The last thing she needed was another disturbance to her rest. The queen- no, empress had shut the massive window tightly, and closed the curtains. She had only just left the court's hall, after a very long day of commanding generals and directing civilians. Personally, she thought them all to be fools who would have run about like chickens with their heads cut off without her. Her burden was heavy upon her shoulders, both physically and mentally. The last thing she needed was another disturbance to her rest.
She gestured for her handmaiden to assist her undressing, and the lithe pale girl began with her helm. The heavy golden armor was her royal regalia; unlike her mother or her late sister, she was not the type to feign being ladylike to satisfy the masses. She would rather let them try and impose those ridiculous standards on someone with less important things to do, than waste her time with fashion and roundabout politeness. With a surprising amount of strength, the handmaid pulled the cuirass and backplates off of the empress, setting them on their stand with the rest of the suit.
Once the armor was off, the empress dismissed her servant, "That will be all."
"Yes, my Diamond," the girl bowed out of the room, and the empress was alone. She hardly felt like an empress at such an odd time of the day. It felt almost as if she were sitting at the stairs, that liminal space that one would pass through often but never linger. She shook her head and went to her vanity to wash off before bed.
She splashed water from the bowl onto her face, rubbing away the thick kohl and powders applied around her eyes. The empress changed into her nightgown and began her routine security check of the suite. She found nothing under the bed, behind the changing screen, in the bathing pool, or underneath her desk. At last, she could actually start resting.
She snuffed the candles that dimly lit her room, leaving only the sliver of fading daylight from the tall closed window to guide her to her bed. She pushed away the sheer curtains so she could slip under the covers, yawning quietly, before closing her eyes. Sleep overtook her like the night took over the dusk of day.
The woman had opened her eyes to nearly complete darkness. She was still in bed, and her drowsy mind was telling her "It is still dark; go back to sleep." But she did not, and she suddenly noticed that she was not alone. There was another figure in the bed with her; a dark figure whose piercing blue eyes could be seen clear as day even in the night. The woman would- no, could not move from her spot, whether it be from fear or sleep paralysis she did not know. She was well aware of night terrors, and she knew how to deal with them. "Wait it out," her brain told her, "This is only a dream."
But the figure decided not to be a mere hallucination of the night, and placed a cold hand on the woman's face. It spoke with a soft, melancholy voice, "You knew her, didn't you? You have her eyes..."
The woman's heartbeat rose with every movement of the bizarre apparition, and she wanted so desperately to speak. She wanted to say, "Go away." Or maybe ask who this "her" was. But her current state would not allow it. She could only watch with bated breath, as the figure's hand left her face, and it sat up. It slid the curtains open, allowing moonlight to pour in from the open window, and stood up.
The figure turned to look at the woman again, "You know, I really shouldn't be here. But I'm glad I came. She is not completely gone."
With these words, the woman fell back to sleep unwillingly. What the hell did that creature mean?