Alika’s POVThe blood beneath my fingernails hadn’t dried when they forced the gown onto me.Ivory white, laced with deep crimson—not thread, but sinew. I could tell by the smell. The way it clung to my skin like a living thing that breathed.The spirits didn’t speak in words. They didn’t have to.Pale, faceless hands dragged me from chamber to chamber. They combed my hair, arranged my body like I wasn’t human, but an offering. In the broken mirrors, I caught glimpses of myself—swollen eyes, thin body, my belly slightly rounded. But not with normal pregnancy.Something else was growing inside me.Every door opened into a hall that had changed. The altar had become a banquet chamber. Its walls bled slowly. Curtains hung from the ceiling, stitched from skin and bone. The tables weren’t set with food, but heirlooms. Daggers, goblets, blood-binding jewelry, ancient books. And in the center—another crown.The bone crown that had been carving into my dreams for days.One of the bride spirit
Last Updated : 2025-07-14 Read more