As they moved, Kian stayed close enough that his arm brushed her side with every step. His body was warm despite the cold corridor, and the sharp winter air slipping through the cracks could not really reach her because he kept himself between her and the worst of it. It was such a small thing, and yet it made her chest soften again.
"You trust that much?" she suddenly asked.
Kian glanced down. "Yes."
The answer ca so simply that Isabella was the one who beca quiet.
She had expected him to say sothing cold, sothing king-like, sothing practical. Instead, he said yes, like there was nothing to think about. Like trusting her was as natural as breathing.
So she looked away and cleared her throat. "Good. You should. I am usually right."
Kian’s mouth moved slightly. "Usually?"
Isabella turned to him. "Do you want to fight a pregnant woman?"
"No."
"Then I am always right."
This ti, Kian actually let out a low breath that sounded dangerously close to amusent.
By the ti they returned to the warr inner room, the atmosphere inside was already much livelier than Isabella expected.
Cyrus was there, and the mont she entered, his pink eyes lifted at once. He had been sitting near the fire, his red hair falling over his shoulder as he sorted herbs and so small pieces of dried root on a stone tray. But the second he saw her, he put everything down and stood up as if the herbs had insulted him by needing his attention while Isabella was moving around.
Zyran was there too, black hair loose, red eyes bright with amusent as he leaned against one of the fur-covered seats. He looked like he had not moved for a while, but Isabella knew better. Zyran could look lazy while doing sothing terrible with only one finger.
Osiris was also there.
Unfortunately for him, so was Glimora.
The little white beast had sohow found a long strip of dried at, and judging from the way Osiris was standing with one hand out and a very offended expression on his handso fiery face, Isabella imdiately guessed that the at had belonged to him first.
Again.
"Give it back," Osiris said.
Glimora stood on the fur pile with the at held firmly in her mouth, her small body raised proudly and her tail lifted like a banner of victory.
Osiris pointed at her. "That is mine."
Glimora chewed once.
Slowly.
Right in front of him.
Zyran’s shoulders shook at once.
Isabella stopped walking.
Kian looked at the scene and went quiet, perhaps because even he needed one mont to understand why a grown phoenix beastman was once again losing a battle against a little white beast.
Cyrus ca to Isabella’s side and touched her arm gently. "Are you alright?"
"I am," Isabella said, still staring at Glimora. "But why does it look like I ca back to a cri scene?"
Zyran smiled lazily. "Because your little beast is a criminal."
Glimora turned her head toward him at once.
Her eyes narrowed.
Zyran lifted both hands. "I said it with respect."
Osiris looked betrayed. "Why are you respecting her? She stole from ."
"She has courage," Zyran said.
"She has greed," Osiris snapped.
Glimora chewed again.
This ti, she even sat down, making herself comfortable while Osiris’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Isabella pressed her lips together because she was truly trying to behave. She was pregnant. She was tired. An attack might be coming. Zara was scheming. Her system had robbed her. Cyrus had secret demon blood. Kian had almost panicked himself into madness earlier. There were many serious things happening.
But watching Osiris argue with a tiny beast over dried at was healing sothing in her spirit.
Osiris finally lunged forward.
Glimora jumped away at once.
For such a small creature, she was fast. She darted across the fur pile, slipped under a low wooden stool, ca out from the other side, and ran straight toward Isabella’s feet as if seeking the protection of the highest authority in the room.
Osiris chased after her. "Do not hide behind Isabella!"
Glimora imdiately hid behind Isabella.
Isabella looked down at her.
Glimora looked up with the at still hanging from her mouth and eyes so round and innocent that if Isabella had not seen the cri herself, she might have believed the little thing had been frad.
"Seriously?" Isabella asked.
Glimora blinked.
Osiris pointed at her again. "See? She knows what she did."
Isabella looked at him. "You already ate."
"That does not matter."
"It matters a little."
"It was my at."
Glimora made a small sound that sounded very much like disagreent.
Zyran started laughing. "She says it belongs to whoever escapes with it."
Osiris glared at him. "Do not translate for her."
"I understand thieves very well."
At that, Glimora seed to decide that Zyran had praised her. She wagged her tail once and took another step away from Osiris.
Osiris narrowed his bright fiery eyes. "You little thing."
Glimora’s fur puffed up.
Glimora’s ears flattened.
Her small white body trembled once with great fury, and because she was still very young and had not yet learned how to control all the strange powers inside her body, the trembling looked very dangerous in a way nobody except Zyran noticed fast enough.
Zyran’s red eyes widened slightly.
He had seen that posture before.
He had suffered from that posture before.
So the mont Glimora’s little tail lifted stiffly, Zyran’s whole face changed, and he imdiately straightened like a man who had just seen death wearing white fur.
"Osiris," Zyran said quickly, "move back."
Osiris was still focused on the strip of dried at in Glimora’s mouth, so he did not hear the warning properly. Or rather, he heard it, but because he was Osiris, he sohow decided that listening was optional.
"Why should I move back?" Osiris asked with great confidence. "She stole from ."
Glimora’s eyes narrowed.
She still had the at in her mouth, and because it was hanging partly to one side, she looked even more shaless than usual. Her little paws pressed harder into the fur pile, her back arched, and the soft white fur around her neck puffed up until she looked like a tiny angry snowball with criminal intent.
Zyran took one step back by himself.
That movent finally made Isabella look at him.
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