The Bitten Queen
The cold had settled into her bones, creeping inward from the ground beneath her, numbing her fingers first, then her arms, then deeper still.
She tried to move.
Nothing responded.
Not her hands, not her legs—not even her voice. Somewhere inside her, a command formed, desperate and sharp: get up. But it never reached her body. It dissolved before it could become action, swallowed by the growing quiet.
Sound came and went in strange, broken pieces.
The wind through the trees—too distant.
Leaves shifting—too loud, then gone entirely.
Her own heartbeat—irregular, dragging, then suddenly pounding so hard it echoed painfully in her ears before fading again.
Bab Populer