Page 187 of The Fifth Life of Alicia
“Leave us,” the figure ordered the woman who’d opened the door.
The maid nodded and left, closing it behind her, and the figure opposite Lillia set out a magic stone and activated it.
“Sit down,” they said, and their voice vaguely familiar to her ears. Where had she heard it before? “It’s only a silencing spell so nobody hears us.”
“Why did you call me here? And who are you?” Lillia asked, clutching her cape tightly.
“We have a mutual interest.” They were being deliberately vague, but there was nothing Lillia could do.
Despite her magic and weapon, she knew she was at a disadvantage here.
“And what is that interest?” she asked.
“Alicia Vermillion.” They tapped their fingernails against the desk. “More specifically, gettingridof Alicia Vermillion.”
Lillia froze. This had to be a trap. There was no way it would be this easy to find someone else who wanted her out of the picture. “Why do you want to get rid of her?”
“She’s a thorn in my side. That’s all I’m telling you.” The person withdrew their hand and sat back in the chair, deliberately keeping to the shadows of the dingy room.
“That’s not enough. How do I know this isn’t a trap?”
“I know who sent the wraithhusk, and they want the same thing we do. For Alicia and the Grand Duke to be separated.”
Lillia’s heart thumped. “Really? Was it sent after her?”
“It was sent after her tent,” they said. “There was bait hidden in there. It was a shame she wasn’t in there when it attacked, or our problem would have been solved.”
She swallowed. She was the reason Alicia had left the tent.
“That’s right. You’re the reason the plan failed, Lillia.”
Hearing her voice said by them sent a chill down her spine. “Is that why you want us to work together?”
“Why not? You want the Grand Duke for yourself, don’t you? To rise above the nobles who’ve looked down on you all week?”
Lillia clenched her jaw. Sure, of course. That was a bonus if she could rise above them all, but she was no longer bothered by their outright dismissal of her. She’d been through this several times now, and whether she married Torin or the Grand Duke, they’d have to bow to her eventually.
She just didn’t want the fuss of marrying Torin first. She couldn’t stand listening to him whine about Alicia in yet another life.
“What do you get out of this?” Lillia asked. “I stand to gain a great deal with Alicia out of the way, but what about you?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me. How can I trust you if I don’t know who you are?”
They didn’t say anything.
“I’m not going to tell anyone about this, am I? I’d be incriminating myself. Besides, I’m nothing more than a lowly countryside noble. Who would believe me anyway?”
“Very well,” they said, shuffling forwards. “You do have a point. Nobody would believe you over me. If I show you who I am, will you agree to work with me? Between the three of us, I’m sure we can get what we want.”
The three of them? Did that include the one who was responsible for the wraithhusk?
Just how many people wanted Alicia dead?
Not that Lillia cared. The enemy of her enemy was her friend, after all, and these other two people were clearly higher than her on the social ladder. While nobody would believe her if she outed them for doing such a thing, if it all went wrong, she could just say she’d been forced into being their underling.
High nobles using those of a lower rank to do their dirty work wasn’t exactly uncommon.
