The next few days that followed left Adrian completely drained.
The gossip about his actions was becoming more horrifying by the day, growing wilder with every one retelling it until even the palace walls seemed to hum with it.
What had begun as whispers behind closed doors had spread into the open, slithering through the kingdom like poison. Servants whispered in the corridors, noblewomen covered their mouths as they spoke of him, and even the common folk had begun to speak his name with either mockery or disgust.
