Elise was finding it hard to wrap her head around everything. She and her sister were sigmas of Sindri. Their queen was mad. Truly, Elise wanted to scream. The insanity of it all was astounding. What’s more, Swallowtail wanted to be a queen. She never did know when to stop.
She wandered down to the lake, her eyes darting around. Elise’s appearance was a new thing. She had been here for a couple months, but she still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that she was pretty. A twig snapped. Elise’s hairs on the back of her neck stood up as from the shadows emerged a horned lady whom Elise had never thought she would see again. “Émilie.” One simple word.
“I came down looking for a drink. It seems I found much more than a drink,” said her old friend. “I found a prize which I seek.”
“Mili, where have you been?” Elise inquired. “Why am I a prize all of a sudden? You never were possessive about a friend.”
Mili grinned. It was a sweet, sad grin. “Elise, the truth is, you made a lot of wolves mad. Running away the way you did, and then for your sister to murder four very important individuals was unprecedented. King Myrok is absolutely infuriated, and he’s ordered assassins to hunt you down.”
Elise’s heart was stuck in her mouth. “Of course, because Swallowtail killed Princess Elizone, and Myrok wants revenge.”
Mili snorted. “Elise, it’s so much more than that. After the death of the courier, and the escape of one of the teens of the delegation, not to mention the incompetence it took for that to happen, King Ebenezer murdered Prince Rocky as payback. Myrok lost not only his daughter but a son. His heir. It was a bloody night.”
Then Mili lunged for Elise, claws extending. Elise yelped and leaped back. “Elise, I’ve been charged to find you and kill you. Your sister as well. I’m sorry it had to come to this,” and she charged. Elise bit at Mili’s face in self defense, and she darted back, away from Émilie’s flashing teeth. “Mili!”
She would never know how the fight ended, just that it did, and Elise’s lifelong friend was collapsed in a pool of blood at her feet, Mili’s eyes lifeless and open. Elise wept for hours, wondering how she could murder her friend and not remember any of it.
Trauma, it seemed, was the victor.

“Baby, I been, I’ve been praying hard!”