Semua Bab The Bride Wore Blood: Bab 41 - Bab 50

“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 and Mother have finally retreated, the air in the room losing its suffocating edge.“I really don’t need any help getting dressed,” I admit, my gaze darting between them. I feel like a doll being readied for a shelf. Rosa’s reply is a small, knowing tug at the corner of her mouth.“Well, once you see the wardrobe they’ve prepared, you might reconsider.”I groan inwardly, ‘is it as complicated as the wedding dress?’ I hardly dare to ask. That felt like a feat of engineering, rather than an item of clothing.Rosa smothers a sympathetic wince behind her hand while Maggie gives a solemn nod. The dark-haired woman gestures toward the side doors, her movement formal despite the quiet of the room.

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 table top.‘Find my glasses endlessly attractive?’ I lift a brow‘Find you endlessly attractive, Lana.’‘Well that’s a definite lie,’ I turn away but he catches my hand.‘No it’s not,’ his voice is low, dangerous and husky as he pulls my hand to the waistband of his trousers. He’s dressed as simply as I am this morning, simple clothes for a day working in a stuffy office. ‘What are you doing?’ I protest and he holds my hands to the fabric. My cheeks flush, tinged with pink as I pull in a breath, I can feel his rising beneath my palm. A clear sign of his attraction. I feel myself swaying towards him, tempted to put down my armour once more. But for what? So he can keep me in this gilded cag

'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 sheer physical gravity he exerted on my world.'I said don't', I repeated. I turned my back to him, physically severing the connection. I felt his presence hover, the air prickling with his frustration. I didn't care. I couldn't afford to. Every instinct I possessed was screaming that if I let him in, I would be forever consumed by the very thing I had vowed to fight. I’d already given him too much ground. He already knew my intention. Even if I’d started to doubt my resolve. There was a long, agonizing silence where I held my breath, waiting for him to force the issue, to break me open as he always did with a single touch or a look. I waited for the command, for the manipulation. But there w

The rock of the cave room was almost as hard as her face. She held his gaze and the moment seemed to drag on. He had no reply that would calm the storm. Eventually, he sighed and said the only thing his thoughts could give him; ‘the marriage and the feast were necessary.’‘Lady Cynan believes that Illure doesn’t have much time,’ Delia spoke up from beside me, one of her hands clasped in Ronin’s beneath the table, the other curled around a glass of wine. ‘I’m aware of the risks,’ I look across at her, seeing the worry in my own expression, mirrored in her. Illure was her whole life before Ronin, she didn't want the country to fall.‘You need more Otherworld within your border,’ Cynan’s voice is husky with frustration, ‘every day delayed is a day the land decays.’‘I scouted some of the border,’ Ronin leans forward, glancing at Delia with concern. ‘There are already signs of blight in the forests.’ The room, cosy as it is, hewn into the rock is dancing with shadows. Am I imagining dark

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