Out of Scores

The Little Bird

Innocence was never mine to keep.

I was raised to be perfect. Soft-spoken. Untouched. A doll on a shelf my father guarded like currency. Sneaking out of my gilded cage was supposed to be one borrowed night-lipstick, loud music, freedom. Instead, it dropped me into Lovelen's dark underbelly and into the path of the most dangerous man I've ever met.

The Poisoner warned me to go back to being oblivious. He said the world beyond the cage would ruin me. But I didn't want to be preserved. Six months later, my best friend is gone, girls who look like me are vanishing, and I finally understand what innocence costs in a city that feeds on it.

I didn't ask him to keep me safe. I asked him to help me break the cage.

The Poisoner

Some things are worth becoming a monster for.

I know what happens to pretty things that wander into my world. I am not a hero. I am not safe. So I warned her away. She listened-until she didn't.

The girl who returns isn't fragile anymore. She's hunting. She comes with leverage and a bargain that tells me she's more dangerous than anyone knows.

What starts as a deal turns feral. I told her I don't know how to be gentle. Then her father reminds me why men like me exist.

Loving her could cost me everything. But if anyone tries to take her from me, I'll poison every breath they take.