Sunday Snippets

Can't promise I will keep up with this feature, because it's difficult to post snippets unless I'm at the beginning of a piece, but here's a writing exercise I did recently from a challenge provided by my dear friend Lauren:

                It was her last masquerade as queen, for what vestige of meaning the title retained in a conquered land.  She had commanded the Fire Hall to be decorated as time and tradition demanded, scarlet banners and a host of torches in sconces both jeweled and plain.  She dressed the part, a flowing black gown with a high waist and a wide neckline, dotted with obsidian – hair the color of ash set free.

                And she ached for it to be anything more than ceremony.

                She surveyed the Fire Hall from the concealment of a curtain, frowning.  Too many of the court had already adopted the style of the conquerors, pale, uncertain colors in winding, binding ties and stays.  It was a scramble for favor, pure and simple – since the queen herself was old and intractable, the empire would need a figurehead, and why not one of them?

                She suppressed the feeling her people were about to dance on her grave.