Ch. 3.2 (Liv)

That was the first time I had heard of the guild. The day my father sold my soul to them.

Power hungry indeed, I thought, grinding my teeth. Well I suppose I really am his daughter then, like father like daughter. We were exactly the same, the only difference being I knew how to play the game with the strongest of them.

He did not. Each generation is stronger than the last, I thought smugly. I shifted my position against the cold walls, I was getting stiff. I smiled ruefully, if only my younger self was as strong as I was now, that would have never happened. Damn female stereotypes. 

And damn my father while we were at it! I most certainly wasn't going to pass up on a chance to vex Arivis but I sure as hell wasn't pleased about the whole situation. 

I had played it off in front of Orilis because he has been having one hellish week, being forced to choose between his ambitions and one of his oldest friends…but the fact that my sources let me know my father was behind the attack meant he had finally found me.

Arivis would never tell him my whereabouts, he was beyond furious about my escape but he felt the paternal need to protect me even though I stabbed him in the back.

And that's what worried me, the fact that my father had convinced Arivis’s guild to help him meant one of two things, either Arivis had done a full one eighty and decided he no longer felt any sort of parental responsibility or attachment, or someone within Arivis’s guild, the guild Virzas, had double crossed him and gone against his orders. Considering how damningly stubborn Arivis is, I highly doubted that first one. 

So that meant not only was guild Virzas most likely not actually involved in the actions of the assassins, and those sent would be much more unpredictable, and I had told Orilis that much, as shitty as his week was, keeping the fact that rogue assassins were coming to drag him off to my father wasn't exactly non relative information. 

The guild of Virzas was full of some of the most prominent of the underworlds figures. Centered right here in Lias, the capital of Heliva. Training and gaining new apprentices right under the king's nose. I sighed, regardless of how you looked at it, there wasn't an “easy” opponent in the whole guild. So no matter who it was, dealing with them without raising notice would be tedious at the very least. 

At least I would be able to test how rusty Veron had become in our absence. 

I glanced over towards where Veron was standing, it didn't surprise me that Orilis had walked over to chat with our old friend. I had been so deep in thought about the past as well as tonight I completely forgot to listen as I usually did. Berating myself mentally I began focusing on their conversation intently, letting my eyes roam absently over Orilis’s night black hair and stunningly bright sapphire eyes. My eyes slide lower, eyeing his broad shoulders and lean but muscular physique. 

“I’ll be here for a few weeks,” Veron murmured in a deep voice that made me shiver, to anyone who met him for the first time, they might consider it attractive, but I had seen what Veron was capable of and his voice in that low range always made me edgy, he got that way when he was irritated or angry about something. I sighed, shifting closer to them, my patience for court was running thin. 

“We should probably catch up during that time,” Veron said in that same low voice, anxious then, I thought as I looked at his fingers, they were tapping against his arm. 

Ah, Lorcs and him must have gotten into a fight.

I could think of no other reason for Veron to come to court, he wasn't a fan of Orillis’s brothers, or his father for that matter. Like me and Orilis, Veron thought the whole “brotherly feud” was bullshit. 

But of course being a foreign diplomat, he wasn't in a position to say that. Nor would he ever risk it for Lorcs’s sake, I thought with something akin to understanding, I would do the same for Orilis. And he would do the same for me. 

"L will be happy the gang’s back together,” Orilis said. The strain in his face had receded a bit. Good. He needed a break. 

I chuckled under my breath, yes I was happy about the arrangement. I would send a letter for him to meet us for the surprise party tonight. Smiling in anticipation, I waited until Veron left to slip next to Orilis. Glancing once at me Orilis smiled a small knowing smile as he grabbed a glass of red wine from a maid, his eyes filled with anticipation for the night to come.