"Please breathe," Serena urged.
The blonde woman could hear the way Elen’s heart beat rapidly, she pressed her against the way and waited for her to heed her instructions. Charlotte hovered behind her with a bored expression on her face.
Charlotte and Serena were the first to leave from the eting room, as per the courtesy. Serena had not expected Elen to follow them out; she called loudly to them and now here she was in a panicked state.
"Please breathe," Serena urged again, gentler this ti.
Elen’s back was pressed against the cold stone wall of the corridor, her chest rising and falling rapidly beneath the finely embroidered bodice she wore. She looked utterly undone, flushed, eyes wide, like a rabbit cornered by hounds. Serena stood close. At this point Elen was only standing because Serena held her up, her arms gripping hers and her knees supporting the other woman’s.
"I... I cannot believe it," Elen whispered. "You-"
"I know," Serena replied, voice even. "You were surprised."
Elen laughed, or tried to. It ca out thin, and brittle. She wiped at her cheek and shrugged Serena off, looking away. "Surprised does not cover it. You were supposed to be like ."
Serena arched her brow. "And what am I now, if not?"
"You know what I an," Elen snapped, though her voice trembled. "You were the only one who didn’t speak like a soldier or a scholar. You smiled at without expectation. I thought..." Her voice caught, and she blinked rapidly. "I thought we were both pretending."
Serena’s throat tightened. She understood that emotion too well, the strange, quiet betrayal that ca from discovering soone you trusted held more cards than you were even aware were on the table.
"Elen," Serena said softly, choosing her words like careful steps over broken glass. "What I told you before wasn’t untrue. I never lied to you."
"But you did not tell the truth," Elen murmured. "Not the whole of it."
A silence fell between them, filled only by the distant sounds of the council chamber’s doors echoing closed behind them. Serena inhaled and let her eyes et Elen’s.
"I am still the sa woman who laughed with you over that dreadful tea," she said. "I am still the one who danced with you, I enjoyed that imnsely. My title does not erase that."
Elen blinked, visibly struggling to reconcile the image of the friend she thought she had made with the ambassador that had just been announced before Ironshade’s highest table.
"I should have known," Elen muttered, dragging a hand through her hair. "You walked like you owned the room even when you were the quietest one in it."
"I was trained to," Serena said with a wry smile. "There are few luxuries given to daughters of the East."
Charlotte gave a long, theatrical sigh from behind. She leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, her expression set in clear boredom. "Are we to weep and share secrets for the rest of the day? Or shall we continue breathing and return to sothing more productive?"
Serena did not move, but her tone shifted just slightly. "Charlotte."
The other woman tilted her head. "Yes, Lady Serena?"
"You will speak with kindness or not at all. I have no patience today for cruelty in the face of confusion."
The warning was light, nearly imperceptible to anyone who wasn’t listening for it but Charlotte heard it. Her mouth pressed into a tight line, and though she said nothing further, the scorn in her posture didn’t soften.
Serena turned back to Elen and stepped a fraction closer, her voice lowering again. "You are not wrong to feel what you feel. But I have a duty, just as you do. I never ant to make you feel smaller."
Elen gave her a weak smile, brittle but sincere. "It’s not that. It’s . I feel foolish. I thought you were like ... and now I realise you’re not."
Serena hesitated, then gently placed a hand on Elen’s arm.
"Let tell you sothing that was told to , years ago," she said, her voice dropping into sothing softer, almost sisterly. "Even a wolf with the finest pelt may feel bare in the snow. We all wear masks, Elen."
Elen’s breath hitched. "You really are from the East."
"I really am," Serena confird. "And if I could give you anything for this mont, it would be understanding. But perhaps for now, a bit of grace is enough."
Elen gave a shaky nod, wiping at her cheek again. "You sound like soone who’s used to speeches."
Serena smiled faintly. "That is what they train us for."
Just then, footsteps echoed down the corridor.
Riven’s tall fra appeared around the corner, and he ca to a slow stop at the sight of them. His eyes flicked from Elen, flushed and red-eyed, to Serena, who was gently holding her arm, and finally to Charlotte, who rolled her eyes so far back he may have caught the whites.
He looked positively bewildered.
"I see I have stumbled into sothing," he said carefully.
Charlotte snorted. "Only if you call a small unraveling a ’sothing.’"
Serena ignored her and addressed Riven with the diplomatic courtesy she had worn only monts ago in the council chamber. "Delegate Riven," she said, nodding once. "We were simply clearing the air."
Elen straightened quickly, trying to compose herself, though her nose remained red. "Forgive , I... I needed a mont."
Riven’s expression softened. "No forgiveness needed. I understand the weight of surprises."
He paused a beat, his gaze settling back on Serena with a different kind of curiosity this ti, one laced not with suspicion, but respect, or perhaps recognition.
"Lady Serena," he said finally. "If I may have a word before supper?"
Serena glanced once at Elen, who gave her a small nod.
"Of course," she replied.
As she followed him away, Charlotte fell in step behind them without invitation, her mouth still twisted in faint displeasure.
Elen remained by the wall, breath slowly evening out, eyes on Serena’s retreating figure.
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