{Jaylin}
The intersection lood ahead like sothing out of a horror story.
[Was this dumb on my part? This may have been incredibly stupid of , to co here.]
Jaylin's trembling fingers kept finding the letter in her pocket, playing with the expensive paper like a nervous tic.
[Well, yeah, this is either the bravest or stupidest thing I've ever done,] she thought, drawing her cloak tighter against the night chill.
The fabric didn't do much to ward off the cold, but at least it helped hide how badly she was shaking.
[Probably stupidest. No, in hindsight, definitely stupidest.]
She'd barely taken position in the middle of the intersection, boots crunching on loose gravel, when another figure erged from the shadows. The woman seed to materialize from the darkness itself, her erald hair flowing like liquid jewels in the moonlight.
But it was her eyes that made Jaylin's breath catch - athyst, just like Zephyra Vortell's, but colder. Calculating.
The kind of eyes that could watch a man die and only wonder why it was taking so long.
[Well, she definitely looks the part of a mysterious recruiter,] Jaylin thought, trying to calm her racing heart. Her palms were sweating despite the cold. [Better than so creepy old guy in a hood, I guess. Though maybe more dangerous...]
"Jaylin Folden," the woman said, her voice smooth as silk and just as expensive-sounding. "How delightful to see you actually ca. Most don't have the courage."
"Did you think I wouldn't?" Jaylin asked, aiming for confident but probably hitting sowhere around 'scared shitless but hiding it poorly.' She could hear her own heartbeat echoing off the stone around them.
"One never knows with potential recruits," the woman shrugged, the movent unnaturally fluid, like watching water flow uphill. "Especially those from... respectable families."
"Can we get to the point?" Jaylin shifted nervously, very aware of how exposed they were. Every distant rustle, every distant sound had her imagining guards about to discover them. "I'd rather not stand around waiting to get caught by the night watch."
The woman's lips curved into sothing that wasn't quite a smile - more like soone who'd read about smiling in a book but never quite mastered the technique.
"Direct. I like that." She took a step closer, those unsettling eyes seeming to look right through Jaylin's skull. "Speaking of direct, let's discuss lisa Blackfla and her... impact on your life."
Jaylin's gut clenched at the na.
"What about her?"
"Oh, co now," the woman's not-quite-smile widened. "We've seen how you look at her. The way you tense when she enters a room. The barely contained... frustration in your eyes when she shows off in class. We just want to know a little more about that, is all."
[They've been watching ? For how long?] Jaylin wondered, a chill running down her spine. The thought of being observed, studied like so specin, made her skin crawl.
"She's..." Jaylin paused, years of pent-up resentnt bubbling to the surface like a volcano finally erupting. "She's insufferable. Her and her whole family, just showing up and taking over everything. My ho, my aunt's attention, even the fucking academy!" The words poured out naturally. "Eight years of watching her get everything handed to her just because she can do a few party tricks. Eight years of her strutting around like she owns the place, building her... her little harem of sluts while everyone acts like she's so kind of prodigy! And don't even get started on that thing with the king! It was all I heard about for weeks!"
The woman's eyes glead with sothing like hunger hearing that, sothing that made Jaylin's words stumble briefly before her rage carried her forward.
"And her family?" the woman prompted, clearly enjoying Jaylin's outburst. "Tell about them."
"Even worse! Margaret with her- her constant flirting and bouncing around the manor like... like..." She didn't finish that sentence. "listair acting all humble while clearly thinking he's better than everyone else. It's like they're playing at being this perfect family while completely taking over MY family!"
"Fascinating," the woman purred, her voice dripping with satisfaction. "And what are your thoughts on our organization? The Shadow Mages? Our... thods?"
"..."
Instantly, Jaylin hesitated. She understood this was probably a test, but it had co quite suddenly.
She could feel those athyst eyes dissecting her every expression.
"I think..." she chose her words carefully, praying she sounded convincing, "your thods are... interesting. Effective. You're trying to maintain order, aren't you? Keep things the way they should be? Stop people like lisa from upending everything?"
[Please buy it, please buy it, please buy it,] she chanted internally, hoping her lie wasn't as transparent as it felt. In truth, she thought these people were complete psychos. But, she was here because she wanted to see if her notion would be confird or not. Effectively, what she just said was what she hoped would be true.
Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure the woman could hear it.
The woman's expression didn't change, but sothing in her posture shifted slightly, like a snake coiling before a strike.
"Very interesting indeed." She nodded with approval before extracting a piece of paper from one of her pockets. She took out an incredibly small pencil along with it, scribbled sothing onto it, and walked over to hand it to Jaylin. "Tomorrow evening, co to this bar. I'll be there."
Jaylin took the envelope, trying to hide how badly her hands were shaking.
"And then?"
"And then," the woman's smile finally reached her eyes, though Jaylin almost wished it hadn't, "we'll see if you're really as interested in our thods as you claim to be."
With that, she lted back into the shadows as smoothly as she'd appeared, leaving Jaylin alone there with yet another letter that felt like it might burn a hole through her clothes.
[What the fuck am I doing?] she thought, staring at the envelope as if it might bite her. [This is how people end up dead in ditches. Or worse, working for the people who put other people in ditches.]
But she still tucked the letter carefully into her pocket, right next to the first one.
[Too late to back out now,] she told herself, hurrying away from the intersection before her common sense could catch up with her mouth. [Besides, it's just a eting at a bar. What's the worst that could happen?]
The woman's cold athyst eyes flashed in her mory, making her shiver despite herself.
[Maybe don't answer that question.]
---
{Lady Belstadt}
Lady Belstadt watched Jaylin's retreating form with the sa expression a cat might wear while watching a particularly stupid mouse walk right into its paw's reach.
The girl's cloak fluttered pathetically in the night wind, making her look even more like prey. Every nervous glance over her shoulder, every stumbled step just confird what Belstadt already knew. This one would be perfect.
[Such a perfect little tool,] she thought, her erald hair gleaming in the moonlight like poisonous seaweed. [So full of jealousy and angst. It's almost going to be too easy.]
The night air carried the scent of rain and fear - Jaylin's fear, specifically. It still lingered in the air like perfu, making Belstadt's nose twitch appreciatively. Nothing quite like the scent of desperate people making terrible decisions.
"Want to crack her skull now, m'lady?" a gruff voice whispered from the shadows. The brute who'd spoken was built like a wall and about as intelligent as one, but he had his uses. His massive fra sohow managed to stay hidden in the darkness, a feat that would have been impressive if it weren't obviously just dumb luck. "Could make it look like a robbery gone wrong. Been practicing my robbery face and everything."
Lady Belstadt sighed, her athyst eyes gleaming with barely contained annoyance.
Sotis she wondered if the Shadow Mages' recruitnt standards had dropped significantly in recent years.
"No, you absolute turnip," she said, her gaze never leaving Jaylin's increasingly distant figure. "If I wanted her unconscious, I wouldn't have spent ten minutes listening to her whine about lisa Blackfla's perfect life."
The brute scratched his head, clearly struggling with this level of strategic thinking. She could practically hear his remaining brain cells crying out in exhaustion.
"But... ain't we gonna kidnap her? That's what you said earlier. Said we was gonna grab her and-"
"Eventually," Lady Belstadt cut him off, finally turning to face her subordinate. Her perfect features twisted into sothing altogether more sinister as she smiled. "But first, I want to know everything she knows about our purple-skinned problem. Tomorrow's eting should prove... enlightening."
She traced a spellsign in the air and muttered a quick incantation. It wasn't quite "invisibility" she was going for, but it was close enough in this darkness.
"After all, the best way to destroy soone is to understand what makes them tick. And who better to tell us about lisa Blackfla than the girl who's spent eight years watching her every move?"
The brute nodded slowly.
"Right. So... no skull cracking?"
"Not tonight, dear. Not tonight."
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