And so, looking impeccably sincere, Hilde smiled politely.
"Do you think so, Queen?” she said. “I see what you mean, and yes, you may be right."
She watched as Queen Heloise's eyes narrowed slightly, sounding out whether Hilde meant anything more from what she said or from how she said it. The younger woman kept her small smile in place.
Didn't the Queen say it herself? If you give the enemy the reaction they're fishing for, you lose.
So Hilde would not rise to her sister's bait. She'd let her stew in her frustration instead.
In its own way, doing this was satisfying too, except she had lost the capacity to feel pleasure after inflicting a wound on others. She did it this time with grim and detached purpose.
Finding in Hilde no foothold, Queen Heloise turned her efforts elsewhere.
