[i]“What do I wish to tell you? Hm… Good question. Nothing. How unsatisfying is that? I’m not telling you anything. You probably already knew all that, huh? And I wasn’t going anywhere with it… Tell me, does that make you angry? Upset? Sad? I want to understand.”[/i]

Sable stared at the Princess with widened eyes. No, the [i]Queen[/i] now. Of course she had expected such an answer from the ruthless leader, but to hear it proclaimed so casually made a new layer of anger and despair hit her. Growling, she opened her mouth to deliver a biting retort before her breath caught in her throat. Gagging, she struggled in her steel bonds vainly for her captor to release her grip on her throat.

So much was her plight, that she barely registered the words of the Queen, her mind swimming in a lack of air. Not yet. She couldn’t die just yet! Finally, Titania showed mercy and released her cold fingers around Sable’s neck. Spluttering out, the assassin coughed and shuddered as air finally entered her lungs again.

“How about this? Why don’t you clue me into just what you hoped to accomplish here by having my head? I know this isn’t about a challenge. So what is it? Is it a person? Please tell me you’re not looking for a man. Honey, they’re not worth the heartache, trust me.”

Sable instantly looked at Titania with the coldest gaze she could muster.

“That’s none of your concern,” she insisted stubbornly. “I’m not a toy for you to play with until I break. My goals are hardly anything as noble as a husband,” she said bitterly. “However…I won’t lie that it’s on similar premises.”

The fact that she was opening up showed that Sable was getting tired of these mind games. Either she would be released or die. Or maybe the Mad Queen of Crescentia would keep her as a pet? That particular idea made another shiver crawl down her spine…no, wait...that was something else.

Her head snapped up suddenly, and she looked around for the source of unease. It was familiar…there! She saw him, if only for a heartbeat. He was there. The Messenger. Was it an illusion? Reality or not, his presence only meant one thing.

“L-Lexi,” she whispered, not caring if Titania heard her or not. Suddenly, the once stoic Red-Eyed Ghost was a raving mad woman, her struggles vigorous enough to surprise even Titania no doubt.

“Let me go!” she begged, trying to break free. “Kill me, torture me, sell me off into slavery! Do what you want, but just let me go! I have to go…I have to go right now! By the Dytenziextity, [i]let me go[/i]!”

Desperation and fear echoed off her voice in loud vibrations.