The palace corridors breathed with crystal clarity as Eris walked through them, her skin still buzzing with the particular satisfaction that came from watching an enemy realize... too late... that they'd underestimated you.
Vetra's face when Eris had named the spell. The flicker of genuine fear when she'd warned her about the spell book consuming her from within. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
Her mind was already spinning, calculating, plotting the next moves in this game that had stopped being civilized the moment Vetra decided to murder witnesses with mind control magic. No more diplomatic maneuvering. No more careful political chess.
Vetra was too smart for that approach. Too meticulous. She covered her trails, eliminated loose ends, cut off connections before they could be traced back to her. The proper channels... courts, councils, evidence presented to nobles who might actually care... wouldn't work.
So Eris would do what she'd always done best.
She would burn.
