[Verse 1, low, tired, intimate] I learned young how to count the coins How to stretch one loaf through a week How to scrub the blood from a working shirt How to smile when I’m too worn to speak Me mum was cough and blankets thin Me dad was smoke and empty lies Then one day he ran and left us there With debt and dark in the collectors’ eyes [Pre-Chorus, bitter, rising] And I paid, and I paid With my back, with my hands, with my nights and my days [Chorus, powerful, emotional, defiant] So I worked till my bones near gave way Worked with soap and ale and fear Till the bastards came with their grabbing hands Like I weren’t a soul stood here But I’m more than debt, more than meat More than what they thought they’d own ‘Cause a thief with fire in her wicked smile Saw a heart beneath the bone [Verse 2, stronger, rougher] Three jobs deep and no end in sight Steam in my lungs, salt on my skin Men would leer when the books came due Like shame was something you wore for them They touched my arm like they priced the flesh Like I owed the world me skin And I kept me head and I bit me tongue ‘Cause if you’re poor, you learn where to bend [Pre-Chorus, more intense, angry] But not forever No, not forever There’s only so long you live with a boot on your neck [Chorus, powerful, bigger] So I worked till my bones near gave way Worked with soap and ale and fear Till the bastards came with their grabbing hands Like I weren’t a soul stood here But I’m more than debt, more than meat More than what they thought they’d own ‘Cause a thief with fire in her wicked smile Saw a heart beneath the bone [Verse 3, softer, emotional, wonder] She came like night in a bright red mouth With a laugh that could cut through stone And she looked at me like I weren’t half-dead Like I weren’t already gone Then she brought me to a house of ghosts Books and roses, blood and vows Dark-eyed saints and contract devils And a strange kind of mercy in the walls somehow [Bridge, slow build, heartfelt] They used dark art They used cold ink They broke the chains quicker than I could think A family made of thorns and flame And no one there called me by my shame Now me mum sleeps safe Now the debt’s all done And I wake in the arms of a dangerous one [Final Chorus, huge, triumphant, emotional] I worked till my bones near gave way Worked through hunger, grief, and fear Now the dawn comes soft through Six Towers’ glass And for once I want to stay here I’m more than debt, more than meat More than what they thought they’d own ‘Cause a thief stole more than my guarded heart She made this haunted house my home [Outro, warm, tender, resolved] So here I stand Still scarred, still strong In a cult, in love, where I belong And if she asks I’ll stay right here In the arms of the thief Who stole my fear
