CIAN
The bodies had been cleared from the hall.
Blood still stained the stone in dark patches, stubborn where it had settled into the grooves. The sentinels, with a lot of help from Omegas, worked in silence, scrubbing, rinsing, and scrubbing again. The sharp scent of cleaning solution tried to mask the copper in the air, but it did not quite succeed. Copper still clung to the back of the throat, thick and metallic.
I stood near the center of the room and watched them work.
Not because it needed watching, but because it needed to be seen.
It still needed to settle in the minds of many that this was what treason looked like when it ended.
