Emily Kaldwin. Daughter of Jessamine Kaldwin. Heir to the Empire of the Isles. I call out to you from the Void. I call you with ochre from Morley. Carmine beetle shells. Serkonan lazurite. Viridian bile. The tones of your flesh I tempered with Pandyssian chalk. The same loom that spun the fabric of your dresses made this canvas. I made my brushes from the hairs of your own scalp.
Emily. You cannot ignore me. My power is too deep. My reach, too long.
Brush touches paint. Brush touches canvas. Brush touches Void. And now I see you Emily Kaldwin. I breathe your breath. I can feel what you do, the bright mornings in the pub. I feel the cold night air of the ruin where you sleep, and the stink of the river.
Image strikes the eye. Eye touches the mind. Mind touches the Void. I feel your love for Corvo Attano and your lost mother. For your caretaker Callista. I feel your fear in the night. Your hunger to learn, to become someone important. My hunger, too. My fear. You are becoming mine.
We are nearly finished! Close your eyes, Emily! Sleep forever. Feel the Void open beneath you. Make room for me. Give in to me, Emily. Give in to me now!
Paint flows, blood flows, life goes. Out with the old, in with the new. You’ve lived in these bones long enough, sweet young girl.
It’s done! Goodbye, Emily Kaldwin, last of your name, gone into nothing. And welcome Delilah the First. Empress of the Isles. It’s over, Daud. My reign begins now.