Deathly Flowers part 1
One of the volcanoes of the Issone Mountains, by Ben Turnbull on Unsplash.
The volcano rumbled and spat fire again. Éldorine's eyebrows twitched and her hands clenched on the railing of the balcony. It was just like the Southerlings to attempt to invade them right at this moment. Hopefully Lady Lyrienne would roast them all with her volcano.
Unfortunately, with Lady Lyrienne cooking the Southerlings and Éldorine's own father brokering peace with the Northern coalition, both completely cut out from all contacts for the foreseeable future, that left Heir Lyrienne free to roam and cause mischief.
"My dear Heiress Alyssenne." The nuisance in question appeared behind her, undoubtedly summoned by her thoughts.
She turned reluctantly towards the interior of the drawing room to see him sauntering inside, all footmen suspiciously absent from the area. As usual, he was dressed in elegant deep blue robes cut in the high-quality silk his family was famed for producing. With a tall and elegant figure and his dark hair carefully styled away from his handsome face, he made a striking sight that was just as annoying to see as always.
Location pentagrams, by AmélieIs with images from Vecteezy (vector, watch, box, and chain).
Nice opening! I'm quickly drawn into an intriguing world, and you really nailed Lyrienne's smugness and Éldorine's cautious desire to do her house proud; I love their chemistry already. Couple of minor points:
Never mind; on a re-read, I understand that the ambassador just collapsed and no-one was paralysed.
Thanks for the comment :D Critique is very helpful so thanks for taking the time to write that! Good suggestion for the translation crafts, I'll add a quick description soon - they're some pieces of jewellery, mostly earrings, pins or as you've suggested lapel clips.