"I'm sorry," Elizabeth murmured softly, her voice so faint it barely cut through the heavy quietude, her previously unassailable cold expression at last splintering apart as layers of profound guilt seeped in, gently easing the harsh contours of her regal face into something more vulnerable and human.
"Her death—it truly wasn't my intention," she confessed, the admission hanging in the air like a fragile plea.
"All I ever wanted was to protect and save my people from the encroaching darkness that threatened to consume us all."
"Consider it a debt that's been settled on your behalf, courtesy of Brian," Greg shot back tersely, purposefully averting his eyes from her face, directing his attention instead to some indistinct point in the gloom-shrouded corners of the vast hall, where dust motes danced lazily in the faint light.
