Velvet Warpath - Drawer 4. Aftermath Bridge.

(Filed Under Velvet Warpath. The Second Chest of Drawers- Drawer 4. Aftermath Bridge)

The chambers were hushed, the velvet curtains drawn against the night. A thin line of candlelight trembled across the floorboards.

The Queen sat on the edge of her bed, cloak fallen to one side, her spine still proud though her hands were tired. Before her lay the black ledger—its pages spread open like a wound, ink dense, unforgiving.

The ink was not hers. The words were not hers.

She shut her eyes tight for a few seconds, holding her breath. Her mouth pressed against the words she would not say. Then came a sharp release, her lips softening, her gaze slipping sideways—toward Cookie, resting solemnly in the chair beside her bed.

Her breath escaped in a ragged exhale, the sound of words unspoken, words Cookie did not need to hear. Her eyes were wet as she looked at him with the expression only he knew: part question, part recognition, part weary “again?”

Cookie nodded—just slightly, almost imperceptibly.

Her gaze drifted to the key around his neck. No one else would notice the way her eyes shifted, but Cookie knew this part too.

The Queen looked away again, but not down. She drew a deeper breath. Then, quietly: “Ok.”

Her back straightened with a softness that was its own resolve. She tilted her chin as though listening to instructions only she could hear, running the familiar pattern to its inevitable end.

And before her, the ledger remained—waiting.