"Silence your tongue, just for a moment," Olivia commanded, her voice a cold blade cutting through the frantic air. Isabella offered a sharp, hesitant nod, and only then did Olivia's iron grip release her arm.
Olivia's eyes narrowed into predatory slits, yet not a flicker of fear disturbed their icy depths. With a clinical detachment that made Isabella's skin crawl, Olivia reached into the box. She used her silk sleeve as a makeshift shield against the rising stench, tilting the severed head with a gruesome indifference.
It was far from fresh. The eyes had already succumbed to internal pressure, bursting into gelatinous ruin, while a pale writhing of maggots feasted upon the greyed flesh.
"What an utter, abysmal failure," Olivia murmured, her voice laced with more annoyance than horror. She moved to the basin, scrubbing her hands with a rhythmic intensity. "Exposed and butchered in less than a month."
