A Vow of Vengeance and Silk

The throne room reeked of dying flowers and old blood. Seraphine's boots stuck to the marble floor with every step, the once-gleaming tiles now crusted with the remnants of past executions. The stains told stories, here, a handprint dragged in desperation; there, the fanning spray of an arterial wound. Someone had tried to mask the stench with burning myrrh, but the cloying smoke only made her eyes water, mixing with the scent of decay until the air itself felt like a burial shroud. Above the dais, the obsidian throne twisted upward like a petrified spider, its legs ending in cruel barbs that still bore flecks of their last victim's skin. The arms of the throne were carved into grasping hands, their stone fingers curled as if to choke anyone who dared sit there. And before it, Kaelan knelt, motionless as a statue. The crown wasn't metal, but living bramble, the kind that grew in the palace's abandoned gardens, the kind Seraphine's nurse had warned would strangle curious children in their sleep. Thorns bit into his temples, sending thin trails of blood down his hollow cheeks. His breathing was all wrong. Not the ragged, pained rhythm of a wounded man, but the steady *in-out* of a bellows being worked by unseen hands. "Beautiful, isn't it?" The Queen of Thorns descended the dais, her gown whispering across the fouled marble. Up close, the crown's true horror revealed itself, tiny tendrils burrowing beneath Kaelan's skin, pulsing as they fed. Seraphine's fingers found the dagger hidden in her sleeve. The one Pip had given her three days ago, back when he'd still grinned around stolen sweets.

"What have you done to him?" The queen's smile showed all her teeth. "Nothing he didn't secretly want." She trailed a fingernail along Kaelan's jaw. "The crown doesn't create obedience, dear girl. It simply... amplifies what's already there." A lie. It had to be.

Yet when Kaelan's eyes finally opened, the truth struck like a blade between the ribs.

That rich brown she'd watched darken with anger, soften with reluctant amusement, gone. Replaced by flat copper coins that reflected the torchlight without absorbing it.

His mouth moved without sound, forming words that weren't his own: "Kneel."

The guards forced Seraphine down so hard her knees cracked against stone. Across the room, Rook thrashed in her chains. Brick roared, the hooks in his shoulders weeping fresh blood. But Kaelan Kaelan just watched.

And when the queen pressed a second crown of thorns into his hands, when she guided his fingers toward Seraphine's brow, his touch was terrifyingly gentle. The first thorn pierced flesh. Somewhere, a dove Pain. Not the sharp, clean hurt of a blade, but something worse a slow, creeping violation, as if the thorns weren't just breaking skin but rewriting her thoughts. The queen's voice slithered into her ear: "Don't fight it, darling. It's easier if you let go." Seraphine gritted her teeth. "Go to hell." The queen laughed. "Oh, we're already there." Kaelan's hands trembled as he adjusted the crown, his fingers brushing her temples. For a heartbeat, just one, his touch lingered. And then A whisper. So faint she almost missed it. "Break it."His lips hadn't moved. But the words were his. The throne room blurred. Memories surged, Kaelan teaching her to hold a sword, his patience endless. Kaelan laughing as she stole his last pastry. Kaelan bleeding in the cavern, his eyes begging her to run. The crown hissed, its thorns digging deeper. The queen's voice grew frantic. "No… stop her!" But it was too late. Seraphine reached up, And slammed her forehead into Kaelan's. The impact shattered the crown. Thorns rained to the floor, writhing like dying snakes. Kaelan gasped, his eyes clearing. And the queen. The queen screamed. Chaos erupted. The throne room's mirrors cracked, their reflections twisting into screaming faces. The obsidian throne shuddered, its barbs snapping like brittle bone. Kaelan grabbed Seraphine's hand. "The throne, destroy it !" They moved as one. Their blades struck simultaneously. And the throne exploded. The queen's shriek cut off abruptly as the shadows consumed her, dragging her into the abyss beneath the dais. Silence. Then, A single, shuddering breath from Kaelan. "Took you long enough," he rasped. Seraphine laughed, the sound half-sob. "Shut up." And then she kissed him. Because some things, Some things even thorns couldn't kill.