FOR: open to all LOCATION: castle/castle grounds; some undefined time, but soon after the execution
The sun is just rising, his clothes and skin still damp from the perfunctory cleaning he rushed through in the training yard. He hasnāt been sleeping well since Haojingās decapitation, unable to shake off the feeling he āøŗ Ā everyone āøŗ is a coward. He dislikes theatrics, and while he has no problem with blood when heās the one shedding it, a head makes much worse sounds rolling off in an enclosed space than in the field of battle.
Keeping them all penned up inside like animals to watch the murder of one of their own is, at the very least, uncouth. Humiliating more than humbling. He does not like such blunt reminders that his life is not his own. That should someone powerful enough want him dead, no one would dare intervene. How many frozen, silent watchers believed the kingās investigation was above reproach? How many trusted the council found the culprit? All he can tell for certain is that he did not, and that in the moment that didnāt matter as much as the relief that it wonāt be one of his own. But if the king just killed someone on a whim, then things are bound to only get worse and while his blood sings at the thought of an all out fight, his mind is not in it.
More than anything, he wants to go home. For all its faults, at least violence is always clear there, always has a point. The closer to the throne he gets, the muddier the motives are, the less sense he finds in taking action, the worse the future starts to look. A noise pulls him from his thoughts, though he barely shows a reaction before turning. āYouāre up early,ā Kaz says in lieu of a greeting, the corner of his mouth twisting in a careless smirk.Ā














