The shift in the Deliverer's demeanor was instantaneous. The wheezing, the tears welling in the corners of his eyes, the way he doubled over as if struck — none of it registered with Mydei as joy. It registered as a fit, a sudden and concerning ailment. He instinctively marched a step forward, a calloused hand hovering near the Deliverer's shoulder, ready to steady him. His expression already severe, darkened with a flicker of alarm. " Deliverer? " The name a crack of iron cutting through the peals of laughter. " Govern yourself. " It was an order, not a suggestion, born from a place of genuine, if gruff, concern for a warrior's sudden fall.
Then came the Deliverer's words. Hilarious. Naive. Sheltered. Mydei remained perfectly still, a statue carved from dawning outrage. The sincerity on the Deliverer’s face had curdled into mockery.
Mydei began, his voice dropping from its contemplative rumble to something sharp and cold as forged steel. He took a single, deliberate step forward. " You are laughing. " It was not a question ; it was a verdict. The pieces clicked into place with an audible silence in his mind — the absurd name, the ridiculous weakness, the way the Deliverer had doubled over with that barely - suppressed mirth.
" Was any part of that tale true? " The question was a blade, honed to a dangerous edge. The muscle in Mydei's jaw worked, a telltale sign of the fury he was wrestling into submission. " Ligma? Bophades? Or was this entire exchange a performance designed to make a fool of me? "
His hands curled into white - knuckled fists. He did not raise them yet, did not make an aggressive move ; however, the very air around him crackled with the potential for violence. The prince, the warrior, had been played for a fool, and he found the experience profoundly distasteful. He stared at the Deliverer, his golden eyes burning with a disciplined anger. Mydei had allowed himself to be deceived by something so patently false. The insult was not in the jest, but in the fact that the Deliverer thought him gullible to receive it. A low growl rumbled in his chest.
" I do not find this amusing, Deliverer. "