"No, I couldn't allow you to do that then!" Elessa's expression changed almost instantly. The gentle calm that usually rested on the Elven Queen's face disappeared as she hurried forward and stepped directly between Eirvanna and Razeal, reaching out to firmly hold the young princess by the wrist. Her grip wasn't painful, but it was firm enough to make her refusal perfectly clear as she stared straight into Eirvanna's ivory eyes.
"Absolutely not." There wasn't even a trace of hesitation in her voice now. She had been the one who brought Eirvanna here because she believed the girl could give them answers that perhaps no one else in the world could, but there was a very large difference between suffering some backlash and outright dying.
