CHAPTER 19: CHAPTER 19: THE QUEEN’S EYES

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The battlefield churned with chaos, but the Queen’s gaze did not wander. Her eyes locked on Buzz and Zza as if the rest of the army no longer mattered. Drones hurled themselves at Scarabs, Glowbeetles flared and died, Centipedes crushed wave after wave of enemies, yet the Queen moved through it all without shifting her focus. Every claw that struck her, every thread that bound her, every drumbeat that shook the ground—she swept aside as if swatting dust.

Buzz felt the weight of her attention more than her blows. His knees sagged under it, his shell groaned as if ready to crack, his blood burned through the threads Zza had bound into him. The silence in his skull roared louder, a pressure that made him doubt his own shape, his own weight, his own reason for still moving.

She advanced slowly, not rushing the kill. Her wings dragged light across the ground, her claws carving lines in the soil. With each step the clearing seemed smaller, until there was no world beyond her, only the space between predator and prey.

Zza’s silk lashed again, threads snapping out in wide arcs, clinging to her wings and legs. For a moment the Queen’s body slowed, strands biting into golden shell. But her eyes never left Buzz. She pulled forward, dragging the threads until they snapped one by one, the sound like tendons tearing.

"You bleed," her voice filled him, steady and cruel. "You break. You should have dissolved with the others. Instead you cling to her, and she clings to you, two broken shells bound together."

Buzz staggered as the words pressed deeper. His legs wanted to fold, his chest wanted to give, his body begged him to sink into the dirt and be still. He looked at Zza instead. Her silk was fraying, her body trembling, but her eyes burned as she met his.

"You are not broken," she said, loud enough for the Queen to hear. "You are the reason I still move."

The Queen’s claw swept down. Buzz shoved Zza aside and took the blow across his shoulder. The impact tore through him, ripping shell from flesh, forcing him to his knees. Blood streamed down his side, soaking the silk already wound tight around him.

Zza cried out and lunged back, silk flooding from her claws to pull him upright. "Do not fall. Not now."

He forced air into his chest. "I am not falling."

The Queen’s eyes glowed brighter. She lowered her head until they filled his vision, searing gold that cut into him deeper than the claw had. "You cannot protect her. Every thread she wastes on you weakens her. She will see the truth."

Buzz’s claws dug into the dirt, holding himself upright. "Then let her waste everything."

Zza’s silk wrapped tighter, her voice sharp with fury. "And I will, until there is nothing left to give."

For the first time the Queen’s eyes narrowed. Not fear, not pain, but recognition. She struck again, wings flaring, claws tearing the soil, the force hurling both of them back against the shattered roots. The ground split around them. The world shook.

Buzz coughed blood, his vision swimming. Zza’s hands shook as she pressed her silk against his chest, her threads nearly gone, her breath ragged. Still she did not move from his side.

The Queen stepped closer, wings filling the sky. She loomed above them, gold light burning like fire.

Her voice fell like judgment. "Then you will die together."

Buzz lifted his head. Zza gripped his arm. Neither moved away.

"If that is the only choice," Buzz said, voice raw, "then we crawl to the end."

"And we bind it closed," Zza whispered.

The Queen raised her claw. The blow came down.

The claw came down like the end of the world.

Buzz didn’t think. He didn’t breathe. He just grabbed Zza and threw himself into the dirt, his body wrapping around hers. The Queen’s strike split the ground where they had been, tearing roots out of the soil like they were nothing. Dust and shards of shell rained over them.

Buzz coughed, pain ripping through his chest. He felt the silk binding tear under the strain. He didn’t care. Zza was still in his arms, her breath hot and fast against his side.

"You okay?" His voice cracked, half-growl, half-gasp.

Her antennae twitched against his cheek. "No. But I’m not gone."

"Good enough." He pulled himself up, legs shaking.

The Queen towered over them, eyes blazing. She didn’t rush. She didn’t have to. She knew how close they were to breaking. "Every second you live is mine. Every breath you take is one I allow. You fight for nothing."

Buzz spat blood into the dirt. "Then let us waste your time."

Zza pressed her shoulder against his, her threads slipping uselessly from claws that had nearly run dry. "Yeah," she muttered, almost laughing through her exhaustion. "We’re really good at wasting things."

The Queen raised her claw again. The light of her wings flared—then the drums hit.

The Scarabs stormed back into the clearing, battered and bleeding, but not broken. Their claws slammed the dirt in rhythm with their drums, a sound that shook the ground louder than the Queen’s silence.

Behind them, the Centipedes coiled once more, bodies battered but still enough to form a wall. Glowbeetles lit the canopy, not in panic this time but in steady, pulsing waves, light spreading like a heartbeat across the battlefield.

The Queen’s claw paused in the air, caught in the wall of defiance crashing against her.

Buzz blinked up at them, chest heaving. For a second he thought it was another trick, another illusion. But then he saw the Weaver Elder dropping new silk across the battlefield, threads binding Scarabs to Centipedes, Centipedes to Glowbeetles, weaving them into one moving body.

"They came back," Zza whispered, her eyes wide.

Buzz grinned weakly, blood staining his mandibles. "Told you we weren’t alone."

The Queen hissed, wings snapping open. She tore through the first Scarabs that reached her, flinging their bodies aside like broken toys. But more came. For every one that fell, two pushed forward. Glowbeetles lit the charge. Centipedes locked into walls. Weaver threads pulled their pieces back into place before they could collapse.

And still, through all of it, her eyes stayed on Buzz and Zza.

She wanted them. Not the army. Not the war. Them.

Buzz staggered upright, leaning into Zza’s shoulder. "She’s not stopping. Not for them. Not for us."

Zza tightened her grip on his arm. Her voice was low, shaky but sharp. "So we don’t stop either. Not for her."

The Queen broke through the Scarabs and stepped forward again, claw raised.

Buzz met her eyes, broken and bleeding but still standing. "If you want us, you take us both."

Zza lifted her threads, thin and fraying, but her voice was steady. "And we’ll make you choke on it."

The claw came down again—slammed against the coil of Centipedes that had thrown themselves between them. Shells cracked, legs snapped, the wall shattered, but the strike didn’t land on Buzz or Zza. Scarabs pushed in next, Glowbeetles blinding her eyes with their glow, Weaver threads tangling her wings.

Buzz’s chest heaved. Zza’s hands shook. Together, they stood back up in the middle of the chaos.

Not beaten. Not whole. Just together.

For the first time since she appeared, the Queen had to take a step back.