Liv

I watched from the darkness as Orilis entered court. I always hated these days, watching him play his role with such forced ease made me sick. The obliviousness of the nobles and high classed men and women only made it all the harder to hide my distaste. Although I doubted anyone could really see the strain behind the mask except me. 

Classes decided by blood, granted with Orilis being the exception, meant they were all pompous fools. 

My lip curled in disgust as Orilis’s “fanclub” surrounded him. I rolled my eyes, not bothering to focus on Orilis anymore. I had no intention of watching him struggle to escape the mob of women that were intent on gaining his hand in marriage, if only to be royalty.

The only difference between the maids serving their employers was the family in which they were born. The class you were born into was defined by the class of your parents. If you were born into the lower class, you were the lower class. And if you tried to marry or bargain your way up the system, you were guilty of treason, being a whore, a liar, and a manipulating witch. 

It was a common occurrence for a noble family or higher class to punish members of the lower classes for such things. And while I had always thought the system was unequal and meant only to keep those in power, well, in power, I could not disagree with the logic behind those who originally created the system. Greedy bastards, yes, but they were smart bastards, so when they saw that their power would only last to the end of their lifetimes, they devised a system to make sure their bloodlines would remain in power for all eternity. 

Bloodline is status and status is money. In turn money means influence, and influence means power. And in this world, power is everything. It was the only lesson my father ever bothered to teach me, I thought bitterly. So while I cannot appraise those who created the system, I can use it to my advantage. 

I thought back to when my mother passed, the day I learned that valuable lesson, I was only nine years old. I remember the vividness of my fathers change. I had never looked enough like him for my father to believe that my mother hadn’t had an affair. She had protected me from him. His drunken rages, his beatings. She took it all to keep me safe. So when she died, all hell broke loose.

*    *    *

He dragged me by my hair, the hair my mother had always said reminded her of the golden glow of sunsets. The ones she was forbidden to leave the house to see. 

He dragged me to a pub, his favorite pub, where they were waiting. 

“Oh dear, feisty one isn't she?” the tall one asked, he was lean and had a cruel smirk. I would soon learn him to be my mentor, Arivis. 

I heard my father chuckle overhead, “Eye that she is, perfect for the job.” 

The other man, stout and muscled in build joined in my fathers chuckle, “if she even survives,” he said with something close to amusement. 

I was going to be sick. 

I wanted to run, I wanted someone to help. But no one in the pub made any move to stop my father as he signed away my life to a man I had never met. 

I panicked, beginning to struggle, “Let me go!” I yelled. My father held firm and the tall man leaned down to my level, his voice evening out, an attempt to calm me, to me it sounded scary, like the stories my mother used to tell me about strangers.

 “Your father needs money, we agreed to give him half of whatever you make. In exchange, you become a member of the guild.” 

*    *    *

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.