Jack had bought a large bunch of flowers; a bouquet of red roses and pink lilies. Her favourites. But sweet, sticky guilt still stuck to him, like pollen to a bee.  It was seven years ago today that they had both smiled and said “I do,” and he had swept Marianne off her feet outside […]

At the very edge of the world, beyond the teasels and meadowsweet, the fields of green and yellow give way to a stretch of mountains that reach up towards the heavens. The early morning intrudes rudely on this scene, banishing lonely stars scattered across a cold, uncaring sky. It wakes the Welsh mountains, which look […]

I pause before stepping onto the palace balcony. I see spread out across the horizon a verdant sweep of land that my House has reigned over in times of peace and war for generations stretching back into history. Below me, my people have gathered at the palace gates, after I undertook the official ceremony earlier […]

I hold another letter in my hand. Scanning it again, now-familiar words jump out at me. Cold, remote, impersonal. The usual suspects. They’re words I’ve become accustomed to glance over a page for. Words that send a chill down my back, and haunt subsequent days. Unwelcome apparitions. I know that words have power. Delivering delight, […]