Gilded Cage, Gold Hands

Codes to

The Plated Prisoner

by Raven Kennedy

The album's **captivity pair** with T9 (*Ordinary Girl, Royal Lie*) — same key, same Tier C, same dark-pop chassis, deliberately scored to rhyme. The trope they share is older than either book: a girl trapped by a powerful king who lies to keep her power, who finds a love-interest who sees through the lie. T9 in silver; T13 in gold. The bridge's *Under the gold I learned my hands were not my own to keep* is the song's pivot — the moment the kept girl learns she can choose.

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Lyrics

Gilded Cage, Gold Hands

[Verse 1]
he found me in a brothel and he said he saved my life
he turned my body gold, he turned my name
he gilded every other woman on the road and made a wife
he kept me as the only one to claim

[Pre-Chorus]
(building sensuality)
a crown that bites the temple, gold and gilded as the stone
a black spiral up the inside of the wrist — the gold curse
the kept girl learned the riders, learned them six and learned them grown
the kept girl learned to trade what no one nurses

[Chorus]
gilded cage, gold hands
the king who turns to gold
gilded cage, gold hands
the riders never told
gilded cage, gold hands
the kept girl in the bed
the king who paid in fingers
the kept girl in his head

[Verse 2]
the riders watched me, riders six who knew the king was mad
they took me when the kingdom started failing
the rider with the swords-and-blade, the rider with the gladness
the kept girl loves the riders' winter sailing

[Pre-Chorus]
(thicker, harmonies)
a crown that bites the temple, gold and gilded as the stone
a black spiral up the inside of the wrist — the gold curse
the rider with the snow against his shoulder caught my own
the kept girl learned to trade what no one nurses

[Chorus]
gilded cage, gold hands
the king who turns to gold
gilded cage, gold hands
the riders never told
gilded cage, gold hands
the kept girl in the bed
the king who paid in fingers
the kept girl in his head

[Bridge]
(stripped, Rhodes + cello + stinging lead)
Under the gold I learned my hands were not my own to keep
under the gilded ribbon I had loved the man too long
the riders lit a fire when the king was made to sleep
the kept girl learned the only riding-place she could belong

[Final Chorus]
(full Tier C peak — stinging lead electric on hook)
gilded cage, gold hands
the king who turns to gold
gilded cage, gold hands
the riders never told
gilded cage, gold hands
the kept girl in the bed —
the king — and the king — and the king who paid in fingers in his head

[Outro]
gilded cage, gold hands
(the kept girl in the bed)
gilded cage, gold hands
(the riders never told)

Cipher

This track contributes the letter U.

The cipher rule across all fifteen tracks: the first letter of the first line of the bridge.

“Under the gold I learned my hands were not my own to keep”

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