The opium was strong and heady. It bore me on a tremendously vast, dark, wave and I felt a relaxing lassitude swim through me. If I died here, my life would be complete. The ache in me, that part that had been missing, was now filled to overflowing and I …

"How do you kill an Empress?"

I steeled the muscles in my face, and let my eyes rest on the man's shoulders. If this turned into a trap, I would make sure to take him with me into the void. Leaning back, I wormed myself into the chair's thick cushions, l…