Bloody Lilacs

This took way longer than it logically should have, but it is nice to see it finished. I'm kind of surprised at how well the blood turned out; I've never actually done it this way before.

Companion Story:  The Color of Royalty
    In a place long forgotten; a kingdom too old to be remembered, there was once a curious ritual. Every year, just before the first blossoms of spring, a particular individual was sought out. This individual might be rich or poor, wise or foolish, man or woman, young or old; it really didn't matter. What did matter was the person's passion, or more specifically, the lack thereof.
    Desolation of passion or any intrinsic yearning to progress beyond what one was born into was the sole criterion for selection. Most people selected were of the sort who would have wasted their lives, content only to breed their replacements at the very most. Others might have included the sort of people who were willfully and proudly ignorant, such as the village idiot who looked down upon the more intelligent of his fellows.
    Whatever the case, the king's guard would abduct this individual in the middle of the nigh