Blood is a peculiar thing.
It dries darker than people expect; almost black, thick as syrup. And when it pools, it clings to the floor like it wants to leave a memory behind. Like it knows its owner is gone, and this is all that's left.
The stench hit first; metallic, sharp, and undeniably human.
Then the screams started. I didn't stop them.
They echoed through the stone halls of the lower wing, deep beneath the East Court where no one wanted to be. Down here was a pit of hell, it was ugly and raw; a torture room.
I stood in the center of the room, cold, calm, and focused. The shooter had been identified as one of Gideon's men, but he had been loyal to Castillo, on of the old bastards I had scared in the boardroom on my very first day as queen.
Three other associates of his had been caught by the guards during the shootout when they had tried to escape. They were bound before me: one slumped against the chair in front of me, blood leaking from his split lip. The other two still intact...for now.
Of course, Castillo wouldn't come clean even ifbe had anything to do with this, so I'd have to torture the truth out of these men because I was certain someone put them to the job.
They weren't screaming yet. But they would.
I paced slowly, the hem of my black gown brushing against the floor, streaked now with red. I didn't care.
"You think because my husband sleeps like a corpse that I'm suddenly vulnerable?" I asked softly, tilting my head toward the man on the far right. His name didn't matter. None of their names did. "You think I'm an easy target like him?"
He said nothing, but his jaw trembled.
"I could have you killed without raising my voice. But that would be too generous."
The one in the middle was older, seasoned, the kind who'd once advised under Gideon, cleared his throat. "Lady Ariella, we—"
"Do not speak unless I tell you to," I interrupted coldly.
Silence.
I turned to the weapons laid out neatly on the steel tray behind me. Not all of them were for death, some were meant to buy time, to break down the bravado. To unravel men who once thought themselves untouchable.
My fingers hovered over a blade, not large, not meant for killing. Just meant for pain.
I picked it up.
"You should understand something," I said, kneeling in front of the youngest one. "I'm not just angry, i'm insulted. You tried to kill me in public. You tried to humiliate me. You thought I wouldn't bite back."
He stared at me defiantly, or at least trying to seem so. So I smiled, leaned close, and whispered, "I'm not like Gideon, I don't forgive."
Then I stabbed the blade into his flesh and slid across his thigh.
He screamed, it sounded raw, sharp, and desperate. The sound filled the room like incense.
Elias didn't move. He stood in the corner like a monolith, arms folded, eyes steady; watching, guarding, not for once flinching.
I moved to the second man, blood now soaking into the hem of my dress.
"You, I'm told you've been saying shit about me." I said, voice low.
"That wasn't treason," he spat, shaking.
"No. But this is." I stepped back and nodded to the guard.
He slammed a baton into the man's gut. More screams followed, expectedly.
The third tried to twist his wrists free, voice cracking. "Please....I have a daughter, she's only—"
"Shut the fuck up!" I snapped. "You value your daughter's life but not mine? You should have thought about her before trying to kill me."
He froze.
I leaned closer to him. "You people… you're all the same. You think if you whisper long enough, if you pull enough strings from the dark, you can carve out power for yourselves. But you forgot something."
I drove the heel of my boot into his knee causing a sickening crunch, and then howl of agony.
"A woman's in charge now."
The screams went on for an hour, then two. Eventually, the first man passed out from the pain. The second wept openly, blood pouring from a broken nose. The third had stopped pleading, opting for silence and the kind of twitchy stillness that came with hopelessness.
Good. They should feel hopeless, because this wasn't just punishment. It was a message.
"Who sent you?" I asked them at last.
Silence. They weren't going to talk, not if they wanted their families safe; I know this well enough, whomever put them to the job must have paid them but also threatened them to keep their mouths shut in case things went south.
I turned to the guards. "Drag them into the city, let everyone see them and know that this is what happens to traitors."
"And after, Lady Ariella?" one guard asked.
I smiled, teeth bared. "Hang them."
The guards hesitated, hanging clearly wasn't something they were used to.
I took a step forward. "Do you want to join them?"
That was all it took. They moved swiftly, hauling the bloodied traitors out like sacks of rotting meat. Their cries echoed down the halls, trailing behind them.
I stood alone in the chamber for a moment, the blood cooling on my skin, the air heavy with sweat and violence.
Then I felt him, Elias. Still silent. Still watching.
"You didn't say anything," I said without turning.
"I didn't need to," he replied.
I looked over my shoulder. His face was unreadable. But I saw something in the way his jaw was tight, not disapproval, not discomfort, just awareness.
"We'll find who paid them to do this," I told him. "The rat always crawls out of the hole eventually."
"We will."
I turned and walked towards him until we were face to face. He still didn't flinch, his eyes gave nothing away.
"They all think I'm weak." I said, I don't know where that came from, or why I was telling him.
"You're not weak," he said.
I studied his eyes. "Do you believe it?"
"I do."
His voice was calm, steady, and certain. And that was enough. I turned away, brushing past him.
As I climbed the stairs back into the main palace halls, I could already feel it, the hum of whispers. The weight of what I'd done spreading like a sickness through the corridors. Servants wouldn't meet my eyes. Officers cleared paths for me. Even the senior ministers would feel the ripple soon.
Ariella was not to be crossed.
I welcomed it, the fear, the disdain, I
welcomed it all. Let them fear me as I feared them for years, let them tremble in my presence. Let the Empire tremble.