SIXTY FOUR: A Beautiful Bird

The faint rattling of carriage wheels filled Kel's ears as she sat sweating across from the Dragon Emperor.

The emperor sat with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face as he stared blankly out the window. He had been silent since he furiously stormed up to her on the walkway in front of Dash's house.

How could such an impeccable plan go so wrong so fast? Kel mourned, hanging her head. 

She scoffed at the version of herself who, only a few hours ago, was prematurely celebrating how easy it would be to accomplish her revenge.

I should have accounted for the fact that the Dragon Emperor is always two steps ahead, not just one, she whined internally. 

Plus, it seemed Soren, who she hadn't accounted for at all, was also at least a step ahead of her.

Why was everyone else so much better at this than she was?!

As they clattered back toward the palace, she tried her best to think of a possible way to explain her way out of this situation.