Free Luxury of Vengeance by Isabella Carter

hand going
    to his arm while he glared at his brother, "Are you attempting to kill me?"
    "I missed. It was a mistake."
    Chien stood back, dao at the ready rather than attempting to press his advantage. He could see
    blood spill from between Tuan's fingers as he squabbled with his brother.
    "I barely nicked you!" Minh cried. "You truly are a weakling. So much for the strong and mighty Tuan. I should have known it was nothing more than an act."
    "A weakling? From a man who scarcely knows what to do with a sword? All you can do is sneak
    behind others and steal their strength." The blood continued to flow, staining Tuan's golden robe. Chien could see that the Empress was beginning to grow angry, but no one had yet noticed. He could be
    patient. He could wait.
    "At least I do not cry when I receive a small cut on my arm. You're barely bleeding." Minh
    gestured to his arm then paused. "Why are you still bleeding?"
    Isabella Carter | 28

    Tuan looked down as well, eyes widening as he took in the blood that covered his hand and
    made its way down his sleeve. He moved his hand away from the wound, and the blood began to fall
    freely down his sleeve. "What have you done?" He asked his brother in a fading, horrified voice.
    "Nothing, I did nothing." But Minh could not help staring in fascination at the wound.
    "Summon the shaman!" The Empress declared, standing from her throne.
    Before she could make her way down the tiers however, Tuan had staggered backward, raising
    his weapon with great effort. "You will not take the throne from me. Even in death." He thrust forward, but his arm was too weak to do much more than pierce Minh's skin.
    "Tuan! Stop!" Tuan collapsed, every breath he took sending him into shudders of pain. He was
    feeling it now. In the moment of death, the pain would be the worst. Every part of him clinging to life
    while the poison slowly dragged him to the underworld. He had enough strength to shove his mother
    away when she would have collapsed beside him and taken hold of him. "I am the strongest," he
    gasped. "The most capable. I will not die here." His movements slowed and his statement faded into nothing.
    Tears sat in the Empress's eyes as she stared at the body of her oldest son. The gasp of pain
    from behind her made her turn, and she watched as Minh clutched at his chest, the front of his robe
    soaked in blood. She mouthed the word 'No', but it never made it past her lips. Minh fell and she sat
    frozen in horror.
    Silence descended within the hall.
    "Do you feel the depression weighing upon you until it seems there is nothing left but despair?"
    Chien's words seemed a shout in the silence. "The horror that has gripped you now that you are all
    alone? This is but a taste of what I have suffered these thirteen years." His sword drooped, and he
    cradled his aching arm. Trying to block Tuan's blows had seriously injured it.
    "What have you done?" His aunt's voice was hoarse with grief, her hands covered in the blood
    of her sons.
    "My mother screamed as she died. As that poison made its way through her system, she
    screamed in pain. It seemed only right that I extend your sons the same courtesy you gave my mother."
    "Everbloody." She brushed one last hand over Tuan's cheek before reaching for his weapon.
    "You will die for what you've done here today. You will never take a hold of this throne. This Empire is mine. These people are mine!"
    "Perhaps. But I will take joy in the fact that if nothing else, I will take you with me. Whether I
    leave here or not, the Empire will never accept your rule. You are a failed Empress. You are not worthy
    of the Throne of a Thousand Swords. Only the strong may take the throne and you have proven time
    after time that you are anything but. This ends today." He tried to move his arm and hissed in pain.
    "If my sons gave me nothing else, they gave me the power to end this." She flicked the sword, a hateful look on her face. "Thirteen years only to join your dear mother in the