It echoed off the damp walls, sounding brittle and unhinged.
Eris didn't laugh. She didn't move. She just stared with a blank, unmoved expression, waiting for the performance to end.
"What's funny?" she asked, her tone flat and direct. She recognized the tactic: the villain trying to maintain the illusion of control through laughter.
Vetra finally stopped, wiping a mock tear from her eye. "Oh… pardon me. I really can't help but wonder." She leaned forward, her eyes gleaming with a new, cruel light. "How can you stand there and threaten me… when you're practically half dead already?"
The silence that followed was absolute. The room felt frozen. Eris's expression didn't change, but deep in her amber eyes, a flicker of something dark and ancient stirred. Vetra watched her, expectant, waiting for the collapse.
