and when i breathed
my breath was lightning
She always knows when Straia comes. The smell of the Chamber is distinct, but more importantly, Straia’s scent comes from the side of the kingdom, where almost none hang out and even less enter. Rhy is tempted not to go, to let Straia stand there on the border until she grows impatient and leaves.
But in the end, it won’t stop the Raven Queen from her plans. And if someone has to be involved, Rhy would prefer it to be her. She can at least control something, that way. And more importantly, she can save everyone else from the wrath of her cousin.
After all, what did Rhy really have to lose? She was already dead.
“Straia,” she says, slipping out of the forest as she nods her head in greeting. “What do you need?” Because Straia never comes just to chat. There’s always a reason. And Straia doesn’t mince words, either. Her purpose is quick and clear, and though Rhy doesn’t know exactly what her purpose will be at the Deserts, she has a good guess.
“You don’t have to fight, Straia. You can stop this,” she says, but in truth, her words are halfhearted at best. It was too late to stop the inevitable. Fiasko was dead. The Gates wanted revenge, and Lagertha simply wanted war. They would find a reason to fight.
And then Straia says the one thing that they both know, will make Rhy agree. She doesn’t even bother say it aloud. She just nods, “Your daughter resurrects the dead, yes?” and before waiting for an answer, she disappears, taking off to the Deserts shielded in invisibility. She simply wanted to get it all over with.
Perhaps this would be her end. Perhaps not. But she wasn’t entirely sure she cared.
rhy
the electric lioness of riagan and rayelle
