I crossed the room in large swift strides. Now was not the time to be reminiscing, we had work to do. I felt her presence a moment before she shut the door behind her with a soft click. 

“How are you?” Liv asked, she always knew that court had a tendency to give me a bad headache. 

“Fine.” I lied, I wasn't in the mood to have a heart to heart with Liv right now. There was too much to do. 

Raising her eyebrows into a “like hell you are” face Liv walked over to the desk and gingerly sat down on the corner.
“I want to call Veron over for tonight's party” Liv said, yawning nonchalantly. Our quote on quote party was code for our expected assassin’s Both Liv and I knew better than to assume we weren't being watched. 

I chuckled as I sat down behind my polished oak desk. “You don’t need my permission to send word, just go easy on him Liv, he’s probably not used to a good fight anymore.” I said, a tone of amusement coloring my voice. I knew Veron was going to enjoy tonight just as much as Liv and I would. Hard opponents or no, this was where we thrived. 

I settled down into my chair as Liv scribbled a quick message in black ink. When she was finished she folded the paper up and wrote Veron.  In her scrawling script. 

She held it out to me, I had to be the one handing off her messages because she technically didn't exist. Not legally anyway. The guild made sure of it. They even went so far as to change her name. From Linavi to Liv. 

Arivis. Anger always clouded around that name, like a storm cloud that would never dissipate. 

He will die one day, but not by my hand. It was Liv’s decision to make. It would be done by her blade. I sighed, rising to summon a maid to deliver the message. Liv felt a type of affection for the man who taught her the hundreds of ways to break someone's neck. There was no debating he had done some fucked up shit but Liv owed him quite a bit. She loved him like a father though she would never admit it. The maid arrived and I handed her the letter telling her to deliver it to one Count Veron of Vix. Turning, I returned to my desk and began going over my potential guest list with Liv to see if any might strike her as more likely. We had concluded that morning that there was no way Arivis would allow this and it was far more likely Virzas had been double crossed by a few of its members. Narrowing down the list to roughly a dozen potential assassins. Excitement hummed throughout my body in anticipation for tonight. I allowed myself a grin. Bring it on.