spinning yarns from heartstrings
He was tired of holding onto it, clutching it in his hand, fingers gripping so tight the bright white edges of it seeped out through the cracks between his knuckles. It wriggled softly against his palm, tickling his skin almost affectionately. At his back, the sounds of an argument that existed long before he was […]
The seven watched the child approach the ancient stone of a great-grandmother she’d only ever heard stories of. Spectral hands bound before them, they knew not what to expect, but they remembered Esmerelda’s promise. One day, her issue would arrive to set them free and the debt between them would be paid. They’d waited […]
It was the only way to sever the master’s ties. Bit by bit, he’d carve himself to pieces and fling them to the far ends of the riverbank until he no longer had arms to saw with.
From the depths of a Hell he’d been destined to rule since birth, Anung Un Rama vowed to write his way out of the role in which he’d been cast.
“What do you mean, you signed a contract?” Miles stared at Tess from the other side of the table, disbelief narrowing his eyes. “Not a contract,” she rasped. “A nondisclosure agreement. I’m not allowed to talk about Mr. Feeney’s affairs to anyone, not even my own family.” Tess’s face blanched a little, her eyes widening […]
They were the children of frost giants, forced to sleep for a thousand years and dream of the future in slow rhythms as the world turned and grew and evolved. They grew, too, of course, though not quickly. Their growth was slow like trees, bodies inching toward the light as the wind howled lullabies and […]
“How many is this for them? Eight? Nine?” “Eleven,” Ecor sighed. “Eleven. It’s… a travesty. No one can take care of eleven children, not even the richest of men.” Niss stared down at the hovel, spying two of older children huddled together and shivering beneath a moth-eaten burlap sack they were using to keep warm. […]
Two years of skipping lunches, clipping coupons, skrimping and saving every penny he could get his hands on, and it’d been entirely worth it just to see her smile as the dragons of Candlour began their deci-annual migration. It was their ten year anniversary, too, which made it the perfect celebration. Just before the […]
She didn’t want to marry any of the kings who came to the palace from far and wide to ask her father for her hand. They were all old, many of them fat and smelly, and the way they ogled her as they sized up their future prize made Jezzen’s stomach feel heavy and full […]
The masons worked quickly, layering thick slabs of stone across the barbed fence while the guardsman patrolled the eastern quadrant. They monitored their progress for three days straight, one of them always watching until they knew every step of their routine. It would only take another four days, five at the most, before the […]