"Know your place."
The vampire's eyes dropped, releasing pressure towards her.
It hit her and bounced back.
His brows knit as the recoil snapped into him, forcing him to step back even though he had not intended to. He had tried to suppress it.
"Pathetic."
The word left her lips scorching them like the sun.
"You....."The vampire with the cold voice starts
"Your highness" she said calmly" Your royal highness"
"All that ego," Isabelle said her eyes sweeping over them for the umpteenth time, "just to be spineless."
Murmurs rippled through the chamber.
"What"Herman stared, disbelief written all over his face.
She turned her gaze on the council at large, not lingering on any single face.
"You sit here," she continued, "fully aware that this marriage was ratified by THE COUNCIL."
Her eyes swept over them.
"And yet you gather to bare your teeth at me. A human."
Her lips curved faintly in amusement.
"Not one of you has the spine to challenge the decree where it was issued," she said. "So instead, you wail here."
A pause.
"Not only spineless," she added evenly. "Cowardly."
The air tightened.
"The great kingdom of Aila," she said, voice steady, "this is all there is to it??."
"You..." Herman surged forward furious
She didn't raise her voice.
"Shhh" Her gaze locked onto his. "I'm not done speaking. Be Quiet."
He froze.
"If you truly object to a human Queen," Isabelle continued, "then His Majesty may marry into Christencia."
That earned reaction,sharp and offended
"We can afford to raise a vampire," she said flatly. "Can you afford the consequences of refusing the Council's will?"
Silence.
She inclined her head slightly.
"If you remain unconvinced," she finished, "I don't care."
Her eyes hardened.
"But understand this clearly."
She looked at each and every of them one after the other.
"If you dare not complain to THE COUNCIL."
A beat.
"nor complain before your King,I will be the Queen of Aila and I suggest you prepare to bow before me for I will not take anything less. Neither have I nor will I"
The words were not a threat.
They were a boundary.
"Lord East,I would love to retire to my chambers now, I've had a very long day"
" Yes" Eastern said standing" After you, your royal highness" He gestures towards the door.
They did not rise when she was escorted from the chamber.
That, Isabelle thought, was intentional.
The Blood Council remained seated as the great doors swung shut behind her,backs straight, chins lifted, disdain intact. No bows. No acknowledgments. Not even outrage now. Just silence sharpened into something colder than insult.
Discipline.
That was how vampires expressed disapproval.
The corridor beyond the courtroom was narrower, darker, the walls carved from black-gold stone veined faintly with crimson runes that pulsed like a living thing. The temperature dropped as she stepped farther from the throne room, the heat of Aila's sun replaced by the cool breath of the citadel's depths.
They walked slightly behind, not escorting—containing.
Isabelle kept her pace even, posture relaxed, spine straight. Only when the doors were far behind them did she allow herself to inhale fully.
Slow.
Measured.
She had not survived Christencia by mistaking silence for safety.
Neither spoke.
Neither touched her.
Eastern walked ahead of her now, his earlier sharpness muted into something more thoughtful. His shoulders were tense beneath his ceremonial coat, hands clasped behind his back as if restraining himself from gesturing too wildly.
"Well," he said finally, breaking the quiet, "you have officially offended three Houses, unsettled five, and terrified the rest."
She did not answer.
That was becoming a habit.
Western appeared from an adjoining corridor, falling into step beside Eastern with lazy precision. His gaze flicked to Isabelle briefly,not judgmental, not approving. Curious, in the way a blade might be curious about armor.
"They'll recover," Western said mildly. "They always do."
Eastern snorted. "They recover when the offender is dead."
"True," Western conceded. "But she's inconveniently alive."
Declan emerged last, cloak loose, expression unreadable. He studied Isabelle openly now, no longer pretending neutrality. There was something sharper in his gaze than beforerespect edged with concern.
"You didn't just insult them," he said quietly. "You challenged them."
Isabelle finally spoke.
"I corrected them."
The corridor widened into an antechamber lit by floating crystal orbs that glowed with cold violet light. The air hummed faintly, magic embedded into the stone itself. This place felt old. Older than the empire. Older than rules.
Moleith waited there, arms crossed, posture deceptively relaxed. His eyes tracked her approach with the precision of a predator reassessing prey that had turned around and bared its teeth.
"You ordered a mutilation," he said calmly. "Without rank. Without authority."
She met his gaze.
"He pointed at me."
A beat.
Then unexpectedly,Moleith smiled. Just a little.
"Good reason," he said. But don't ever do not command me ever again,I only take orders from one person. When other people do it,I get angry
Eastern stopped short, turning. "You cannot encourage this."
"I'm not, I'm acknowledging it" Moleith replied. "But" he said his sleey eyes hardening"do not command me ever again,I only take orders from one person. When other people do it,I get angry. When I get angry,my sword moves faster than my thoughts" he said.
Western pushes open a door,and they walk in.
The door behind them sealed with a heavy thrum.
Isabelle found herself alone with them now.
Eastern, Western, Declan, Moleith. No council. No throne. No audience.
The real reckoning.
Eastern exhaled slowly, rubbing his temple. "Do you understand what you've done?"
"I do," Isabelle said.
Declan tilted his head. "Then explain it."
She looked at them,truly looked.
"I taught them how I rule."
Silence followed.
Not stunned silence.
Evaluating silence.
Western broke it first. "And how is that?"
She didn't smile.
"I do not beg legitimacy. I demonstrate consequence."
Moleith's brow lifted. Declan's lips pressed thin. Eastern looked away, troubled.
"That stake," Declan said carefully. "You knew what it meant."
"Yes."
"And you still brought it?"
"Yes."
Another pause.
Eastern turned back to her, voice lower now. "They will test you."
"I expect it."
"They will provoke you.
" I know."
"They will try to break you."
Her gaze didn't waver.
" I have never broken. Not now nor ever."
For the first time since she entered Aila, no one contradicted her.
Somewhere deep within the citadel, bells began to toll,slow, resonant.. Not an alarm.
A summons.
Moleith straightened. Western's attention sharpened. Declan's eyes darkened.
Eastern closed his eyes briefly.
"He's felt it," Eastern said.
Isabelle's pulse quickened,but she did not show it.
"Felt what?"
Eastern looked at her.
"You."
" Me??"
" Where's Simba??" Declan asks,his time revealing more than his calmness did.
"I don't know" Western whispers,his voice tainted with worry.
And far above them, in chambers carved of shadow and fire, someething wat hed this time, not bored.
Interested.
" Irellie,have you finally come back to me?"