It was the single most important sentence the Consortium had ever spoken to a sitting monarch.
Neither man he'd addressed so much as glanced at him.
Quinlan and Alexios were still locked on each other.
Maelstrom's grin wavered.
Myrasyn arrived next, stepping from the elven cluster with Isveth at her shoulder and a serene smile on her lips.
She didn't take a position to the side. She didn't claim neutral ground between the factions.
The Queen of all elves walked past Alexios without a word, crossed the open space, and stopped behind Quinlan, smiling at Black Fang for a moment before looking forward.
Alexios saw it.
The flat composure he'd maintained through the entire exchange cracked by a fraction, and the look that crossed his face when an elven queen positioned herself behind the Primordial Villain as though she served at his pleasure told the story of a continent's power balance tilting in real time.
