Bonesplinter Ravine [M] Viva La Vida

No sooner did the brew touch his tongue with a boiling acridity that stung and blazed was there a cry from the assembly.

Funeral pyre, blazing bright in the crowd.

Scarlet dripped down his chin as he spluttered and choked, paws losing their grip as the bowl clattered to the earth, its contents spilling down the rock.

The sight of her ignited something within him, something raw and terrible. The spell that had numbed him only moments before shattered, and every nerve in his body jolted alive, vibrating with the cold prickle of panic. His gaze shot to Eset, watching in horrified disbelief as she spoke, her voice clear and fierce.

Fuck.

He lowered his cup, stepping closer to Herod, whose hawkish gaze watched with that familiar chill. Machiavelli’s eyes trailed over the woman coldly, voice soft as down, Know me? he scoffed. The dog leaned close, resting a paw on Herod’s, lips curling in a faint sneer. She did not even address me properly.

Tick, tick, tick.

Clearly, she’s mistaken me for someone else. He furrowed a brow, one corner of his lip rising. One can only imagine what fantasies led her here. But the fact that she knows your name, dear Abbot… Well, that is intriguing, isn’t it?

His pale, fractured eyes held hers.

Perhaps, for the safety of our gathered faithful, he murmured with a tone of mild irritation, we should move her elsewhere. It would seem… his lips curled as he surveyed the spilled wine and disrupted ritual, …that the gods have chosen to forestall tonight’s ceremony.