*Chapter 2: Knives Behind Eyes*
The silence between them didn't last long.
Not when two empires were staring each other down.
Around them, the room buzzed with carefully restrained attention. No one dared interrupt. The Queen of the Blue Lotus and the King of the North — standing face to face. It felt like watching a match with a lit fuse.
Kael studied her closely. Not just her face — her stance, her control, her stillness. Everything about Queenza screamed precision and pain. Power that had been earned, not gifted. A woman who had bled for her crown.
"I expected arrogance," he said at last. "But you wear silence better than gold."
Queenza's eyes narrowed slightly. "I expected a corpse in a suit. But I suppose ice can walk."
He smirked. Brief. Dangerous. The kind that could start a war.
But she didn't flinch.
Neither did he.
Behind them, guards held their breath. Just one wrong word could trigger chaos.
"I've watched you," Kael said, voice lower now. "Not your bodyguards. You. The way you command a room. You don't ask for power. You *are* it."
Queenza tilted her head. "And you don't get distracted by beauty. That's rare."
He stepped half a pace closer.
"So is honesty."
Now, she felt it — the shift in the air. The warning flare in her gut. He wasn't flirting. This wasn't a game. Kael Morvanti didn't flirt.
He calculated.
"You want something," she said coolly.
Kael nodded once. "Information. There's a leak in the East. Someone's moving weapons through my borders. They used your name."
Her jaw clenched. "My name is lethal. If someone forged it, they've signed their death warrant."
"That's why I came to you. Direct."
"You came to test me."
Kael's gaze darkened. "And you passed."
The tension cracked — not broken, just… paused.
Then, Queenza leaned in slightly, voice like silk over steel. "If someone's trying to start a war between us, Kael, they'll regret choosing me as bait."
He leaned in too. "They'll regret choosing *us*."
For a moment, the world faded. No guards. No empire. Just two rulers forged in blood and shadows, inches from collision.
Then Kael pulled back first. Professional. Cold. Almost too smooth.
"I'll send you the files," he said. "You'll want to see the names yourself."
"I'll decide if they live or not," she replied.
Their eyes locked once more.
Two minds. Two monsters.
And maybe, under all that armor — two broken hearts neither of them knew how to fix.
Kael turned and walked away, every step silent.
But before he vanished into the crowd, he said without turning back:
*"You don't scare me, Queenza."*
And she, without hesitation, replied:
*"Good. I'm not here to scare you."*
*"I'm here to see if you're worth burning with."*
**
The Blue Lotus bloomed that night — not in water, but in war.
And in the shadows of power and pain…
Something began to feel
*like fate.*
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