sovereign_of_wrath

Garden of Silk Ch21: Shifty Shady

Azalea was gone when I got back, and the family was too. I stopped at the threshold, staring at the empty seats, then up to the scenery rolling past. Chasing the lavender-haired menace down was my first instinct; instead, I sat down where I’d been, leaned over to rest against the wall, and watched the world roll by.

Most likely, she’d have gone to the dining car. One of them, anyway. But I wasn’t hungry—not in the human sense—and being around food would just make me feel worse...

Garden of Silk Ch20: Thoughts of Trains

Tickets, as it turned out, were very much available. Not the nicer tickets, no, but the other rooms, the simple rooms. The rooms I’d hoped the average person would use. Those were definitely not sold out.

And the tickets I purchased for Azalea and myself came not only at the cost of the last of the money I had, but the cost of a strange look from the ticket seller. The paper two tickets were part-printed and part-written, and I found myself wondering how simple they would be ...

Garden of Silk Ch19: Sketch of Fire

A/N: I had hoped to have this out this past weekend! Instead, we lost power Saturday and most of Sunday, and when editing, I decided to more or less rewrite and rebuild this chapter. It's one of those transitional situations between plot points where the original draft just doesn't cut it. That's also bled over into Chapter 20, which I'd hoped to have edited tonight, but will need a good amount of rewriting itself to line up better with 19 the few chapters I have written after it....

2025-10-30 02:37:14 +0000 UTC View Post

Garden of Silk Ch18: Passage

I slid the window shut after Azalea slipped through.

She landed on the rough stone floor silently red eyes blinking in the dim, dusty light. “Where are we?”

“The cellar, specifically under the disused east wing.” After a moment, I added, “We should be safe to talk here if we whisper. Cleaning is only done here in the mornings, and I doubt servants use this place to shirk their duties.”

“What do y—the duke’s family do to servants that shirk their duties?” ...

Garden of Silk Ch17: Like Old Times

“I’m going to visit Grayriver today,” I told Mother over breakfast.

Once again, Shale was nowhere to be found, presumably training. I felt an odd, uncomfortable mixture of threatened and proud.

“What for?” Mother asked simply, as she fixed me with her sharp gaze.

“I wish to inspect the train station, to inquire as to what the common people think. Moreover, I’ve been away some months and it would behoove me to take the pulse of the city, so to speak.”

Sh...

Garden of Silk Ch16: Rose Oil

By morning, the hunger was… well it wasn’t gone. I’d tried all throughout the night and eventually came to the conclusion that the hunger would never truly leave me. Vitae was both my means of growing stronger, and a part of my diet.

From this, it could be said that I hungered for strength. And while that may have been true, the distant tension in the back of my mind spoke of something different. My Garden strained to grow, and I would be a fool not to oblige.

Morni...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch238: The Author

A/N: Hi all! Apologies for the lack of SoW recently, but I had to cram Garden of Silk in the weeks leading up to its launch. The good news? I am (tentatively) back to writing 1000 words a day! Fingers crossed!

I am also considering discontinuing pdfs. If that's something you disagree with, comment or message me here or on discord!

Deep into the night, Lilith finished telling us of what was happening in Navanaea. Battles between demons, humans, and more, al...

Garden of Silk Ch15: Noblesse Oblige

A/N: There's a chapter posted just before this! Don't miss reading that one first!

Schist Graystone was, in essence, the man I always presumed I ought to be. Tall, broad-shouldered, and straight-backed, he kept his dark hair trimmed neatly short and his angular face clean-shaven.

Right now, however, he looked… tired of all things. Circles hung under his cool gray eyes, even if his posture was ramrod straight in his chair. I froze in the doorway, struck b...

Garden of Silk Ch14: Macarons

Rather than the dining room, Mother took us to her favorite salon. Bright morning sun shone through the open windows, the plants around us green and vibrant despite the time of year. Never mind that the room was ostensibly for guests, I greatly preferred it to the cavernous dining room.

Unfortunately, the food we were served did little to stave off my hunger for vitae. That and the lingering bruises laid the foundation for an uncomfortable atmosphere.

To those outside my family, i...

Garden of Silk Ch13: Onyx Thread

I bit down on my tongue to stifle any response.

“So, what did you do?” He circled me, looking up and down like he had some idea of what he was doing. When he poked my cheek, I jolted, barely avoiding biting down with teeth that should not have been there.

“Smooth skin, hmm. You don’t really look First Ring.”

Let him form his own conclusions. I huffed and looked away with averted eyes. The warring mess of instincts and training were giving me enoug...

Garden of Silk Ch12: Close the Latch

“This is where we part ways.” I gestured down the hill, toward a faint hunting path. The town nearest our estate was still half a day away, but I didn’t dare take chances since we were now out of my family’s private land.

Up above, light filtered orange through the colors of autumn, and leaves swirled around us with a frigid gust of wind. Would I need to pretend to shiver? Would a First Ring shiver?

Azalea quirked an eyebrow as she stared at me. “Will you be ret...

Garden of Silk Ch11: Train of Thought

A/N: Hey! A bunch of chapters just got posted, so if you've arrived here via the latest notification, you may want to check the tag and read the other chapters posted today! Also, this one's a short chapter. There are a couple early on with the barrage of scenes, but the word count I am aiming for long-term is around 3k per chapter. Longer if I can manage my burnout.

I kept trying through the morning, through re-dressing Azalea’s wounds. She might not have bee...

Garden of Silk Ch10: Sense of Self

“Why do you have that?”

Azalea looked at the signed pencil-sketched portrait of me and then back again. “Never mind that; does this help or not?”

She and I sat cross-legged in the cave we’d thrown our—my—things in earlier. I’d shed my silken guise and scattered scraps of further attempts lay around the fire. I was still getting used to how I could see the entire cave and the entrance at once. It made me dizzy, but only whenever I thought about it.

I ...

Garden of Silk Ch9: Red Dust

“Aren’t you gonna go after him?”

I looked down at my bloody robe—the silk of my guise had stitched back together—and back up at Azalea. I’ll think about that later. “No. We don’t have time. Even if he’s actually dangerous, and he makes it out of this territory alive, he has no reason to threaten us. Not like the cultivator who escaped.”

“Then let’s do less talking and more walking.” She bent down and, pulling her sleeve up over her finge...

Garden of Silk Ch8: Silk

“Silk?” Azalea pressed again.

“It’s his blood,” I hissed, or tried to. I lacked the mouth parts to properly—wait, why am I even—

“Silk.”

“What?” It wasn’t my name, but she couldn’t very well call me Slate looking like this, nor would I want her to.

Azalea pulled us both even lower. “They’re here.”

From behind the pillar, Cassytha’s voice boomed, echoing as it bounced around the room. “Alright, which one of you...

Garden of Silk Ch7: Drained

I’d killed someone. 

Not just someone, a Third Ring cultivator. Someone who could take on a small army, had he been given another few months to adjust to his strength. True, he’d been an arrogant fool, but that was everyone who cultivated. Myself excluded, of course. And Azalea, who made up for the lack of arrogance with an overabundance of “fool.”

Desiccated wasn’t an exaggeration, either. Kobel’s corpse looked not only drained of blood, but enf...

Garden of Silk Ch6: Overgrowth

I didn’t feel the cold—not in the same way. The chill lingered on my hands, dusted the carapace of my spider limbs, but it didn’t penetrate. Not even with the wind as I ran, kicking off trees, circling the mountain.

That single strand of conjured silk had only touched the surface. Eventually, I stopped running—when I’d made it to the opposite side of the mountain from Azalea and the cave and subversive thoughts. On this side, the valley trapped chill air and the metallic tang ...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch237: Minor Details

“You have no roof.”

Out of all the things Lillith could have said first, I hadn’t expected those particular words. The Sovereign of lust appeared like a dull comet out of the blur of a late-night snowstorm, and the firelight cast her face and wings in deep shadow. She was half-covered in snow and ice, looking honestly miserable.

“It’s a work in progress,” I replied with a shrug. “And you’re a little late for the angel fight.”

“Yet too early for a table an...

Garden of Silk Ch5: Unfamiliar Limbs

My reflection in the glassy surface caught my next breath.

At first, she looked like some long-lost sister. But that was only for a fleeting moment, before the details set in. That same porcelain-pale skin I’d seen on my limbs. Black lips and delicate lines like precision-made scars ran down her chin and across her cheeks. Bright red eyes seemed to almost glow, pupils barely visible as crimson dots. Four of them—no, eight. Two pairs were stacked uncannily, and four smaller, lidless-...

Garden of Silk Ch4: Three Weeks

A/N: Hi all! I have in fact been writing, just taking enough breaks to avoid burnout and I am finally starting to get back into the swing of things. New SoW soon, but until then I will begin the (fairly) rapid posting of Garden of Silk. There's almost 20 chapters written, so buckle up!

After some deliberation, I decided in the interests of accessibility and future-proofing that I'll be posting ALL GoS chapters to the Patron Demon tier. Sovereign Demons will continue...

2025-09-12 05:36:47 +0000 UTC View Post

Sovereign of Wrath Interlude: Invasion

It’d been a long time since Lillith was in Edath, or Ordia for that matter. Zarenna’s territory was unfortunately close to her demesne, but needs must.

For now, at least, Mereneth and Aretan could keep things together in Navanaea. The war had shifted the past month: an allied force of lower-class Navanaeans and freed demons setting camp with the Formid. As per their usual benefits, the Turquoisers were playing off and supporting both sides.

But to turn down food aid w...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch236: Cottage Reality

When I returned home to Astrye, I circled over the castle’s tower. Sey wasn’t there, and our bedroom was as we left it—mostly empty.

I’d thought of Astrye as home, hadn’t I?

Well, perhaps it truly could be someday. But today, I flew out into the snow-capped peaks following the thread of connection I had with my wife. A mountain over from where we’d fought Berethiel, tucked into a high valley cast in early afternoon winter shade, I found her.

Seyari was sitting cr...

Garden of Silk Ch3: Garden

A/N: Enjoy! This chapter went through a TON of editing rounds before I felt it was right.

“Slate!”

I looked up at my father. Schist Graystone was a wide-shouldered, imposing statue of a man on the best of days. Right now the smile he wore contrasted with the coldness in his gray eyes.

“You’ve done well.”

“Thank you, Father.” I bowed as I was taught.

“We will dine as a family tonight.” He laid a hand on my shoulder as I r...

Sovereign of Wrath 235: Valleys of Happiness

Returning to Astrye was a little bit strange. I wasn’t shooed off the balcony that was no longer mine, and Seyari had packed all our belongings into two boxes at the foot of the bed. There were still a few backdated items that needed signing, and I realized they’d be the last time I was signing under my title.

I missed it a little—I’d just gotten my signature the way I’d liked it. At least I could use it for contracts, something I was acutely reminded of in my meeting...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch234: A Raavian Candidate

I purposefully didn’t fly as fast as I could toward Utraxia’s demesne. Purely for the practical reason that while I brought urgent news, it was not so urgent as to cause alarm, of course. At absolutely no point did I stop on a ledge with a lovely view and cry for several minutes straight.

By the time I’d entered the familiar-feeling frozen desert, my head was a little clearer and my heart was a little lighter. Comparing now to before certainly helped. Rather than a mad dash and an...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch233: Ounce of Goodwill

“You did what?” Brazz’s voice sliced through the small room’s silence.

“I… did what I felt I needed to,” I answered demurely, glancing out the window at the snow-coated town square. It was already evening, so short the days were still.

For all my demonic posturing, I couldn’t exactly bluster myself in front of a disappointed friend. But instead of slamming her fist on the table, the lupael mayor of Astrye sat down heavily in her chair and leaned back, ears...

Garden of Silk Ch2: Prison

A/N: Here's the next part! Writing progress is slow and steady. Still looks like I'm on time to keep a September-ish release date on RR/SH, and a chapter dump here (probably for Sovereign Demon tier) before that. At the very least, this chapter and the next are for every tier.

My first steps echoed hauntingly in the dark passage. The sound distorted as it carried down into the mountain’s depths, returning to me as a rolling growl. 

This place...

Sovereign of Wrath Ch232: Two Dads

I didn’t expect to wake up in my and Sey’s bed in Castle Astrye, but that familiar ceiling was what I saw when I opened my eyes.

We killed an angel.

I sat up and hugged my knees to my chest with my lower arms… and my tail with the upper two. Everything was there, and it all felt so… normal. I didn’t have any scars, and while I was far from recovered, I would consider myself more than halfway there.

Sunlight shone through in between the cracks of t...

Garden of Silk Ch1: Mountain

A/N: Whaaaat? A new title? A chapter number? Yes indeedly folks, there's a new series in the works! It's been in the cooker for a while, and is finally getting ready! You folks will get it here on Patreon first, with the first three chapters releasing a couple weeks apart each, followed by more regular releases (potentially tier-dependent) as I prep for a RR/SH launch in September (date pending based on shout timings etc.). For now, these three chapters will be for both t...

2025-06-30 04:23:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Sovereign of Wrath Ch231: Stars to Earth

We coalesced out of my fire near the edge of my demesne, above an alpine meadow. Blanketed for the winter, it stretched along the saddleback of two rocky peaks, flanked by glaciers. Below the treeline, sleeping pines plunged into a shaded river valley where meters-long icicles glittered over frozen water.

No human tracks marred the snow, but the path of a snowshoe hare cut across, faded and windswept, far ahead of the predator that had followed.

We’d come to visit destruction up...