Serena looked up at the king. "I come in peace."
'I come in peace' felt like something a person said right before everything stopped being peaceful. She was aware of the irony.
She looked at the woman, who had already pivoted and was circling back with both blades raised, murder written in her eyes.
Serena understood what this was. That woman was a pawn in a game they were all meant to play. She could feel the woman's emotions bleeding through the Fae energy that saturated the room, and what she felt was duty, iron-hard and unyielding.
"I will not hurt her."
Serena said it with the calm certainty of someone who had absolutely no backup plan if the woman didn't stop.
The Fae King ignored Serena, his eyes fixed on her with the patient, calculating stillness of a predator who has decided to watch his prey run before he decides whether it's worth chasing.
The woman lunged toward Serena again, aiming to kill, her double blades carving parallel arcs through the air.
