>>5773107>18It takes a moment, but slowly you see her eyes widen. Her breathing hitches. The Serpent Queen takes a step back, an unhappy gurgle wobbling her small, elegantly-feminine Serpent Priestess’ dewlap you sometimes teased her about. It turns into a low hiss of deep displeasure, her tail lashing back and forth with fearful agitation.
“…Is there a problem?” the Red Dragon King asks, with your voice, affecting YOUR mannerisms.
“I am uncertain,” she replies slowly, after a moment, adopting a posture between a battle-stance and a defensive one.
She has recognized the situation, but you recognize the dilemma which now faces her. She is unsure how to proceed. To confront him directly, or to delay. ‘Does he know?’ she must be wondering. ‘What will he do if HE knows that -I- now know?’
“Really?” asks the Red Dragon King. “Well, you had better make up your mind as to whether it is a problem or not… Because it will determine whether YOU are a problem… Or not.”
If you had blood to call your own, it would run cold—colder than usual. Your Serpent Queen certainly seems frozen, transfixed by the last statement. The Old King sees this, and laughs, long and loud.
“Oh!” he says, when the laughter has ceased. “I am sorry, I did not realize you thought you were being subtle, the two of you. Was that your intent? To communicate messages, and affect an escape, while one of you is EVER under my watch and within my power? I told your mate this once, One Called Sseztlussth: you are one thousand years too young to best me. It was one matter when I SLEPT, half-dead and dreaming, but now that I am AWAKE, and ALIVE…”
“You are not alive,” the Serpent Queen spits.
That stops the Red Dragon King, if only for a moment.
>UNLOCKED: True Love [Sseztlussth] 