Maxence may have thought he had been unseen and un-followed - but within the confines of Calligo's embrace, the desert warrior was out of place, a beacon in the shadows. It was not only Reichenbach's silver eyes that followed the path of the muscular general, but many, many others. Had the Sovereign of Day Court seen how many eyes were choking him as he stood, he would have realized his vast misjudgment of the Night Army. No, they were not a straight-edged, perfectly formed legion that followed commands as one - not a Solterran army bound by constraints and order. They were nothing the commander had likely ever seen. The Denoctian Army was something far more terrifying, a chaotic force that left destruction caused by many hands. They had skills and talents upon the battlefield beyond what the Solterrans could imagine. Not traditional, but futuristic, fantastic, both awe-inspiring and terrifying. And the Solterran King thought they would let him walk into Denocte unnoticed. So let the Solterran leader sneer at their army - let him underestimate the power that lay in shadows and technique, variations and differences, let him underestimate the power of freedom. Reichenbach himself was not in the chamber that Maxence had bellowed to - he was within the shadows of the surrounding keep, merged and almost invisible within Calligo's embrace, watching through cold, long lashed eyes. It was true the Sovereign of Denocte was emotional - he had been touched with Calligo's tempestuous nature, her inability to properly control the emotions that ran rampant through their veins. It was not good news for Maxence, for Reichenbach did not, could not, see the theft of Rostislav from a political angle. He was too embroiled in the nature of the theft - and it was perhaps a good moment for their Emissary to join the party. Lothaire's cool, calculated intelligence and sense would benefit The Night King here. Alas, Lothaire was nowhere close enough to summon, though Reich had sent one of the younger Crows to find him. So in a strained attempt to cool his roiling temper, Reichenbach slipped from the shadows, almost a shadow himself, to stand a few paces away from the foreign ruler in their midst. As if sensing the hot anger within his wildfire veins, Calligo seemed to send a wash of cool through him before he spoke, his argent gaze glowing bright and sharp against Maxence's mottled skin. "Why have you come?" Was his only question, restraining the parts of him that wanted to punch one white knuckled fist into the middle of Maxence's gruff, handsome face. The voice that slipped from between his black lips was not the usual charming, jovial thing that had boys and girls alike swooning, but a voice of barely controlled temper, brittle and dangerous. This was the King Crow that was rarely seen, the shadowy force that was feared and respected, the King that would stop at nothing to right the wrongs done to his people. @Maxence yewww tension haha |