Between Bruises & Blooms

I promised myself
I would sleep tonight.

But the pages whispered
of a woman with a dagger,
a kingdom built on bones,
and a dragon
who remembered her name.

So I stayed.

Through the witching hour,
through the silence
settling beneath my door,
through the slow surrender
of every star outside my window.

I watched lovers become enemies,
enemies become everything,
and ordinary girls
learn to hold lightning
without burning alive.

And somewhere in the darkness,
I forgot the weight
of my own world.

Until morning arrived,
rude and golden,
dragging me back
from a place
I wasn't finished loving.

Tonight,
I will promise myself
sleep again.

And somewhere,
a dragon
will be waiting
to make a liar of me.