Alex stood above the Crimson Court.
The perpetual crimson sky stretched in every direction above and around him, deep and total. Below, at the edge of the great cliff, the palace rose with its spires pressing upward, and the city beyond it spread in every direction, alive and vast.
He had been there only moments when she appeared.
She ascended from below with unhurried grace, a lady dressed in blood-red, her hair cascading down her shoulders in a river of deep crimson, her skin unhealthily pale, yet only adding to her allure rather than diminishing it.
Her long dress trailed behind her as she rose, dragging across the sky in a slow crimson tide. Eyes the color of blood and the clarity of the moon above met the oceans of abyssal black, and a blood-red smile cut across her flawless face.
