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37 - Lay My Armour Down
publish date:
2026-06-13 19:49:50
Latest chapter
The Bride Wore Blood 54 - Truth
I can’t keep living like this. The weight of the master bedroom feels like a physical press against my chest as I stamp after Thade. Every footfall on the plush, midnight-blue rug seems to echo the frantic rhythm of my heart. This was a room designed for Royalty, dripping in the kind of royal opulence that stands in mocking opposition to the muddy fields where we first met and the simple freedoms of my old life. Gold leaf traced the intricate, swirling molding of the vaulted ceiling, catching the low light like frozen lightning. The heavy velvet drapes around the tall windows swallow the moonlight that had followed me like a ghost from the study, leaving us in a cavern of shadows.I can still feel the grit of the study floor on my soles, a reminder of the practical world I am losing. It is a suffocating luxury, a gilded cage where the bars are made of tradition and the locks are forged from secrets. My shadow stretches long and distorted across the floor, chasing Thade’s retreating b
The Bride Wore Blood 53 - Shattered Glass
The hand was calloused, smelling of stale tobacco and the metallic bite of a blade. I froze, my back pressed against the door I had just slammed shut against Thade, the wood still vibrating with the echoes of my stubbornness. The cold air from the window, the one I had left unlatched, brushed against my ankles like a ghost, a silent warning I had been too angry to heed. ‘Don’t scream, you Majesty,’ the voice rasped, hot and wet against the shell of my ear, knocking my glasses out of place. ‘We just need to bring the King under control, before the country goes to the wolves.’ Panic flared, sharp and blinding, hot enough to singe the edges of my vision. It was a suffocating weight, but it was quickly swallowed by a flash of magic that pulsed in my vision as a thick, muddy brown aura. He was trying to spell me. A binding tether, perhaps, or a silencing weave? My mind raced through the options, my heart drumming a frantic rhythm against my ribs, but I forced my breathing to shallow, co
The Bride Wore Blood 52 - Arrangements
I walk away from Tim, telling myself that I’m overreacting. That he wasn’t too close and I must have imagined him trying to touch my hair. I stroke the strands back into place, tucking them behind my ear. By the time I’ve reached the end of the corridor, I’ve managed to calm my heart rate. It was just a misunderstanding, Tim’s worried about me the same way that Rune is. Some time outside the Palace would be good, before I lose my mind and see shadows where they don’t exist.I’m so caught in my thoughts that I enter the bedroom without thinking. For the second time in minutes, I’m caught by surprise. Faced with the huge shadow of a man before me. My heart stills for a second before thundering hard. Thade. He stands up from where he’s been reading beside the fireplace. The vast room stretching endlessly between us. ‘Good evening,’ he acknowledges me with a brief nod, one that I return.‘Good evening.’‘I had expected your return much sooner,’ he explains, voice low as he watches me, gr
The Bride Wore Blood 51 - Captured
After a long afternoon in the Solarium, I retreat before dinner away from the public spaces of the Palace where the Court exists. Glasses fixed in place as I navigate the magic laden walls and corridors. I dismissed Rune for the evening, knowing how tired she was for a day standing at my side in the baking heat. Besides, along all the corridors the guards dog my steps with Maggie and Rosa trailing behind me, their own steps heavy.I climb the stairs to the Royal Suite slowly, dread pooling in my stomach at the thought of another encounter with Thade. I grip the handrail, grimacing as a splinter slides into my palm. Pre-occupied, I pick at the sliver of wood as I trail through the corridors, walking straight into a solid wall of muscle. I stumble, but before I can find my footing, heavy hands clamp onto my shoulders, anchoring me in place. I look up into the dark, unblinking eyes of Timian.‘I’m so sorry - I wasn’t looking,’ I stammer, my breath catching as his grip tightens just a fra
The Bride Wore Blood 50 - Stifled
The air in the Solarium is too thick, perfumed with the cloyingly sweet scent of jasmine that couldn't quite mask the more worrying scents beneath, of decaying wood and a building that beneath its gilded exterior and elaborate decor hadn’t been maintained. The contradiction is something I’ve started associated with my gilded cage. It has been impossible to avoid the rigidity of palace life in Thade’s absence. This is a beautiful airless trap where every smile is a dagger and every tea service is a negotiation.I’m tired of defending an absent Husband that I don’t know, but I want to save my country, not destabilise it. I lean back in the velvet-tufed chair, fingers tracing the intricate flowers stitched into the hem of my sleeve. I’m dressed as a Queen, with all of the magic now stripped from the dressing room, it seemed safer to wear an armour of elaborate clothes. I have a satin underdress, elaborately jewelled, and over the top a dress of light peacock blue in contrast. The sleeve
The Bride Wore Blood 49 - Late Hours
It’s late by the time Ronin and Delia depart, leaving Cynan and I to face one another. Without more of the Otherworld bringing their magic to the land, Illure will fail. Adulphus knew it too, but he was too slow to act. I’ve inherited a Kingdom on the brink of collapse and it weighs on me. Like stones in my body, lead in my blood. I lean back as the low candles gutter, the tavern air growing oppressive and cold, chilling the sweat on my neck. The platter is empty, the wine and glasses cleared, yet Cynan remains, watching me with an intensity that makes the small room feel like a cage. Beyond the door, the last patrons shuffle away, leaving a silence so heavy it rings in my ears. ‘You truly think I’m fated to be with Lana?’ I ask the only question that remains on my lips. In all of the dire situations my country faces, how come this is the one that can hurt me the most?‘Nix isn’t a name from the Otherworld,’ Cynan pulls forward the list of Otherworld bloodlines in the Illure Nobilit
The Bride Wore Blood 47 - Meetings
Thade’s POVWe’re a twelve day run out from the capital, heading North to the border of Boren. Ironically in the lands held by the Duke of Nix. My own land covers one side of a sweeping mountain covered in thick forest, Madder. But on the sweeping slopes the stretch down into a glacial valley and a
The Bride Wore Blood 46 - Empty
'Don't,' I said, my voice a murmer in the quiet room. Even the birds outside had stopped singing. 'Lana,' he breathed, a low, dangerous sound that usually pulled at the invisible tether between us. He took a step closer, the floorboards groaning under his weight, and I felt the heat of him, the sh
The Bride Wore Blood 44 - Maybe
I take deliberate steps back and he advances, staying close in this endless game of cat and mouse.‘Don’t tell me that you find my glasses endlessly attractive,’ I scoff, ‘we’re not at the point of lying to each other yet, Thade.’‘But what if I do?’ He challenges as balances his palm on the wooden
The Bride Wore Blood 42 - Dressing
“Thank you for…” My voice fractures, trailing into the heavy silence. If I finish the thought, I’ll have to admit how much I am drowning under my mother’s expectations.“We’re here for you, your Majesty.” Maggie’s smile is soft, but her eyes are watchful. Both women seem more relaxed now that Edith
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