Murder in Veilmoore.

"What?" 

Amanise repeated her question again on seeing Sanchez's shit eating grin, only to regret not changing the topic immediately her indulgence led her to fall in to the trap that Sanchez set for her.

"That's the catch Harbinger. Information exchange with one another. Though the information might prove inconsequential to me in the long run. I gain two things from your answer. A piece of your trust and your friendship. I want us to be friends. Tell me your status with him and I tell you the information you so want. As for secrecy? My mouth is sewn shut." Her dark gaze was calm. No she was wrong, her gaze was instead warm.

Amanise swallowed hard before smiling at her, "Why do you want my friendship?"

"Simply because I'm selfish." Sanchez playfully answered.

Puzzled, she asked "Selfish?"

"Yes, selfish. Because a little voice in my head is whispering urging me. She tells me if I don't I would regret it for the rest of my life and what I have been searching for ever since I was young would be what I will find in you."

"What have you been searching for?"

"That's a secret."

"What about the prophecy regarding my aliases?"

"That too is a secret not every one knows about the prophecy. Its classified information."

"So you letting me know about the prophecy's existence is...?"

"My selfish way of letting know I'm not ordinary and our friendship would benefit you a lot too."

Amanise smiled she might have stumbled on a powerful force seeking to align with her. Her goals won't seem so fuzzy and unachievable anymore if she had this doe. But her motives were still unclear. Was the risk worth it?

"So are you both lovers, Harbinger?" Disgusted at the thought of it being considered at all, her face scrunched up beneath the mask. Was Sanchez crushing on Hamlin or something? Leading to her choice of questions. Oh God why? Reining the need to gag she answered calmly to avoid overreacting.

"No. Never. Not even in the distance future. He is my friend."

Friends wasn't the right word to describe the relationship between her and Hamlin. But she didn't need to know that. Maybe until she has her loyalty and confirms that she can die for her. It seemed irrational to hope for that but it was a necessity. Those where the kind of relationships that ensnared her.

Sanchez relaxed her body on her seat. Her eyes slowly darting across her masked face before centering on her eyes. Reading her trying to find out if she was lying. Whatever she saw there made her eyes lighten up in a certain way.

'Does she seriously fancy him?' Filled with pity at Sanchez who was unaware of the ride to emotional pain she was embarking on. Or maybe she did but couldn't help herself.

Love turns people to idiots.

"Oh stop staring at me with pity. It's not what you think but rather business."

"Yeah business seems to be looking quite good.", Amanise muttered sarcastically eliciting a chuckle from Sanchez.

"The man you are curious about was in fact a high ranking noble man until recently. He was into the Sea Transport sector. I'm unaware of the inner workings of the sector but it was said that he invested his entire fortune into a deal that would quadruple the fortune he possessed. Unfortunately the business deal he ventured into failed that would have been a much better ending if his greed didn't take over while he invested. Because he borrowed lots and lots of money from the nobles of high rank than himself. His goods sank in the sea. The insane debt riddled holes into him, poverty hitting him waves after waves. He is now ostracized by the entire nobility because his situation was unsalvable. No one wants to be near him as if he had caught a disease even his own friends." The disgust evident in her tone.

"Now he has debts he needs to pay as well as to rebuild his social standing which is totally impossible unless there is perhaps a miracle which is highly unlikely considering the matters at hand. His life is ruined."

Amanise let her gaze trail back to him, lingering a bit before finishing her drink as elegantly as she could muster hopefully it wouldn't look bad at the quick manner she tried to gulp it down. She had never tasted alcohol before considering her age back on earth but now, she was handed freedom to do so on a sliver platter she wouldn't let the opportunity to savor the drink and finish it pass her by. Who knows Hamlin might restrict her access to drink it. The transparent sparkling wine she was getting addicted to and the burn at the back of her throat.

"Thanks for letting me know Sanchez, If you would excuse me now. I hope we will keep in touch."

"By all means necessary."

Rising up slowly, consciously straightening her back to look taller and more like the nobility. She moved smoothly, feeling the subtle gazes become heavier. People were blatantly staring at her now and didn't deem it necessary to hide anymore, Her steps felt heavier as she fought to move her legs hoping the pair of limbs would obey so she wouldn't fall flat face on the floor in front of everyone. Her smooth movements began to border in line between humane and robotic.

A small hand gripped her wrist.

Sanchez.

Looking downwards Amanise saw the dark eyes beneath the mask darken. There was an alarming glint there like she had read her next couple of actions even before she made them and was in disagreement.

Not that she cared.

"Any problem, Sanchez?" Amanise asked sweetly, her pitch higher than usual. This time Sanchez who she knew for a very short period of time. An entire thirty minutes, the companion that sought a relationship with them was now gone. No where to be found like she dreamt it all up.

"Do not play with the games, Harbinger. Breaking the rules even if you are new is not acceptable. It can only lead to disqualification."

Death. Huh?

She sighed looking down at the doe masked woman who sat in front of her. Beneath the mask was a cheeky smile on her lips. Her tone light and playful, deceptive a deep contrast to her next words which was incredibly lethal. She whispered in Sanchez's left ear.

"After ranting for a full blown thirty minutes on how smart you claim to be. You really think so? I'm now getting bored of the shenanigans. Thank God you are self aware it makes you a bit tolerable Ana Croxs, black sheep of the Croxs family or I would have been bored to death."

The shock and fear she saw in Sanchez's eyes made her whole night worth it. Her finger tipped Sanchez's chin upwards as the woman watched her with a sense of betrayal.

Such a fool. You think I wouldn't notice the killing intent you have been trying to hide since you cornered me to this table?

"If you ever touch me again without my permission I will consider sending your head to the Croxs because of you foolishly daring to poison my drink. The very last thing you see is your head rolling on the floor as your blood spurts out from your corpse down to this expensive marbled floor. How shocked the Count will be when he discovers his last born daughter was affiliated with a cult? Unhand me before I make a delightful memory of you."

Her red manicured fingers hastily separated from her wrist like it burned, body shaking in denial.

"But how? How do you know?" Scared, her once confident, mysterious demeanor out the window. Her gaze unfocused, darting back and forth without sense of direction. her dress gown roughly squeezed up by her grip.

Rolling her eyes, "Hush princess or it would look like I'm harassing you."

Looking around the room, she knew that everyone had know what transpired there. It was evident. She didn't know how but somehow they all did.

A test?

She saw Hamlin appeared from nowhere at the end of the room. People's eyes on him too. Was he the cause? Sighing inwardly. She waved a hand to a waiter, who poured her another glass. She was glad she noticed the wine was poisoned in time and exchanged it with that of Sanchez's.

Something fell behind her, glass shattering and the sounds of chairs being pushed on the marbled floor.

Ah...My first kill.

Amanise didn't need to look back to know that Sanchez had collapsed on the floor. Probably dead. She felt no remorse whatsoever because she knew. 

It would have been her instead.

The room deadly silent.

Even the singers had stop singing along with the instruments. Heady with the feeling of brushing death and surviving, she lifted her glass as high as she could, elegantly. The chandelier's light reflecting on the blue liquid in the glass.

Dare devil. Was the name of the drink. According to Hamlin lifting it up signaled... Initiation over.

'I won.' She grinned under the mask.

Unbothered by the blood and stares, Hamlin equally rose a glass.

"A toast to the Harbinger. Welcome to the noble society."

All glasses of equally expensive wines rose up at the same time from all the dangerous nobles present in Veilmoore.

"A toast to me? Why thank you Skin walker."

"TOAST TO HARBINGER!!!"

Then everything went back to normal. The music was played. People continued their conversations like nothing happened.

But Amanise was well aware. So was everyone present in Veilmoore and so will every other persons will know both great and small once it spreads.

The power scale has changed.

 She just doesn't know the scale of what playing by the script Hamlin gave her would progress into.