[center][img]https://i.ibb.co/2vFBxzb/OIG2-1-1.png[/img][/center]
[sub]Interactions/Mentions: [@c3p-0h] Amaya, [@Dark Light] Vellion, [@BlackRoseSiren] Aurora, [@Fetzen] Valthyr, [@Dezuel] Gadez [/sub][hr]
[indent][color=#ffffff]Elara’s gaze locked onto Vellion’s hand as it closed around Amaya’s with a predator’s swiftness, the movement so fluid it felt almost inhuman. Her breath caught as she watched his fingers tighten with unsettling ease, their pale, sinewy strength both precise and deliberate. The outside firelight flickered off his sharp features, casting shadows across his expression that only deepened the unnatural hunger etched there. The weight of his presence appeared to loom over Amaya, suffocating, as though he were a stormcloud pressing down, threatening to drown her beneath its weight.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]The audacity of this man was truly staggering. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]A sharp pang coiled in Elara’s chest, every instinct screaming at her to act, to step forward and sever his hold on her friend. Her fingers twitched at her sides, an unconscious echo of her rising frustration, but her feet remained frozen. She knew Amaya—knew the fierce pride that burned within her, the resolve to meet such moments head-on. Even so, the sight of Vellion leaning closer, his dark eyes searching Amaya’s with an almost invasive intensity, made her pulse quicken. His words, smooth and calculated, oozed charm, but their saccharine tone felt like venom to Elara’s ears.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Her frustration flared anew when yet another figure joined the tableau, the blond man stepping into the fray with a casual familiarity that only added to the claustrophobia of the scene. The crowded intimacy of their gestures, the unspoken tension between them, left Elara on edge. She barely held herself back, her muscles taut as her resolve battled against the urgency building within her. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]And then Amaya smiled.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Elara’s breath caught as her princess turned her attention to her, her question about Bishop Ashwood landing like a stone in the pit of her stomach. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]Ashwood. The codeword. The one they’d been trained to recognize, to act upon without hesitation. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]Which meant this wasn’t just a ploy to placate the crowd—Amaya was signalling danger.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Elara’s gaze flicked to the guards as they fell into step, their postures rigid, their eyes scanning the crowd with practiced precision. Relief mingled with dread as she realized they understood the code, but it wasn’t enough to fully settle her nerves. She followed them with her eyes as they moved away from the gathering, her every instinct telling her to go after them. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]Yet her feet stayed rooted to the spot, her cloak heavy around her shoulders as the morning air's chill seeped into her skin. She couldn’t shake the image of Amaya’s smile, that mask of poise concealing the icy anger Elara had only ever seen in rare, private moments. She knew her friend was strong, capable of navigating the treacherous waters of diplomacy and danger alike. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]But this wasn’t the palace, and Vellion was no courtier bound by decorum.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]She couldn’t let this end here, couldn’t let Amaya bear this alone, even if she did have the guards with her. If there was one thing Elara knew with certainty, it was that her place had always been by Amaya’s side—and no predator, no danger would change that. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]Her pulse quickened as she hesitated, her feet rooted for a fleeting moment. Amaya’s poise, her clever maneuver with the codeword, showed her ability to think quickly even under pressure. Elara trusted that. She had to. But the tension twisting in her chest refused to loosen, the faintest voice in her mind whispering that Amaya might not have enough—enough allies, enough strength, enough time. The thought was a splinter beneath her skin and it was what propelled her forward, unwilling to let the growing distance between them stretch too far.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Drawing her cloak closer around her shoulders, Elara slipped into the space behind the guards.  She wouldn’t intrude; Amaya had made her choice, and the handmaiden respected it. But neither would she let herself be more than a breath away, ready to step forward should the need arise. [/color][/indent]