So we’re going to play it that way…
   “Well, the Viscount is indeed indisposed.” Liberty quirked her own eyebrow as she matched his light tone. “As you seem to already know, I am Serena Blanc, daughter of the Count’s household. I would say it was a pleasure to meet you, but the circumstances don’t seem appropriate.” 
   Armitage…Armitage… She racked her brain to place the name. From his clothing, posture, and attitude, he practically had a neon sign over his head blinking ‘important person’. There was that niggling sense of recognition, too. She felt like she should know who he is.  
   She had to admit that there was a small, teensy weensy hole in her current knowledge base. While the countess had her pick up her etiquette lessons, and Melisande had given her an in-depth crash course in the lesser-known aristocratic households in the Empire, both of the ladies had been starting from an incorrect assumption. All children from noble households were tutored in many subjects, one of the most important of which was the history of the Empire and its major houses. The ladies had approached her current education with the belief that she already had the basic foundation of information, which they were only adding to. And she did. Sort of.
   Serena may have been the one to get this compulsory education, not Liberty, but Liberty had read the novel, so she wasn’t completely ignorant. She had always planned on doing a deep dive into the key players in the Empire to round out her knowledge, but since her short-term goal had been to avoid getting personally dragged into this mess, she had put it off. Now her little foray into procrastination was coming back to bite her in the rear.
   But there had been so many other things to do. Getting this body in shape, meeting and recruiting the other League members, setting up HQ, working with the girls on new inventions, going out on missions… She had been so busy since waking up here that she had relied on what she could remember from her read-through of the original novel. It had covered a few of the major players, but by no means all. In fact, with its focus on the stupid romance, it glossed over a lot of the political intrigue and power struggles, only really going into any detail when they directly affected the main couple. 
   It was like the author had purposefully ignored a more interesting story to focus on those two. She snorted as she thought, Mom’s always right. She would be giving me that ‘I told you so’ look right now if she were here. 
Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today was one of her mother’s favorite quotes.  
   “We do find ourselves at a bit of a social impasse, don’t we, Lady Serena? You don’t mind if I call you by your first name, do you, my lady?” He didn’t give her a chance to respond before continuing. The calm mask his handsome features were schooled into never wavered, the light tone in his voice continuing to attempt to pacify her. “Since the usual social conventions don’t cover a situation like ours, at this moment in time, I believe it would be best if you felt free to be candid with me.” 
  The half smile that he presented her with would be considered ingratiating if it weren’t so condescending. She could feel free to be candid with him. No mention of him reciprocating. She could hear his expectations of how this ‘proper’ Count’s daughter should respond riding just under the surface of his even, soft tone. He wanted her to be a good little lady and spill anything she might know.
   As the daughter of Count Blanc, Serena was known to be a quiet, obedient, kind, and full of all the ‘social graces’ expected of a young lady from a good family. He had expressed an acquaintance with her parents and was actively behaving in a way that indicated that he was attempting to put her at ease. An innocent young lady who had stumbled on a gruesome crime would give in to the social pressure and spill what she knew to the handsome man who knew her parents. If she were an empty-headed idiot.
   She had no such delusions about his possible actions. His own forays into the night-shrouded garden could have nothing to do with this business, and he was just attempting to ascertain her guilt or innocence, or he could be a murderer or accomplice that needed to know if she was enough of a witness to be worth risking silencing. 
   Since she had freed herself from his grasp, he had made no further attempts to restrain or attack her, though he was poised to act if necessary. Everything about this situation was suspicious, though nothing pointed definitively to either murder or witness. At some point, he had identified her and was now attempting to engage her and extract information. Most importantly, he had not attempted to call the guards himself. 
   Perfect. This gave her a chance to get as much information as she could from him while he was trying to probe her. Unfortunately for him, she was not an innocent young lady or a complete idiot. She still had no idea who Torrington was meeting, or why. Or how he ended up dead and in the fountain. This man was her closest thing to a suspect/ lead. Eventually, either he would reveal more about his own background and actions, or that niggling in the back of her mind would resolve itself, and she would recall whatever information she already had about him. 
   After making her decision, she crossed to the fountain and gracefully perched, sitting on the edge, never taking her eyes off of him. She released her grip on her pistols and slid her hands free. While settling her skirts, she used the cover of the movements to execute a sharp flick of her wrist, triggering the mechanism that silently extended a thin blade that reached to the tip of her middle finger. Hiding her hand beneath a fold in her skirts and supporting herself with her other arm on the marble ledge, she adopted a relaxed pose. 
   “Well, given the circumstances and the state of Torrington here, it would seem that at least one of us has something they might need to get off their chest. Don’t you think, Nick?” She kept her serene mask in place, but let a hint of amusement infuse her voice, exuding confidence, as she gestured towards the body with her head. Two could play at this game. She wished this world had bubble gum. This would be the perfect time to pop some bubbles. 
   His body had subtly tensed when she moved, shifting with her movements to keep her in front of him. Once she had settled, he eased back to the same level of false indifference. “Indeed, it would seem that at least one of us isn’t as innocent as they appear.” A slight edge had entered his tone, hidden like a blade wrapped in silk. His green gaze narrowed significantly on her as he scrutinized her. “Perhaps you’d care to tell me what you are doing alone in the gardens with a dead body when you should be inside with the rest of the guests, Serena?” He put a subtle emphasis on his use of her name without any formal title.
    Looks like he didn’t like the nickname. Liberty let her lips curve into a small smile, this time completely genuine. Seems like we’re dropping all pretense. Good. She preferred that to all the posturing and beating around the bush. Continuing to lean back on her arm and slightly tapping her foot, she projected an air of calculated indifference. In this kind of game, whoever lost their composure first would lose, and that tiny show of annoyance at her overly familiar address was the first crack.
   “You’re right, Nick.” Shrugging nonchalantly, she put the same emphasis on his name. “We should both be inside, dancing the night away. So why don’t you let me know why you are also alone in the garden with a dead body, grabbing young ladies and stopping them from alerting the guards?” If anyone were to observe them without hearing their words, they would think that the two were long-standing acquaintances exchanging pleasantries in a beautiful garden. Minus, you know, the dead body.
   The pointed directness of her questions made him pause for a moment as he once again observed her. Though this time he appeared more puzzled than wary, “Well, that does lay the cards on the table, doesn’t it?” She concluded that he had come to some sort of conclusion, because the amusement was back. “We are both, currently, very suspicious.” His gaze searched her face for a few moments, and he seemed to have come to some kind of decision; the tension that he had been keeping eased. That half smile had unfolded in full. “A gentleman and a lady, alone in a dark garden. A scandal in the making.” He chuckled and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. It didn’t take a genius to get what he was intimating. 
   A chill ran over her, and Liberty straightened, inhaling sharply as her gaze narrowed on him. A new possibility she hadn’t initially considered now presented itself. He might not be a murderer. He might be worse. A fortune hunter who had stumbled on the perfect opportunity to force her into a marriage.
Seeing the immediate return of her wariness, he dropped the amusement. He raised his hands in a peace gesture and continued. “Add in our cold friend there,” He mimicked her early gesture towards the body with his head. “We both might as well go into hiding from society permanently after this.” He continued, capturing her gaze with his own and holding it. It seemed he wanted her to believe he was sincere. “Yes, it was rather impolite of me to grab you. However, calling  His Majesty’s finest, as well as the scrutiny of the nosy crowd in the ballroom, down on our heads would not be in either of our best interests at the moment.” He paused again, obviously trying to gauge her reaction. “It would be better to sort a few things out between us first.” He paused again and slid his hands into the pockets of his formal dress pants. “I  think this might be a good juncture to tell you that I did not, in fact, kill the Viscount.”
   “Funny, that’s just what a murderer would say.” She let out a soft chuckle, but the sound held no amusement.  “What proof can you provide me that you didn’t kill him?” What fool would just believe his words? “Would you believe me if I were to say that I didn’t kill him either?” This time, she was the one to quirk an eyebrow at him.
“I am actually fairly certain that you are not the killer, though if evidence to the contrary were to be presented, I might have to reevaluate my conclusion.” The amusement was back in his voice, and he began to list out the actions she had taken from the moment she had entered the garden. Though she did note that he only listed her actions in the garden, so it was still unclear if he had already been in the garden before coming across her. This didn’t clear up all suspicions.
   “So you followed me once I entered the garden. However, all that proves is that I am not the killer. How do I know you didn’t find me on your way back to the ballroom to set up your alibi?” She could feel time slipping further away. She had been gone from the ballroom for so long, someone was sure to have noticed by now. The longer they sat her verbally sparring with each other, the more complicated everything would become. If he were the murderer, the longer she sat here with him, the more muddied the matter of who followed whom and who was more suspicious became. If he were merely a fortune hunter, the longer she was out here with him alone, the more likely an outcome of marriage would be required to save what little may be left of her reputation. Neither outcome was to her advantage. 
   “You really don’t respond as one would expect.” The amusement was back, and with it she thought she could hear a hint of something that sounded like approval. “Unfortunately, I can’t offer you any other assurances since, like yourself, I slipped out of the ballroom unnoticed.” The indifferent look on his face hardened into a serious expression, but the amusement in his tone stayed. “All I can offer you is my word that I had no part in the death of the unfortunate Viscount. Though I won’t be silly enough to lie and say that he will be lamented. If anything, his death will most likely bring quite a few people a good night’s sleep they haven’t had in a while.” His attention unfocused for a moment, and she thought she heard him muttering to himself, though all she could pick up were a couple of words that sounded like ‘medal’ and ‘cash prize’. 
   Those in High Society were adept at hiding their feelings and dissembling. To a seasoned attorney like Liberty, they were almost amateurs. She had spent too many years in the courtroom to fall for anything short of an Oscar-worthy performance. She observed him closely but couldn’t see any signs that he was lying. His demeanor was now truly relaxed, and his gaze was direct and didn’t avoid her own probing one. While the fact that he was relaxed in this situation could be seen as suspicious, the same could be said for Liberty herself. It was just a fact that some people were really good in stressful situations. Hell, whole careers depended on it. 
   Would you rather have a doctor who panics at the sight of broken bones and blood, or one who calmly gets down to business and treats the patient?
   So she couldn’t use that as a reason to continue to suspect him. Liberty was leaning towards believing him. He was being straightforward with her, and she had no proof he was lying. The way he had expressed his disdain for the dead man had seemed sincere, but in the detached way of someone talking about gossip. Not as if he had a personal grudge himself. 
   She didn’t think he was the killer. Not that he wasn’t possibly a killer. She had been able to break free from his grasp because her swift actions had surprised him, not because he couldn’t have restrained her. Liberty was more than experienced enough to recognize that. Add to that the way he had remained on edge, tensed for action, the speed with which he had turned from lady grabber to nonchalant young man on a stroll with just a few questions for the lady, and it was all just a little too practiced. However, despite that, she was fairly sure that he wasn’t the Viscount’s killer. 
   She did still have her more recent reservations about him, though. He did seem the type to be ruthless enough to use this as a means to whatever end he might have. Just because he didn’t seem to intend to murder her didn’t mean she wanted to find herself married off either.
   Something in her manner must have given her thoughts away because he tilted his head back slightly and burst into a full-bodied bout of laughter before taking a deep breath and capturing her gaze again. He gave a small bow again, with a wry smile on his face, before saying, “Not to worry, Serena. I don’t currently have any intention of tying either of us up in a messy engagement.” He laughed again, softer this time. “I’m currently too busy to manage a wife who wanders into other people’s gardens to find dead bodies.”