"You can't fix perfection, [i]Carmelia[/i]," Shock said deviously. "It's for my scorpions. Who are more well-bred than [i]you[/i]."

She calmly waved off Agnes.

"Yeah, whatever. You saw her start it. I was just here minding my own business."

Lock softly snickered, but quickly stopped. He noticed Agnes hadn't addressed him. No need to get her attention. Shock rolled her eyes at Carmilla.

"And if you'd have been here five seconds earlier, [i]your highness[/i], you would have known when Corvin arrived. But that's the price of being, as you like to put it, 'fashionably late'."

She let out a soft cackle, then turned to "Corvin".

"Don't mind her. She's a buzzkill on a good day."