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CHAPTER 25

Author: Gun ink
last update Petsa ng paglalathala: 2026-03-12 00:19:37

"Hold your chin up. If you look at the floor one more time, I’ll have the maids stitch your head to the ceiling."

Ethan’s voice was a low vibration against the back of Noah’s neck. His fingers, heavy and smelling of woodsmoke, adjusted the gold collar until it pinched the skin. Noah stared into the mirror. The red silk of the Luna gown was a wound against his pale skin. It was cut dangerously low, the fabric barely held together by thin gold threads that felt like they’d snap if he took a full
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  • The Queen is Man   71

    "Drop the knife, or I’ll open your throat."The steel of Ethan’s broadsword pressed against my windpipe. The edge was notched, caked with drying blood and white stone dust. He looked like a nightmare birthed from the smoke. His armor was dented, his left pauldron hanging by a single leather strap. He didn't recognize me. Not through the thick mask of Graves’ blood and the grime of the sewers."Ethan, it’s—"He shoved me back against the altar. My head hit the stone. Hard. The room spun. "The priest is dead. The boy is gone. You’re just another Southern rat in the walls.""Look at me." I grabbed the flat of his blade. My palms stung as the metal bit in. "Look at my eyes, you idiot."Ethan froze. His chest heaved, the plates of his cuirass grinding together. He leaned in, his face inches from mine. The smell of gunpowder and stale sweat rolled off him. He wiped a smear of blood from my forehead with a shaking thumb."Noah?""I killed him, Ethan." I didn't let go of the sword. I pulled i

  • The Queen is Man   70

    "Where are the keys, you bastard?"I shoved my hand into the guard's blood-soaked pocket. My fingers slipped on the wet wool. He didn't answer. He couldn't. His throat was a jagged mess, pumping red onto the floor of the carriage. I didn't care. I needed the keys.My wrists were raw from the silk. The red fabric was stuck to my skin. I gave it a final, violent yank.The lock clicked."Finally."I pushed the carriage door open. The world outside was a furnace. Ash fell like gray snow, sticking to my sweaty face. I scrambled out, my boots hitting the dirt. I didn't look back at the bodies. I didn't look back at the black carriage.I was in the ruins of the lower district. The Southern army was a mile behind me, busy looting the silver-smiths. I had ten minutes. Maybe five.I ducked into an alleyway. A dead horse blocked the path, its belly swollen, flies thick in the heat. I climbed over it. My hand landed in something soft. Something that smelled like a butcher's bin in July. I wiped m

  • The Queen is Man   69

    "You’re going to hand me over like a sack of grain?"I backed away from the map table. My heels hit the stone floor with a sharp, hollow click. Lord Halloway didn't look up. He kept his eyes on the tactical markers. His hands were shaking. I could see the sweat staining his silk collar."Matthew Collins has ten thousand men at the gate, Noah." Halloway finally looked at me. His eyes were bloodshot. Desperate. "The walls are crumbling. The West has already taken the lower docks. If we give him what he came for, maybe he doesn't burn the palace.""He didn't come for me out of mercy." I grabbed a heavy glass carafe from the table. My knuckles were white. "He’s my brother. You think he wants a family reunion? He wants a trophy. He wants to show the North that he can take their King’s favorite toy and keep it for himself.""It’s better than dying." Thorne stepped out from the shadows. He was clutching a signed scroll. "The nobility has reached a consensus. You’re a Southern prince. You’re

  • The Queen is Man   68

    "Don't move. Not another inch."Ethan’s voice cracked. He sat on the floor, leaning against the heavy iron-bound door of the vault. His crown lay discarded in the dust. His hair, usually slicked back, hung in damp, tangled clumps over his eyes. He held a spool of golden silk cord in his lap, his fingers shaking as he looped it."Ethan, the generals are waiting." I stepped toward him, my palms open. "The West has reached the inner gate. If I don't go back behind that screen, the army will collapse.""They're gone. Everything's gone." He looked up. His eyes weren't the eyes of a King. They were the eyes of a boy watching his world burn. "They're coming for me, Noah. Just like my father did. He's in the hallway. I can hear the belt hitting the stone.""That’s cannon fire, Ethan. Not a belt." I knelt in front of him. I reached for his hand. "Give me the keys. I'll go out there. I'll tell them you're preparing a final strike. I'll buy us time.""No!" He lunged forward. He didn't grab my ha

  • The Queen is Man   67

    You will burn the Southern flank or I will have your heads before the sun hits the harbor."My voice didn't shake. I squeezed the heavy wool of Ethan's cloak, the scent of cedar and his musk clogging my throat. The silver clasp dug into my collarbone. I stood behind the translucent silk screen, my silhouette tall and sharp against the flickering torchlight of the War Room."The King’s orders are specific," I said. "General Vance, you move the ballistae to the East Gate. General Kael, you hold the bridge. No one crosses. Not even the wounded.""The King hasn't spoken in three days." Vance’s voice was like gravel. "Why does he hide behind a curtain? The men need to see his face, not a shadow in a dress.""The King is occupied with the defense of the inner sanctum." I leaned closer to the silk. My shadow grew, looming over the map on the table. "Do you question the Wolf’s decree, Vance? Or do you just want to see if his teeth are still sharp?"Kael shifted. His armor clattered. "We don't

  • The Queen is Man   66

    "Drink."Ethan pressed the rim of the silver chalice against my lips. The wine was thick, metallic, tasting of crushed berries and something darker. I swallowed. Some of it escaped, staining the front of my white silk tunic. He didn't pull the cup away. He watched the drop roll down my throat."I can't... the noise. Ethan, the bells."I tried to push his hand back. He didn't budge. Outside the heavy oak doors of the Shadow Gallery, the world was screaming. The iron bells of the North were tolling—a rhythmic, frantic clanging that signaled the end. Matthew Collins’ fleet hadn't just arrived. They were breathing down the neck of the capital."The bells aren't for us." Ethan set the cup on the floor. It tipped. Dark liquid bled into the white rug. "They’re for the men who still think there's a world left to save. Look at me, Noah.""They're calling you a demon." I grabbed his forearms. His skin was fever-hot. "The heralds... they're shouting it in the streets. They say I've hexed you. Th

  • The Queen is Man   CHAPTER 11

    "Think you can just walk in there and he won't notice? You're delusional, kid."Samuel’s voice was a low rasp in the damp mouth of the stone corridor. He didn't look up from the dagger he was honing. The rhythmic shirr-shirr of steel on whetstone set Noah’s teeth on edge.Noah adjusted the heavy si

  • The Queen is Man   CHAPTER 10

    "You’re late. Again."Samuel didn't look up from the whetstone. The rhythmic shing-shing of steel against rock filled the damp corridor beneath the gallery. Torches sputtered, casting long, dancing shadows against the salt-stained stones. The smell of mold and old iron was thick enough to taste.No

  • The Queen is Man   CHAPTER 9

    "You okay? You’re shaking, Ethan."The King didn’t answer. He slumped against the headboard, his skin the color of wet ash. A fine tremor started in his hands, rattling the silver tray on the nightstand. The grapes rolled onto the silk sheets. He tried to reach for the water pitcher, but his finger

  • The Queen is Man   CHAPTER 12

    "You got it? Tell me you didn't screw this up."Samuel’s voice cut through the dark of the lower cistern. He didn't look up from the sharpening stone. The rhythmic scrap of metal against rock filled the damp space. It was a cold, jagged sound.Noah reached into the heavy folds of the blue silk. His

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