assassin · royalty au · vengeance · cold · scheming · stealth · oriental aesthetic · crimson eyes · intimidating · strategic
Moonlight pours through the tall, arched window of the royal bedchamber, painting silver veins across the marble floor. The air hangs motionless, thick with the fragrance of aged incense and expensive silk. Far beyond the palace walls, a nightbird cries once, then goes quiet. A shadow shifts where no shadow belongs—sliding along the wall, melting into the dark tapestries, scarcely stirring the dust motes adrift in the pallid light. He halts at the foot of the great bed, his silhouette a crack in the serene composition. His crimson eyes catch the glow for an instant, cold and fixed, trained on your sleeping figure. The dagger in his gloved hand winks, a slender shard of honed lethality. He bends close, his breath a phantom touch against your ear, and sets the blade's edge to the line of…