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The title lingered in the air, lord, and though Astier made no verbal reply, the title settled over him like a long-forgotten mantle. He did not flinch from it., did not scoff. Instead, beneath the quiet mask he wore, something ancient stirred; a flicker behind silver eyes, faint as the shifting of wind over snow: a quiet satisfaction. It had been some time since he’d last been addressed with deference, and longer still since the weight of such titles had held meaning. Yet now, as the name graced her tongue and hung between them as fog clinging to the stone, the wraith accepted it. A brow arched slightly in acknowledgment; restrained, but not dismissive.
„Hmm,” he murmured, just audible. He moved then, unhurried and ghostlike, his steps a silent rhythm on frost-hardened ground. When he passed her, his gaze lingered, not invasive, but calculating. She carried herself well. Older than him, yes, not with much, but there was strength in her frame, precision in her poise. She might disappear easily in a crowded square, unremarkable to the distracted eye; but not to his. No, he did not miss the way her posture held purpose, discipline.
He felt no hunger. Not for food, not now. But still, he found cause to linger, to observe, to draw out more. „Walk with me,” he stated, his voice low, etched in that glacial calm of his, though softened faintly by something more...civil. Not quite warmth, but an echo of it. Astier turned without waiting, his pale tail flicking once behind him: a clear signal, a quiet command. His steps continued down the slope, silent and smooth, as if each footfall was weighed, measured, and claimed by the land itself.
For a time, there was only silence between them, and he allowed it to stretch; as he often did. Then, at last, he spoke, voice cutting through the air like winter wind through pine. „How long have you served the queen?” There was no warmth to the question, no feigned charm, but there was curiosity, cold and watchful. He would not ask her directly about House Drakaryn, not yet. But information had a way of surfacing, if the right stones were overturned.