His sorrow does something to her. Later perhaps, in a quieter moment of reflection, she might feel softened by those words: I'm so sorry. But this moment is neither quiet nor capable of supporting reflection. For Isopia, there is only room for reaction and anger in her fractured mind. Only room to hate him for what he's done.

For what he made her do.

Sorry!? She wants to scream, but the wound on her cheek stays her tongue. No. You're selfish. The self-proclaimed academic wishes she knew how to brew the synonym her mind was searching for, but she knew only some of the ingredients. He was selfish, but that wasn't all. He was short-sighted, pig-headed. He was stupid, but in an unpalatable and culpable way. A way that made her hate him, but also made her wish with agonizing desperateness that she could rewind time and save both of them from his mistakes. Was there even a word for that? A word for a mistake that somehow ruins what fate had planned, a word that was large enough to shelter a mountain's worth of pain and anguish, betrayal and rage? Perhaps not, but Isopia knew of a word that meant all of those things to her:

volterra.

Her her mind is still deciding whether or not screaming at him is worth the pain it will inflict upon her shredded face, when she sees a blur of red. For a moment, Isopia is unsure whether what she sees is blood from Vadir's attacking dripping in front of her eye, or something out in the world. A painful blink of her eyes reveals that it is Vérzés, and despite the pain that lowering her head causes, she sees that he is laying motionless at her hooves. The demigoddess furrows her brows (and subsequently winces at the pain). For a moment her outrage is forgotten, as is the context in which she finds herself. She is stunned to see the dragon so still, for it hasn't occurred to her that he is injured, and that those injuries are due to the confrontation she has forced between herself and the dragon's bonded. As understanding falls upon her, her ears pin and she glares at Volterra. In her fury, it is all too easy to attribute every wrong doing to him. She has become so comfortable with ascribing to him every ounce of available blame, that even her academic and (usually) rational mind finds no fault with the way she glares at him.

The earth rumbles around the small dragon, rising to form a rough cave him so that no other harm will easily come to him, should he remain where he is.

Meanwhile, despite Hubris' affections for the red dragon, his blue gaze has ever been on the golden queen. Because the gold is larger and bulkier than Hubris, you might be tempted to think that he is somehow more nimble than she. However even were this the case, the bronze does not display any aerobatics. He allows himself to be gripped by the hostile beauty, for to do anything else would be to allow potential danger to come to Verzes or Isopia. No, he must keep this murderess close if he is to protect those around him. In a moment of free fall, as Vadir pulls his body towards the ground, Hubris has a shining moment to suddenly realize that perhaps being bonded to Isopia has impacted him more than he has given her credit for. The dragon suddenly realizes that he's never been touched by a member of his species before, especially not a female. That his first contact comes in the form of a hug meant to crush his bronzey body saddens him, but there's only time for a second of sadness, before he must act.

Hubris wriggles in her grip, flaring his wings to try and loosen her hold. He is unsuccessful, and their bodies hit the earth, knocking the wind out of the bronze dragon. It is only the luck of gravity that causes Hubris to pitch left instead of right, and save the back of his skull and shoulders from Vadir's fiery blast. His tail feels bruised, and he has landed badly on one of his legs. Pain trickles upwards in pinpricks, but Hubris tries to ignore it. Instead, he turns around, blue eyes looking for the gold. His jaws open to release his own attack towards her - though this blast is pure electricity. He hopes to temporarily paralyze her with his wide arc of magic, so that she will have time to consider his words and listen to reason.

>>Not our fight!<< He trills, hoping that she understands that resolution can only come from their bonded's, and not from their dragon's jaws.