So you're what all the fuss is about

Ember didn't know what the Syndicate wolf's game was with this coy back and forth they were doing, but whatever it was, she seemed to be getting a great deal of delight out of it. No matter how Ember responded or resisted, it only seemed to entertain the sinister fae, which was both frustrating and bewildering to the Carpathian princess. Em growled in response to the stranger's predacious smile, fangs flashing for the briefest of moments. While the stranger recounted how Talyssa had cared for her and offered her a place in the Hallows, Ember was fighting back her innate urges to charge her opponent. That sounded like Talyssa all right.

The fae came closer again, their noses almost touching to the point where Em could feel each of the fae's exhales and spoken words in warm breaths against her muzzle, a sharp contrast to the arctic air. How easy it would be to lunge forward and snap her jaws down on that pretty face... wait, pretty?! Ember surprised herself with her own intrinsic thoughts. Yes, the woman was naturally attractive, but she was also an enemy. She was a potential danger to her and her family. Thankfully, the fae pulled back before the temptation to lacerate her face won out. Ember could only scoff in response to the ending of her tale. "You were right—you aren't a good fit," she quipped back, unable to hold the sass on her tongue from lashing out. Not that she cared much for being polite to a Syndicate crony.

The tone of the conversation shifted when Ember relented to a chat. She saw something change in those green eyes, something darker along with that predatory gleam. She was looking at Em like she was a meal to be devoured, and it made her stomach flip. But the feeling wasn't terror. It was something else. Em didn't get a chance to dwell on that though, as the stranger agreed to share conversation with her, complimenting how spirited the Carpathian was. The compliment made a heat rise in Ember's cheeks—out of righteous anger, surely—and left her reeling from the change in the sultry commentary to the more austere conversation. It was then that the stranger finally revealed her name to her: Absinth Inferos. Her title meant little to Ember, but if she was using it, it either meant she was a high ranking Syndicate member, or she was such an egomaniac that she felt like dropping any title she could.

With a bit more space between them, Ember breathed a soft sigh of relief, feeling the near suffocating proximity of Absinth fade slightly. "Absinth..." repeated the yearling, oceanic eyes once more finding radiant emeralds with an unyielding fervor. She would remember this fae. As Absinth's intense gaze softened, Ember found herself slowly slipping out of that hypnotic spell, able to focus in her response, and it allowed her to be a little cheeky back. "Maybe I shouldn't tell you if names are powerful," she teased with a wry grin, body still tensed and ready to react at a split second.

But then Absinth smiled, a visage of allure and temptation given flesh, and the seduction returned within those emerald eyes. Gods dammit, Em couldn't look away! She didn't want to. Despite her roguish retort, Absinth had a hold over her at the moment, and Em replied almost without thinking. "My name is Ember Carpathius. I'm a princess and Head Scholar of the Hallows." Absinth had already met one princess, and knowing Talyssa, she likely would've known her big sister was also a princess, so there was no point in trying to lie. But how would Absinth react to such a revelation? Or maybe she already knew. The gold brooch holding her cloak to her body was the Carpathian family sigil, after all; a well-known mark amongst the wolves of Ardent given her family's notoriety.

With a sudden burst of courage, Ember closed the distance between the two faes again with quick strides of long legs, ocean blue eyes burning into Absinth’s. "I came to see how dangerous the Syndicate really was... and to provoke one of you into a fight." Oh, such an uncivilized response from the princess! But Absi had asked for the truth of her heart and now she had gotten it. The stare of those green eyes seemed to coax the words involuntarily from her lips, and Ember didn't realize until she'd already said the words. For now, she'd leave her stay in Hemlock out of her answers. This was between her and Absinth, the Hallows and the Syndicate. She braced herself for whatever Absinth's response would be. Would it be more amusement at her, or would she consider Em a threat now? Ember held her breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Ember Carpathius" | "Carpathian"