"Oh, for fuck's sake," Bellatrix snapped, venom thick. "I've never heard of Frostborne. More lies."
"Serena was the firstborn heir of the late Frostborne Alpha King," Elara interjected, cutting into the conversation. "And my father was Frostborne's Beta."
She turned to Bellatrix, her stare frost-sharp. "She unnerves you. Why?"
King Tiberon looked up from his wine, brows raised, clearly intrigued now.
Bellatrix scoffed.
"She does not unnerve me. Please," she dismissed with a theatrical roll of her eyes. "And if she truly grew up as a princess, then she would at least be able to read and write."
Silence. Thick, stunned, suffocating.
No one moved.
Then Gavriel burst out laughing. Loud, shameless, wheezing. Hale let out a full-body cackle, turning it into a cough. Elara snorted into her goblet.
Serena tried to hold it in but failed, her shoulders shaking. That's when Dex lost it.
Even Hyran's lips twitched.
