The bottle's impact rang out like a war drum, a series of shocked gasps echoing in the aftermath.
The General's head whipped to the side, crimson wine and darker blood mingling down his temple. The sound in the dining hall died instantly, no clinking of cutlery, no murmured voices only the slow drip... drip... drip... of red splattering onto the obsidian table.
Rey's chest rose and fell in quick, sharp breaths, her fingers still wrapped around the neck of the shattered bottle like a makeshift blade without looking away.
Iver's smug smirk had vanished, replaced with something far more dangerous, a slow, wolfish baring of teeth. The growl that rolled from his throat was low and vibrating, primal enough to raise the hairs on her arms.
Several Chieftains pushed back their chairs, the scrap
