Short blurb
In a Camelot governed by an oath that feeds on obedience, a reliquary keeper and an oath-bound knight discover that proximity stabilises what pain cannot. When the system learns to require their connection – and then forbids it – the oath begins to unravel, revealing the cost of preserving perfection at the expense of humanity.
Pierce Arden writes dark, emotionally driven speculative fiction focused on devotion, power, and the cost of intimacy within rigid systems. His work blends mythic structures with gothic atmosphere, often examining how institutions mistake endurance for faith and obedience for virtue.
Rather than rebellion, his stories linger on what happens when characters remain inside the structure long enough to expose its fractures. Love, in his work, is rarely safe – it stabilises, destabilises, and ultimately forces systems to reveal what they preserve and what they destroy.
He is honoured to contribute The Oath That Bled Us to Once & Nevermore.