnât stomach the sight of me anymoreâhis "Mute Queen," the broken plaything he paraded through court like a joke only he understood. My silence had once been a prison. Now it was my weapon. Because in a world ruled by beasts who barked and roared, silence could be far more terrifying.The door to my chamber creaked open with that same high-pitched groan Iâd come to hate. Of course, he was alre
The grand hall was a cathedral of shadows and secrets, lit only by the flicker of blue fire that danced along the enchanted sconces. Gold-trimmed obsidian walls loomed around us, casting strange reflections in the polished onyx floor. At the center of the room, a long, bone-white table stretched like a spine through the chamber, set with crystalline goblets, gleaming silverware, and food that shimmered with illusionary charm. The feast looked divineâbut I knew better. In this place, even beauty had venom in its veins.I stood beside Sebastian, draped in midnight silk, my wrists adorned with cuffs that looked like jewelry but were enchanted restraints. My hair had been styled by his witchesâtwisted and pinned with thorns of black gold. A collar of sapphire fire circled my throat like a halo of defiance, hiding the faint marks of chains. My face was calm. My hands are steady. But beneath the mask, my pulse thudded like war drums.This dinner was no celebration. It was a declaration.
Killianâs POVThe cold wasn't just an external temperatureâit was a crawling, living thing that wormed beneath my skin like icy leeches sucking the warmth straight out of my bones. It coiled around my ribs, slithered down my spine, and settled like a parasite in my lungs, making each breath feel like inhaling shards of glass. But despite the frost biting at my flesh, it couldnât compete with the wildfire raging in my veins. My blood boiled with something far worse than painâsomething older and more primal. Rage. Betrayal. Power.It pulsed in me, wild and relentless, like a creature too long caged. And in the background of it all, my heartbeat thunderedâa beast slamming against bars, a war drum in the distance, pounding louder and louder until it was all I could hear.I wasnât free. Not really. The illusion whispered freedom, but the sting of silver still wrapped around my limbs like a cruel lover. I was still Sebastianâs prisoner, chained beneath stone, magic, and madnessâbut my m
The sound of his footsteps echoed like a curse down the stone corridor. I didnât flinch, didnât breathe, didnât even blink. I had trained myself into stillness, mastered the art of vanishing within my own skin. My spine remained straight despite the tremor crawling through it. I kept my face a mask of calm, even though my insides boiled like a pot on the brink of overflow. The stench of dark magic rode in with himâthick, invasive, unclean.It curled around me like smoke from a dying fire, and I had to fight the instinct to gag. The monster had arrived. And I would be ready.Sebastian entered like he owned the air around him. His presence always felt like a wound being reopened, over and over. Even when he smiled, there was no warmthâonly possession. His gaze crawled over me like insects on skin, dissecting, claiming, and enjoying what he believed he had already conquered. I forced my heartbeat to slow, even though each thud felt like a cannon inside my chest. I refused to give him t
The corridors of Blackspire Castle twisted like veins beneath rotting skinâendless, cold, and unnervingly silent. Each step I took was a whisper in the dark, bare feet padding along stone etched with centuries of secrets. The windows hereâshattered, fracturedâbled moonlight in broken beams, casting ghostlike patterns on the cracked floors. I didnât belong in this forgotten wing, and yet, something inside me pulsed with recognition. These walls werenât abandoned. They were watching. As my fingers drifted along the crumbling stone, a soft draft tickled my skinâan invisible breath against my wrist. It came from behind a moth-eaten tapestry. My instincts flared. Something was hidden. And I was done ignoring the things that begged to be uncovered.I drew back the fabric with trembling hands, revealing what should have been impossible to seeâa door, ancient and seamless, carved into the stone like it had grown there. My heartbeat didnât quicken. No, it coiled in my chest like a serpen