In the Emperor's private study, Alaric sat opposite the Emperor. The Emperor looked up from the stack of documents on his desk, his expression tired.
"I know it was you," the Emperor said
"The heads on my wife's porch, the destruction of three of the most powerful families in the empire... I know you are behind it all."
He leaned forward, his elbows on the desk. "What did they do to you, my friend? To make you bring such devastation upon them?"
Alaric's eyes were as cold as steel. "It wasn't them, Arin." His voice was low and dangerous. "It was the Empress. She sent her personal guards to my woman's room last night. She ordered them to kill her and to ruin her face."
A look of shock crossed the Emperor's face. He leaned back in his chair, a look of disbelief in his eyes. He had expected her to be jealous, but not this. Not a direct assassination attempt, and certainly not inside the very walls of his palace.
