Bride of The Shadow Lord

ering to ask if the temperature was right. Two of them stood behind me, silent, e

of the

wanted to stay alive. The walls were black stone, like everything else in this godless

hat it sm

, but I said nothing. I'd alre

" one maid finally whispered to the o

e'll last

mach t

torm Brides" came before me. But I stayed qu

the sleeves tight, the neckline high. Not the kind of dress a bride would

back. No makeup. No

sil

aired woman from earlier stood there. She eyed

low

the fortress

walls seemed to glow faintly when I walked past them. I kept my hands to myself. The cold

was important, more than a maid, less than royalty. A gatekeep

e turned down another hall. "You'll keep your eyes down. Do not

n the air like a warn

ng?" I asked before

pa

me with somethi

o've gone in hav

-dark wood carved with symbols I didn

alled from th

nt

s open and gestured

was dry. Every instinct in my body told me t

eppe

fire, no warmth. Just a single figure standing near

hadow

l V

, unsure what to do. The wind howled outside the

than I expected,"

Cold. Like a blade sl

" I said, the words leaving my

rned

me-I forgot

horned beast or shadowy wraith. No,

s bea

face was pale, angled, almost carved. His presence was... wrong. To

his eyes th

. Like he carried too many ghosts

n," he said softly

alized what I was doing

Taller than anyone I'd ever seen. And c

here by accident. You

gged from my home, tied up like a criminal, a

ched, almost

ate is

dn't

a crown. But not a royal crown-no gold, no jewels. I

," he said. "This is su

d at th

t under

," he sai

ath chamber. It had a fire-small, but real. A bed. A window that looked out

A crown in her hand.

oked l

rstand-standing in a field of white flowers,

El

methin