Not far, just half a meter forward. No flash, no flare. Just presence. It bent the light subtly, made the sky seem dimmer around his shoulders.
Eldrin's arms tightened slightly at his sides. The sun affinity rose like a quiet firestorm in his blood, pressing out from his skin in steady, invisible heat.
"Speak," Eldrin said. "Or I send you both down in pieces."
Maeven shrugged like he wasn't standing a heartbeat from combustion.
"We're here for a woman," Maeven said easily. "Melion Sunblade."
That name, his queen's name, landed with a sudden weight.
Eldrin's expression didn't change.
"You're not getting her."
"She's not a prisoner," Maeven said, still smiling. "We just want to talk."
Eldrin floated forward a hand's width. "You don't talk. You show up, unannounced, uninvited, and say her name like it's a trade. That's not how it works here."
"She's important," Maeven said.
"You think I don't know that?"
Dythrael still hadn't spoken. Still hadn't blinked.
