Isabella stared at him.
Osiris stared at the ground like he had just confessed to murder.
The words hung in the air.
"I am the ugly one."
It echoed in her head. It bounced around her skull. It replayed itself over and over again until her lips twitched.
Then her shoulders shook.
Then her chest trembled.
Then she absolutely exploded.
She fell backward onto the stone with a loud, undignified shriek of laughter.
Osiris flinched. Hard.
She kept laughing. Loud. Ugly. Violent. Unrestrained. Her laughter ricocheted off the cavern walls like a demon being exorcised.
Glimora gasped at the noise, then slowly began laughing too, not because she understood anything, but because laughter is contagious and she wanted to participate. She pressed her paws to her cheeks and giggled.
Osiris sat there like a betrayed god. His face tightened. His neck stiffened. His ears turned red. His pride ripped itself into a thousand tiny phoenix feathers.
