“She deserves no less!” came the muffled reply. Then an impassioned, “Why should we take only pieces of the Sand Sea when we could have all of Marstok instead?” A moment of crackling silence while the blood seemed to drained from Vaness’s face. Then a choked cry split her lips. She lurched from her stool and to the window. Before anyone could stop her, she had the shutters yanked open. “Stand down!” she shrieked as smoke billowed in. “As your empress, I order you to stand down!” “For the Sand Sea! For the Sand Sea!”
Plans always backfires
