Blood Oats
371 Words
The room emptied slowly, leaving the faint echo of voices clinging to the marble walls. The newly accepted group walked out with their heads held high, pride swelling in their chests. To them, a few words had tied them to the Queen’s empire.
To Selene, it was nothing but weakness.
She watched their backs as the doors closed, her jaw tightening. Dogs, she thought. They wag their tails for her approval, but loyalty fades the moment fear does. That’s not power. That’s convenience.
Her mother, still seated like a dark monarch on her throne, exhaled softly. “Another family added to the empire,” the Queen said. “Our reach grows.”
Selene’s voice was calm, but her tone was edged with steel. “They aren’t strong enough.”
The Queen’s gaze slid toward her daughter, sharp and dismissive. “Strength is not always necessary, Selene.” Fear… control… debt. Those are the true chains.
Selene met her eyes without flinching. “Chains break.”
For a moment, silence stretched between them, heavy as smoke. Then the Queen laughed, a low, dangerous sound that echoed through the hall. “Still so eager to prove yourself,” she said. “But you don’t understand yet.” One day, perhaps, you will.
Selene’s nails a bit into her palms. Her mother’s words weren’t wisdom they were bars of a cage.
That night, Selene stood at the balcony of her room, looking out over the city sprawled below. Lights glimmered in the darkness, each one a family, a group, a gang, pieces of an empire that belonged to her mother.
Her mother’s empire.
Selene’s reflection in the glass looked back at her, eyes burning with rage. If she won’t give me the throne… I’ll take it another way. If she builds, I’ll destroy. If she blesses, I’ll burn.
Her decision formed like ice in her veins.
Every group her mother appointed as mafia… Selene would tear them apart.
She whispered it to the night air, her voice like a vow carved in stone.
Let them pledge their loyalty to the Queen. I’ll make them beg for mercy from the Princess.
And for the first time, the shadows around her seemed to stir in agreement.
- Writer
