Lustia nodded slowly, a predator acknowledging the skill of another predator. The flames behind her eyes flickered and danced with something approaching genuine approval.
It was a rare, unsettling thing to witness a goddess, a being who viewed mortals as one might view ants, looking genuinely pleased with a mortal's design for slaughter.
Rex felt a strange, unwelcome prickle of something resembling pride at her reaction, but he immediately shoved it down into the cold recesses of his mind. He had no room for validation; he only had room for results.
"It is a masterful plan, Rex," she said, her voice dropping to a velvet whisper that seemed to echo in the hollow spaces of his chest. "But do not mistake strategy for safety."
"You must understand what walking away from Aethelgard truly means."
