Flesh and fragments of brain matter painted the walls in grotesque patterns, staining the room they once shared with ichor and gore.
The emperor bellowed in rage, his veins bulging with barely restrained wrath. Tears streaked down his face as he took in the vacant, shattered expression of the woman he had once cherished beyond all else.
Then, unwilling to look at her any longer, his face turned cold, hardening into a mask of indifference as he barked an order to the guards behind him.
"Take him away."
His voice was deathly quiet.
"Leave his body to me—I will deal with him personally."
The guards obeyed, dragging away the corpse. But even as the body was removed, a wet, gurgling laugh echoed from its broken, healing jaw. A sound so wretched that the Emperor could not believe that the man was once his own brother by blood.
Maids rushed in, draping silken cloth over the empress's lifeless form, shielding her from prying eyes.
