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North Drake posts
Book 1: Chapter 50: Between Mercy And Madness
Chapter 50:
Between Mercy And Madness
Rain lashed against the windows in thick, unrelenting sheets, turning the evening into a swirling tapestry of shadow and storm. Grace sat at Elyne’s polished woo...
2025-06-18 14:47:19 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 49: Pieces In Motion
Chapter 49:
Pieces In Motion
The tea was fragrant, but Selira barely tasted it.
She sat in the sun-drenched chamber near her own chambers, where the windows framed the hills with glass so clean i...
2025-06-18 14:46:46 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 48: Under Her Eyes
Chapter 48:
Under Her Eyes
It was Swordday.
Three days since the orchard. Three days since Clara’s silent tears, and the moment that changed something Grace hadn’t planned on changing.
...
2025-06-18 14:46:20 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 47: The Silence That Hurt
Chapter 47:
The Silence That Hurt
The ceiling above her was painted in goldleaf spirals, old patterns set into the plaster centuries ago, back when the Ashford Estate still fancied itself graceful. Gra...
2025-06-18 14:45:49 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 46: Add Her To The List
Chapter 46:
Add Her To The List
The sky outside her window had gone gray with sleep.
The main tower from the Ashford Estate cast long shadows across the courtyard, and the stained-glass candle ho...
2025-06-18 14:45:22 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 45: The Ones We Leave Behind
Chapter 45:
The Ones We Leave Behind
The cell was always cold. Not freezing. Not sharp, just constant. A damp kind of chill that crept in through the walls and stayed in the bones, no matter how many t...
2025-06-18 14:44:09 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 44: The Court
Chapter 44:
The Court
Time slipped past in quiet, sharpened routine.
The days blurred from repetition. Morning lessons in a high-windowed chamber beneath the east wing: six hours each day with Ma...
2025-06-18 14:43:45 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 43: They Were The Bad Guys
Chapter 43:
They Were The Bad Guys
Rhel didn’t know how long he had been down here.
There was no sun. No moon. Just damp stone, the stink of blood and wet iron, and the slow burn of torches tha...
2025-06-18 14:43:20 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 42: What Remains
Chapter 42:
What Remains
“Fuuuuck!”
The word snapped through the room like a whip, followed a half-second later by the sharp crash of glass against stone. Somewhere in the dark, a bottle shat...
2025-06-18 14:42:58 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 41: Rot In The Basket
Chapter 41:
Rot In The Basket
Grace stood near the arched window of her private entry chamber, watching the mist burn away from the frost-laced rooftops of the estate. The pale light of morning spilled...
2025-06-18 14:42:33 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 40: Ashes Of Legacy (Interlude — Liliana)
Chapter 40:
Ashes Of Legacy Interlude — Liliana
The gates of Valewick Citadel opened in silence. The guards bowed low as the Duchess rode through at dawn. There were no trumpets, no declarat...
2025-06-18 14:42:11 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 39: Sentiment And Strategy
Chapter 39:
Sentiment And Strategy
The tea in Selira's porcelain cup had long gone lukewarm, but she made no move to replace it. She sat perfectly composed on the cushioned bench beneath the tall windo...
2025-06-18 14:41:45 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 38: Her Own Path
Chapter 38:
Her Own Path
Liliana pulled her close without hesitation.
Grace didn’t resist. She didn’t move. She didn’t even breathe for a moment. Her mother’s arms wrapped around her with...
2025-06-18 14:41:11 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 37: No Place For Wolves
Chapter 37:
No Place For Wolves
It had been two days since the first battle of the Stonefang Clan. Since Rhel’s father died. Since the mountains turned red. He had watched it happen — had seen a wa...
2025-06-18 14:40:41 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 36: Not Alone Anymore
Chapter 36:
Not Alone Anymore
Grace shut the door behind her and didn’t look back.
The knight stayed outside, as ordered. No one would come in. No one would interrupt.
She didn’t care t...
2025-06-18 14:40:17 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 35: I’m Done Playing A Little Girl
Chapter 35:
I’m Done Playing A Little Girl
She didn’t mean to fall asleep again. But she did. Five more minutes had turned into maybe an hour. Or two. Or whatever. Time didn’t mean much when your...
2025-06-18 14:39:54 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 34: Not Dead. Again.
Chapter 34:
Not Dead. Again.
Velwick didn’t sleep that night.
Not the market stalls. Not the noble quarter. Not the gates.
Someone had tried to kill the Duchess’s daughter.
And wh...
2025-06-18 14:39:29 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 33: Threaded (Interlude — Corax)
Chapter 33:
Threaded Interlude — Corax
Corax drifted through the Veil in silence.
His shape was simple: a smooth, hovering sphere of black glass, rimmed in faint violet light. He made ...
2025-06-18 14:39:06 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 32: Not Yours To Touch
Chapter 32:
Not Yours To Touch
Darkness.
Complete.
Still.
Endless.
No light, no shape, no sense of time. Just pressure, and silence.
Grace stood, or floated. She wasn’t ...
2025-06-18 14:38:46 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 31: Only Mine To Break
Chapter 31:
Only Mine To Break
The carriage rolled through Valewick’s western gate slower than usual.
Not because the guards hesitated, they bowed the moment they saw the Ashford crest, but bec...
2025-06-18 14:38:20 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 30: The Real Me, I Guess
Chapter 30:
The Real Me, I Guess
Clara sat on the edge of her bed, holding a book she hadn’t read in the last twenty minutes.
Her room was warm. The window let in the morning light, but it didn...
2025-06-18 14:37:54 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 29: Fuck Around And Find Out
Chapter 29:
Fuck Around And Find Out
Liliana stood at the center of the high court in Valewick Citadel, cloaked in silence and steel.
She wore the Black Ashford — the ancestral armor o...
2025-06-18 14:37:29 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 28: Drekkh Thar
Chapter 28:
Drekkh Thar
The fire crackled louder than usual tonight.
Rhel sat cross-legged near the edge of the gathering circle, close enough to feel the heat but far enough not to draw attentio...
2025-06-18 14:37:01 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 27: Heir Apparent
Chapter 27:
Heir Apparent
Dusk settled softly over Ashford. The stained-glass windows caught the last of the light and scattered it in fractured reds and golds across the long stone walls. Shadows stre...
2025-06-18 14:36:36 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 26: Let Me Prepare You (Interlude — Lennard)
Chapter 26:
Let Me Prepare You Interlude — Lennard
He stood in the doorway, frozen. Not breathing. Not speaking. Just staring. She stood in the hallway, framed by the glow of the stairwell. ...
2025-06-18 14:36:14 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 25: Beneath The Stone
Chapter 25:
Beneath The Stone
Ronan hadn’t felt this in a long time.
Something like confidence, light but solid. A feeling he’d almost forgotten. The courtyard was clearing, the nobles were d...
2025-06-18 14:35:54 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 24: This Is My Story
Chapter 24:
This Is My Story
The final words of welcome had been spoken, and the courtyard shifted subtly, from ceremony into court formality. The guests were still in place.
Selira stepped aside...
2025-06-18 14:35:32 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 23: The Arrival
Chapter 23:
The Arrival
The morning had barely begun, a faint grayness brushing against the frosted glass of her windows, when Grace of Ashford opened her eyes. She did not rise. She lay still, breathi...
2025-06-18 14:35:13 +0000 UTC View PostBook 1: Chapter 22: The Road To Ashford Part: II
Chapter 22:
The Road To Ashford Part: II
By the fifth day, the mountains filled half the sky.
Selira’s carriage rattled down the worn stone road, her hands steady in her lap despite the endless...
2025-06-18 14:34:42 +0000 UTC View Post