A Vow of Vengeance and Silk

The blade bit into flesh, drawing a thin line of crimson. Seraphine didn't flinch, she had learned long ago that pain was just another language, one the Queen of Thorns was fluent in. The queen watched with detached amusement as blood welled along the knife's path. "Your princeling doesn't have long," she observed, swirling a violet hued vial between her fingers. The liquid inside caught the torchlight, casting eerie shadows across the cavern walls. "Shall we discuss his worth?"

Kaelan lay motionless nearby, his breathing shallow. Dark blood seeped from the wound in his abdomen, pooling beneath him in a slow, inevitable tide. Poisoned steel.Tristan's favorite trick. A choked groan drew Seraphine's attention. Rook hung between two guards, her wrists bound with barbed wire, one eye swollen shut. Brick remained upright only through sheer stubbornness, iron hooks piercing his massive shoulders, the chains attached to them taut with his weight.

And Pip... Pip didn't move at all. His lifeless hand lay palm-up, fingers curled slightly, as if waiting for one last coin toss. The queen's boot nudged Kaelan's shoulder. "This one might be salvageable. For a price." Seraphine's fingers twitched toward her hidden blades. The knife at her throat pressed deeper in warning, drawing a fresh bead of blood. "Consider carefully," the queen continued, her voice a velvet-wrapped threat. "Save him, and you enter my service. Let him die, and I'll gift you Tristan's head in a velvet-lined box." She smiled, slow and cruel. "Both options have their appeal." The cavern air hung heavy with blood and smoke. Somewhere in the distance, water dripped in a steady rhythm, counting down the seconds Kaelan had left. His fingers spasmed against the stone floor, his body fighting a losing battle. Rook spat blood onto the queen's boots. One of the guards backhanded her, but the defiance in her remaining good eye never wavered. The queen extended the vial. "Choose." Seraphine took it. The glass felt unnaturally cold against her skin, as if the liquid inside leached warmth from the world. As she uncorked it, the substance released no scent, no telltale bitterness or sweetness, not to betray its nature. No way to know if it was cure or curse.Only one way to find out. Seraphine knelt beside Kaelan, her knees pressing into the cold stone. His skin was clammy, his lips tinged blue. The wound in his gut pulsed black at the edges, tendrils of poison spiderwebbing beneath his skin.

She hesitated. The queen's voice slithered into her ear. "Tick-tock, little viper." With a steadying breath, Seraphine tipped the vial against Kaelan's lips. The liquid flowed like liquid shadow, disappearing into his mouth.

For a heartbeat, nothing. Then his body arched off the ground, muscles locking in agony. A guttural scream tore from his throat, raw and shattered. His fingers clawed at the stone, nails breaking against the rock. Seraphine lunged forward, gripping his shoulders. "Kaelan…!" His eyes flew open, but they weren't his own. The irises had darkened, swallowed by pupils that stretched too wide, too black. His breath came in ragged gasps, his voice a broken rasp. "Sera... run…" Then his body went limp.

The queen clapped her hands together, delighted. "Oh, marvelous! I wasn't sure it would take." Seraphine whirled on her, teeth bared. "What did you do to him?" The queen tilted her head, considering Kaelan's still form. "Saved him. In a manner of speaking." She crouched, tracing a finger along the now-closed wound on his abdomen. "The poison was necrotic. By the time you'd have found a true antidote, there'd have been nothing left of him but a pretty corpse." She smiled. "This way, he lives. Just... differently." Seraphine's hands shook. "You turned him into one of your thralls." The queen's laughter was a blade against her spine. "I prefer the term loyal subjects." Rook snarled, straining against her bonds. "You rotting bitch"

A guard silenced her with a fist to the ribs.

Brick growled, the hooks in his shoulders creaking as he fought the chains. "Should've let him die clean." The queen ignored them, her gaze locked on Seraphine. "You made your choice. Now it's time to honor your bargain." Seraphine looked down at Kaelan, his too dark eyes, his too still chest.

She had saved him. And doomed him.

The stronghold of the Queen of Thorns was a living nightmare. Towers of black stone speared the sky, their peaks lost in perpetual storm clouds. The halls echoed with whispers, the walls lined with mirrors that reflected only the worst parts of those who looked into them. Seraphine was given quarters fit for a prisoner princess: gilded cages, silk sheets, and a door that locked from the outside. The first night, she dreamed of Kaelan. His hands, slick with blood, reaching for her. His voice, warped and wrong. "You should have let me die."

She woke screaming. The queen was there, perched at the foot of her bed like a vulture. "Bad dreams?" Seraphine lunged And found herself pinned to the mattress by unseen hands, her limbs locked in place. The queen tutted. "You'll learn." Morning brought a "gift" at her door: a dagger, and a note. "Breakfast is at eight. Try not to be late." The dining hall was empty save for the queen and a single servant, a hollow eyed boy who couldn't have been older than twelve. The queen smiled. "Hungry?" A platter sat between them, laden with fruit, bread, and a single, perfect apple.

Seraphine didn't move. The queen sighed. "Very well. Lesson one: everything is poison." She picked up the apple, turning it in her fingers. "Some toxins kill the body. Others kill the mind. The best ones?" She took a bite, juice running down her chin like blood. "They make you thank them for the privilege."

The servant boy swayed on his feet. Seraphine's stomach turned. The queen held out the apple. "Your turn." Weeks passed in a haze of lessons and lies. Seraphine learned to spot poison in perfume, betrayal in a smile. She learned the weight of a blade, the taste of fear, the art of holding a man's beating heart in her hands and squeezing. But she never saw Kaelan. Until the night she broke into the queen's private sanctum. He stood in the center of the room, motionless, his back to her. "Kaelan?" He turned. His eyes were still black. And he wasn't alone. The queen stepped from the shadows, a crown of thorns in her hands. "Oh, Seraphine. You weren't invited." Kaelan's hand closed around her throat. And the world went dark. When she woke, the queen was waiting. "You have one final lesson," she said, pressing a knife into Seraphine's palm. Across the room, Rook and Brick knelt in chains. "Kill them," the queen said, "and I'll set Kaelan free." Seraphine looked at the blade. Then at her friends. Then at Kaelan, his hollow eyes, his bloodstained hands. The queen smiled.

"Choose."