The Villainess Wants To Retire-Chapter 282: The Price of Intervention

Isolde saw her chance.

While Eris’s attention had shifted to the newcomer, while those terrible eyes had turned away for just one precious moment, Isolde began dragging herself backward. Her hands scraped against marble, her ruined dress tangling around her legs, but she didn’t care. She needed distance. Needed to get away before...

Eris’s head turned.

Just a fraction. Just enough for Isolde to see those flame-lit eyes track her movement with the lazy interest of a cat watching a mouse try to flee.

"Going somewhere?" Eris asked pleasantly.

She took a step toward Isolde.

And Bianca Virelya, fool that she was, stepped directly into her path.

"I said stop!" Bianca planted herself between them, her chin lifted in righteous fury, her whole body trembling with the kind of conviction that came from never having faced real consequences. "This is barbaric! Inhumane! You call yourself nobility but you act like... like... "

"A monster?" Eris supplied helpfully. She tilted her head, still smiling that terrible smile. "A tyrant? A witch? Please, do go on. I’m fascinated to hear what other names you’ve prepared."

Bianca’s face flushed darker. "You’re proving everything they say about you! Every rumor, every story... you’re exactly the villain Solmire claimed you were!"

"Am I?"

"Yes!"

Bianca’s voice rose, carrying across the courtyard to the assembled crowd. Good. Let them hear. Let them all bear witness.

"You’re dangerous. Uncontrollable. Unfit to rule anything, let alone stand as future Empress of Nevareth!"

She gestured wildly at Isolde’s broken form.

"Look what you’ve done! Dragged a noblewoman through the palace like a common criminal, destroyed her dignity, her honor... "

"Her honor?" Eris’s laugh was soft and cutting. "Tell me, Bianca, does human trafficking preserve one’s honor? Does torturing innocent servants maintain dignity?"

Bianca faltered for half a breath, then rallied.

"That’s for the courts to decide! For proper justice to determine! Not for you to... to... "

She was warming to her theme now, her voice growing stronger as she addressed not just Eris but the entire watching court.

"You come from a kingdom you destroyed. From a throne you abandoned. You bring nothing but fire and ruin, and now you expect us to simply accept your violence? Your cruelty?"

Behind Bianca, Isolde had managed to drag herself several feet away. She was sobbing, her hands leaving bloody smears on the marble, but she was moving.

Eris noticed. Of course she noticed. But she let it continue, her attention still fixed on Bianca with the patience of someone watching a particularly entertaining performance.

"You’re everything they warned us about," Bianca continued, her voice dropping to something that tried for gravitas but landed closer to theatrical condemnation.

"Fire mages like you... you think your power makes you righteous. That your magic gives you the right to judge and execute as you please. But you’re not gods. You’re just... just... "

She searched for the words, found them.

"You’re just monsters wearing human skin."

The crowd murmured. Some in agreement, some in shock that anyone would dare speak to the Fire Queen this way.

"You don’t belong here," Bianca finished, her voice ringing clear. "You never did. Nevareth is an empire of ice and order, of civilization and law. You’re chaos and destruction. You’re a plague we invited into our home, and I will not... I refuse to stand by while you corrupt everything we... "

"Are you finished?"

Eris’s voice cut through Bianca’s speech like a blade through silk. Soft. Almost gentle.

But underneath, something vast and hungry stirred.

Bianca blinked. "I... yes. I’ve said what needed to be said. And my father will hear of this. The Regent Empress will... "

"Wonderful." Eris’s smile widened. "I have a question for you then."

She took a step forward.

Bianca held her ground, though something in her eyes flickered. Uncertainty, perhaps. Or the first whisper of real fear.

"Will you take her place then?"

The words landed like stones in still water.

Bianca’s face went blank. "What?"

"I didn’t make myself clear?" Eris took another step. "How disappointing. I thought I was being rather direct."

She moved closer. Bianca stumbled backward, her righteous fury cracking at the edges.

"You claim such moral superiority," Eris continued, still advancing, still smiling. "Such selfless concern for poor Lady Isolde’s treatment. Surely someone as noble and good as you wouldn’t hesitate to suffer in her place?"

"I... that’s not... you can’t... "

Behind them, Isolde had scrambled nearly to the edge of the courtyard. Freedom was so close. So terribly, tantalizingly close.

Fire erupted.

Not an explosion. Nothing so crude. It simply appeared... a perfect circle of flame surrounding all three women, tall as a man and burning with heat that made the air shimmer and twist.

Isolde’s scream was raw and animal. She flung herself away from the flames, back toward the center of the circle, back toward Eris and Bianca.

Trapped.

"No... " Bianca turned, staring at the fire wall, then back at Eris. "No, you can’t... "

"Can’t I?" Eris was still walking forward, each step measured and deliberate. "Strange. I seem to be doing it."

"Please... " The word fell from Bianca like something torn. All her confidence, her righteous fury, her careful performance... it shattered in an instant, leaving only naked terror. "Please, I was just... I didn’t mean... "

"Didn’t mean what?" Eris stopped directly in front of her. Close enough to touch. Close enough for Bianca to feel the heat radiating from her skin like standing too close to a forge. "Didn’t mean to interfere? Didn’t mean to defend someone who trafficked an innocent woman? Or didn’t mean to volunteer yourself as her replacement?"

"I wasn’t... it wasn’t... "

"But you were so eloquent just moments ago." Eris tilted her head, eyes gleaming like molten gold. "So certain of my villainy. So convinced of your righteousness. Surely you should be eager to prove your moral superiority?"

She reached out with one hand... not fast, not violent, just a simple gesture... and placed it on Bianca’s shoulder.

Bianca’s legs gave out immediately. She collapsed to her knees like a puppet with cut strings, her whole body shaking so violently her teeth chattered.

"I’ll give you the same choice I gave Isolde," Eris said conversationally. She raised her other hand, palm up, and fire began to coalesce above it. Not wild flame. Something controlled. Shaped. The fire twisted and lengthened, forming itself into a long, sinuous cord that crackled and hissed in the morning air.

A whip.

A whip made of living flame.