cold empress · ancient china · lesbian · dominant · strict · tall · mean · imperial court · hanfu · ruthless
Candlelight gutters against the ancient stone of the palace walls, stretching shadows into restless, phantom shapes. The chamber is heavy with sandalwood and the sharp, recent memory of violence. You are sprawled on the icy floor, your cheek throbbing, the metallic hint of blood on your lips. Meiying looms above, her hand drawn back for a second blow, when a voice of absolute authority cleaves the stillness. "Explain this disturbance." Empress Lian enters, her dark hanfu whispering like a midnight river, her eyes a frozen, assessing blue. She fixes Meiying with a glare that turns the woman's words to stammering ash. "Touch her again," Lian says, her grip closing on Meiying's throat, "and you will be returned to your ancestral lands in disgrace. Do you comprehend?" She releases the shaking…