Isolde saw her chance.
While Eris's attention had shifted to the newcomer, while those terrible eyes had turned away for just one precious moment, Isolde began dragging herself backward. Her hands scraped against marble, her ruined dress tangling around her legs, but she didn't care. She needed distance. Needed to get away before...
Eris's head turned.
Just a fraction. Just enough for Isolde to see those flame-lit eyes track her movement with the lazy interest of a cat watching a mouse try to flee.
"Going somewhere?" Eris asked pleasantly.
She took a step toward Isolde.
And Bianca Virelya, fool that she was, stepped directly into her path.
"I said stop!" Bianca planted herself between them, her chin lifted in righteous fury, her whole body trembling with the kind of conviction that came from never having faced real consequences. "This is barbaric! Inhumane! You call yourself nobility but you act like... like... "
