Albert walked a few steps across the hall, the sound of his boots echoing like steel on crystal. His golden eyes flashed with growing irritation.
"If you removed me from Vorah on a political whim, you will regret it, Thalyss," he growled. 'I have already sent ambassadors with sufficient seals. All I want to know is: what was so important that it required my personal presence?'
Thalyss did not move. Only her eyes narrowed slightly, like a creature watching prey that was too impatient.
"Albert," she said slowly, as if the name weighed heavily on her tongue, 'if I had summoned you for political reasons alone, we would have conversed via water reflections, as we always have. But this...' She raised her hand, and the light inside the palace flickered. "This... is not diplomacy. It is survival."
Albert stopped. The tension in his shoulders was visible now. A muscle in his jaw throbbed.
Thalyss rose from her throne.
