The Emperor Chamber
266 Words
The emperor swirled the wine in his cup, watching Jia through half-lidded eyes. Her smile was painted sweet, but her gaze gleamed with hunger. She thought him blind. She thought him a man who could be toyed with.
He drank. Slowly. The taste lingered bitter on his tongue. He did not flinch.
“Your brother will have what he needs,” he said, setting the goblet down with a deliberate clink. “But if he fails to crush the rebellion, I will not shield him again.”
Jia’s lips parted, but she only laughed softly, pretending to be reassured.
Later, when the chamber was his alone, the emperor pressed his hand to his mouth. A faint burn traced his throat. Poison. A slow one. A coward’s blade.
He moved to his writing desk, summoned a single servant he trusted more than blood—an old eunuch who had raised him from boyhood.
“Send word to the Royal Physician,” he ordered in a whisper, “and not the one from Jia’s choosing. I want the poison identified—quietly. Bring me also the Black Knights’ apothecary. If this is a new venom, I’ll know whose hand forged it.”
The eunuch bowed low, disappearing into the secret passage behind the chamber wall.
The emperor leaned back, staring at the empty cup. His body was already heating faintly, but his mind was calm, sharper than ever.
If Jia thinks she can end me this way… let her. I will drag her brother down before the poison takes root. And when I strike, she will learn despair.
- Writer
