Chapter 5 · free to read
The heat lifted the ink. The ink lifted the floor out from under me.
The name was old-fashioned — a name no one alive would give a stray from nowhere. Unless they'd planned my arrival.
Rivals for a week. Allies for a breath. In this palace, that was practically a marriage.
Under the third barrel, just as she said. A century of the palace's appetites — and its debts.
Artwork and narration generated with AI.