spinning yarns from heartstrings
Death played spectator to her sport, and she always felt him watching her, but they both knew the thrills she sought were far better temptations than the needle she used to sink into her arm. If Death was going to catch her, she wanted to embrace him like a lover and go down knowing she’d […]
And so she took back Excalibur, descending into the lake once more. She would sleep within the lake, guarding the greatsword until the next worthy king came to claim it, though she knew as she closed her eyes it would be hundreds of lifetimes before she woke again.
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 […]
“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 […]
Mother Patrice warned them all not to venture into the crypts on the day they took their vows, refusing to answer questions as to why. For years, the darkness taunted them all, but none were brave enough to test the very steadfast protection of God by going against the reverend mother. Sister Janice had always […]
Underneath her skin she is so much more then the good girl she pretends to be. Not patient, not sweet, not gentle like Mother taught her. Underneath her skin there is fire, simmering her blood, bubbling the chemicals in her brain, crackling her fat, making rage plume like smoke from her ears and her nostrils. […]