She calmly stares down at them. "Where's Oberon? I have an... interesting delivery for him."

" give us the scepter. "

"He said that he would meet us at the Court," the first knight said.

She calmly stretches. "Well, this is important. It has to do with a major prophecy."

"Dont be so melodramatic," Virus sighed. "As usual, you have no idea what is really going on. You think I want to follow the wheezings of an obsolete monarch? I want that even less than you. When he put me in charge of stealing the scepter, I knew that was the last command I would ever follow. Poor Tertius, believing I was still loyal to his false king. The gullible fool handed me the scepter without a second thought." She smiled at the trio, fierce and terrible. "Now, I have the Scepter of the Seasons. I have the power. And if the false king wants it, he'll have to take it from me by force."

" i literally don't care about your sob story. The scepter doesnt belong with you. "

"He might have beat us back. You can go there and see, if you would like."

She nods and heads inside, carrying whatever the heck is in that suspiciously human-looking bag.

"Ah ah ah." Virus waggled a finger at them. "Not so fast. I didnt want my drones up here because they are delicate and rather squishy, but Im not quite so stupid as to be unguarded." She smiled and gazed around the table. "All right, gentlemen. Meeting adjourned."

At that, all the humans sitting at the tables stood, shedding glamour like discarded jackets, filling the air with fraying strands of illusion. Human facades dropped away, to reveal a dozen faeries in spiky black armor, their faces sickly and pale beneath their helms. As one, the Thornguards drew their serrated black swords and pointed them at the trio, trapping them in a ring of faery steel.

It was possible to hear Puck's exhalation of breath and Ironhorse's dismayed snort as he pressed closer to Lise. Virus snickered, leaning back in her chair.

"Im afraid youve walked nose first into a trap, m'dears," she gloated. "Oh, but you dont want to rush off now. I have one last little surprise for you." She giggled and snapped her fingers.





The guards soon reign their horses back into movement.

She calmly looks for Oberon.