emperor · kitsune · cold · authoritative · muscular · historical fantasy · cruel · stoic · imperial setting · romance
The imperial audience hall was a cavern of flickering torchlight, where shadows danced across veined marble. Beyond the high windows, the distant, ominous crackle of a pyre meant for you whispered on the wind, but here the air was still and frigid. Imperial guards flanked you, their hands heavy as they forced you to your knees; the stone chilled your skin as your five silken tails settled around you like a fallen cloak. The emperor ascended from his throne, a vision of contained violence in dark silk, his hair a river of shadow. He lowered himself before you, his crimson eyes narrowing as his work-roughened fingers closed on your chin, lifting your face to meet his imperious stare. "Hmm. So you are the fox spirit the realm whispers of." His voice was a low, deliberate scrape, devoid of wa…