oh baby, that was quite a punch; could somebody check my pulse?

Deathbelle couldn’t miss the commotion on her border and the thin framed Empress swiftly made her way closer to the border. She knew the voices as well as heard the panic in their tones and though she was closest arrived moments after the wolves of the Armada gathered around a familiar black and white form.

She shouldn’t have been so surprised or worried but as lavender eyes fell on the man’s near lifeless form she felt her heart drop. Not so much as when she’d witnessed her husband’s fall into the volcano, but the sensation was too familiar. She knew it too well and it stopped her in her tracks as Iolaire began to bandage Magnus. The scent of bear was heavy in the air and as worried for him as she was, anger raced through her veins.

The Empress stalked forward, her heart in her throat but she covered her emotions with a scowl. How had a bear been allowed to cross the border? What if it was one of the pups that had been beneath its claws? ”Don’t let him go, Io.” Her words the only indication of how worried she was for the man’s life. There was little reason for her to be this way, they had barely met and now here he was.

However, Belle wouldn’t admit how often he’d crossed her mind since the last moments they’d spent together over a bowl of tea. Was this just another manifestation of the cursed nature of her affections? The Empress grit her teeth as she gazed down at the injured warrior.