Chapter 10 - The Receipt of Blood
Victoria turned her back on the broken dynasty, the hem of her white satin gown sweeping smoothly across the shattered glass of Arthur's dropped tablet. She walked toward the grand mahogany exit doors, her posture straight, her head held high beneath the weight of her crown.
The three distinct red marks on her cheek were no longer a symbol of humiliation or abuse; they were the final receipt of a debt collected in full. As she stepped out into the cool, crisp night air where a line of armored sedans sat waiting to carry her away, the string quartet inside the ballroom stopped playing entirely, leaving behind only the cold, haunting echo of an empire that had fallen in a single evening.
