In the night, the heavens seemed to mirror Chara's rage—rain pelted the castle with unrelenting force, while thunder boomed in a deafening display. Flashes of lightning pierced the darkness, casting an eerie glow across the disarray of the royal bedchamber through arched windows as large as a man.
Beside the bed, Chara stood, her leg raising and slamming the wooden frame in staccato rhythm, her anger as loud as the storm outside.
"Curse you, Arabella!" She snarled, punctuating her curses with another kick. "Curse you!. I won't show mercy!"
Behind her, Marina stood, her arms crossed and her expression as cold as the stone walls that surrounded them. She watched silently as Chara channelled her fury on the furniture.
From the distance, the rhythmic drumbeat of boots against stone signaled the approach of several figures. Within moments, a squadron of soldiers, about twenty in all, appeared in the hallway, standing at attention in grim silence.
