The crowd roars, and the King subtly switches her stance. She was fully anticipating being the villain, the dark foe come to claim an unjust prize, but she can work with being a hero. 

"I asked for the champion. Is it his day off? Is he hiding?"

All swagger, all smiles, all mocking. This is [i]her[/i] arena, and you come before her like this?

"Because if you're him, [i]wow![/i] No [i]wonder[/i] Cerberus is begging to come with me! I'm surprised half this crowd isn't packing into my ship! Hear that crowd?"

She pauses to let the roar rise and settle down.

"So no! I'm not here to steal your dog! After all, I can't [i]steal[/i] what's being freely [i]given!"[/i]

She pauses, as if struck by a thought. "Unless you're one of those space princesses. Amazing how hard they give themselves away and still want to be stolen."

"And since we both know she'll be happier with me, you'll help her go. Like a good owner would.

"But [i]are[/i] you a good owner?"

She's not saying it now. Not in front of the crowd, not for their benefit. But behind her eyes, there's a hardness for Zagreus that says, it took a grand total of ten minutes for her to want to leave with me. It took ten minutes of listening to her talk. How long, Zagreus? How long has she been staring up with nobody to hear?