Chapter 18 – A Court of Thorns and Roses
Chapter 18 The next day, the blood of the faerie had been cleaned up by the time I ate, washed, and dressed. I’d taken my time in the morning, and it was nearly noon as I stood atop the staircase,…
Chapter 17 – A Court of Thorns and Roses
Chapter 17 I jerked awake in the middle of the night, panting. My dreams had been filled with the clicking of the Suriel’s bone-fingers, the grinning naga, and a pale, faceless woman dragging her bloodred nails across my throat, splitting…
Chapter 16 – A Court of Thorns and Roses
Chapter 16 After soaking in the bath for nearly an hour, I found myself sitting in a low-backed chair before my room’s roaring fireplace, savoring the feel of Alis brushing out my damp hair. Though dinner was to be served…
Chapter 15 – A Court of Thorns and Roses
Chapter 15 The naga were sprung from a nightmare. Covered in dark scales and nothing more, they were a horrendous combination of serpentine features and male humanoid bodies whose powerful arms ended in polished black, flesh-shredding talons. Here were the…
Chapter 14 – A Court of Thorns and Roses
Chapter 14 Western woods. Grove of young birch trees. Slaughtered chicken. Double-loop snare. Close to running water. I repeated Lucien’s instructions as I walked out of the manor, through the cultivated gardens, across the wild, rolling grassy hills beyond them,…
Chapter 13 – A Court of Thorns and Roses
Chapter 13 Tamlin waved his hand, and a hundred candles sprang to life. Whatever Lucien had said about magic being drained and off-kilter thanks to the blight clearly hadn’t affected Tamlin as dramatically, or perhaps he’d been far more powerful…
Chapter 12 – A Court of Thorns and Roses
Chapter 12 I couldn’t entirely shake the horror, the gore of my dream as I walked down the dark halls of the manor, the servants and Lucien long since asleep. But I had to do something —anything—after that nightmare. If…
Chapter 11 – A Court of Thorns and Roses
Chapter 11 I didn’t give myself a chance to panic, to doubt, to do anything but wish I had stolen some food from my breakfast table as I layered on tunic after tunic and bundled myself in a cloak, stuffing…
Chapter 10 – A Court of Thorns and Roses
Chapter 10 My blood froze as a creeping, leeching cold lurched by. I couldn’t see anything, just a vague shimmering in the corner of my vision, but my horse stiffened beneath me. I willed my face into blankness. Even the…
Chapter 9 – A Court of Thorns and Roses
Chapter 9 The following morning, as Alis and the other servant woman prepared my bath, I contemplated my plan. Tamlin had mentioned that he and Lucien had various duties, and aside from running into him in the house yesterday, I’d…