"Immortal. You have thoroughly disrupted the balance of my world."
When Zeke heard those words, something lit up inside him. It wasn't a spark of righteous indignation or a surge of heroic fervor.
It was his renowned, utterly untamable pettiness.
For a fleeting second, he wanted nothing more than to go tit for tat with the Emperor, trading sharp-tongued barbs just to see who would blink first. But he caught himself, exhaling a quiet, internal breath.
If he were being honest with himself, pride was a luxury he possessed in abundance, but pride did not necessarily equate to foolishness.
He simply did not have the qualifications to flaunt his pride in the presence of an Emperor, regardless of his actual strength.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do, as the saying went. And right now? He was undeniably the weaker party.
