notdeermag
Robber Bridegroom's Widow, Ellen Huang
CW: blood, violence
What to do with the corpses
Once the warlock himself is stew?
These are the preserved remains
Of other brides like you.
The bride recoiled at blood and guts
Twisted the golden ring
Upon not her own wedded finger
But the dismembered poor thing.
For a second, though, she held it
How strange, a touch so light
Could summon weight of evil
Numbness, alternating fright.
The surviving bride returned not
To the house with stews made from sin
She had trails of lentils and stories
But nothing to save from within.
Someday she'd like to get married
And former victims, her bridesmaid team
But for now, she stares at the stew and waits
For someone to tell her this is all a dream.
previously published in Bleached Butterfly.
Ellen Huang (she/her) is published/forthcoming in Wretched Creations, Love Letters to Poe, Bowery Gothic, Ghost City, Grimoire, Bleached Butterfly, Sirens Call, Prismatica, Vamp Cat, and more. She is currently working on an asexual horror anthology and a fairy tale chapbook. For her fantasy-inspired creative work, follow: worrydollsandfloatinglights.wordpress.com.