"Expendable." Riven's voice comes out low and lethal. "Say that again. I want to make sure I heard you correctly before I break every bone in the hand you just raised."
General Thorne doesn't so much as blink. "Threats are the last resource of people who've already lost the room, wolf. Look around you. My guards outnumber your little coalition three to one, and that's before accounting for the reinforcements currently securing the courtyard outside." She lets the words settle, unhurried, like she's already counted every exit in the chapel and found each of them equally useless to us.
"Then why haven't you attacked yet?" Jodan asks, and there's something sharp and calculating in the question, like he's already found the flaw in her confidence and is simply waiting for her to admit it hers
