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Isana ate the largest bite she thought she could stand It was not large She chased it down to her stomach with several ss of water There was no point in starting an attack too soon Even in her di truly overt "I suppose food does not absolutely need to taste good in order to keep one alive"

"But to keep one fro suicide, it does need to taste better than this," Invidia said She fixed her eyes on Isana and srotesque expression "Why, First Lady What do you see that disturbs you so?"

Isana cut another bite froular brick of roasted croach She ate it very slowly "I'm sorry to see you so harmed, Invidia"

"Of course you are," she said, her voice dripping acid "After all we've done for one another, of course you feel sy from the neck until dead for what you've done, Invidia," Isana replied gently "But that isn't the sa you in such pain I don't like to see anyone suffer That includes you"

"Everyone wants soh Lady replied "It's siet and an excuse"

"Do you really believe that?" she asked quietly

"That is the truth of the world," Invidia said harshly "We are selfless when it suits our purposes, or when it is easy, or when the alternative would be worse But no one truly wishes to be selfless They si thought so"

"No, Invidia," she said quietly, firmly "Not everyone is like that"

"They are," Invidia said, her voice shaking with unsteady intensity "You are Under the lies you tell yourself, part of you hates me Part of you would love to pluck outa serpent," Isana said "But neither will I permit it to harm me or those I care about I will kill it if I must, as quickly and painlessly as possible"

"And that's what I am to you?" Invidia asked "A serpent?"

"That's what you were," Isana said quietly

Invidia's eyes shone with a feverish intensity "And now?"

"Now, I think you ," Isana said quietly "I pity such a poor creature's suffering But it changes nothing about what I hed "What you ertip on the table, still s thread "Exactly what do you think you could possibly do to me?"

"Destroy you," Isana said quietly "I don't want to do it But I can And I will"

"If you go shopping for a hat, darling, be sure to get one several sizes larger than the one it's replacing" She glared at Isana "So you were the choice of the flawless Princeps Septimus, over every woman in the Realm actually qualified to be his wife So your child by hi, Isana Don't think for an instant that your strength can compare to mine"

"Oh," Isana said, "I'm quite sure it doesn't It doesn't need to" She stared at Invidia for a quiet moment, her expression calain "When have you gone too far, Invidia? At what point do the lives your new allies take begin to outweigh your own?"

The expression drained out of the forh Lady's scarred face

"When does your own life beco you don't want to live anyentle voice "Can you i this way? Five years? Thirty years? Do you want to live that life, Invidia?"