Confusion twisted his face. "But—my queen—if he'd dared come near you, we'd already have struck. We would've killed him. No matter how mad the prince is, or how strong—he's nothing to us. We're older snakes. Our poison is potent."
The Queen's laugh was a razor sliding over stone—slow, cold, unyielding. Her half-smile didn't reach her eyes. She stepped closer, though the air around her seemed to bend with her, shimmering with a pressure that made his chest tighten.
"You really think the rabbit-man would walk in blind?" she asked, voice like venom dripping over steel. "I feel him. His aura… it's thick, sharp, slicing through the world. One glance at it, and you'd know death isn't a threat—it's certainty. The vulture, too… he came ready to kill. His blade aimed for me, yes, but the rabbit's? Every one of you. One misstep, and you'd have been ash before your heart even beat."
