Semua Bab The Bride Wore Blood: Bab 51 - Bab 53

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 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