You are no subject of mine, no guest of mine. Guests do not come with bended knee and bloodied hands, hiding the dagger behind their treasonous backs.
The words were spat at his feathered hooves, algific spears rising from her wrought silver hide in a mockery of a wolf's bristling hackles, joining the thick collar of ice she already bore. Gaze slipped from his dark form to briefly follow Serafina's golden one, watching as she took her place beside the frost-bound warrior Tia had become. The ice was melting from her eyes in wake of her fury, the steel blue return to the hue of a summer sky before returning to the god that had spiked her ire in the first place.
A scream rent through the air before the offer even finshed leaving his lips, the spurs of his words sharp, the dig of them catching her between plates of glacial armor. Dresden had followed the same path that Zareth was now. It wasn't an excuse, a way to worm out from not being the mother she should have been. How could she not note the similarities between the eldest and the youngest sons? All the logic in the world couldn't soothe a sense of failure in an already battered heart. It forced her closer, legs closing the distance at a rapid pace. She was smaller, more delicate than Rencor could ever hope of being, no danger was she truly in. What could kill an immortal after all?
Weight shifted, forcing her to rise, hooves slashing through the air as she crossed into the dark stallion's personal space. Teardrop shaped ears had vanished long ago, glued to her nape and lost within the tangled mess of her mane. Jaws gaped wide, reaching and seeking to close the stained incisors upon the blackened flesh of her opponent, to pull and tear at his flesh 'til it came free. Light swelled and swirled around her diminutive frame like an angel called to earth, forcing the shadows back to their master. The collar of spikes glistened gruesomely in the light that encompassed the grey frame, offering their points more than willingly for the stallion with the vermiculated soul to fall upon as she returned all four hooves to the soil. Nostrils worked with ever unneccessary breath as the tiny Queen became still, neck arched with all the pride that befit a woman of her standing, aquamarine gaze glaring from beneath the tangled and debris ridden veil of a forelock. Fury still blazed bright in her eyes and in the gemstones she held, a mutual groan passing beneath the group's feet, spreading from earth to sea and warning of what might come.
I'm not so deluded nor so deaf to the world, Rencor, your reputation long preceeds you. I will not have your trickery nor your barter of souls or pounds of flesh here.
The soil groaned again, though her words appeared calm and controlled, a few rocks rattled, skittering and rolling away from the epicenter of this great standoff as though they were afraid. Starlight banner of a tail, ragged and unkempt, slashed against her plated sides. Her expression was serious, daring him to continue to question her, to keep pushing her buttons. She was in no mood for trades, for selling friends and family alike.
Leave before I force you from these shores.
tia maria
Take your time. Do or die
We only have a moment now. |
