LIRO || completed

• 15.1 •

If Kier sensed her unease, he pretended it wasn't there at all. 

The two of them had become awfully good at pretending all of a sudden.

When they'd first met, their energies had collided like two rocks connecting in a storm. Fierce, each one unwilling to yield. Liro didn't know what they were now, but they no longer tried to batter each other away to nothing. She didn't know if she was thankful for it or not.

"You know what to do," Kier whispered in her ear, so low she had to strain herself to make sense of it. He squeezed her upper arm, a reminder that she also had a part to play in this plan. "Go."

Liro moved throughout the sea of people, twining her limbs so as to flow seamlessly through the crowd. It had been orchestrated long before they had arrived at the palace. For their plan to work, it had to appear like it was a job committed by one man.

It would make Liro an asset - something that she had fought for ever since she had had visions of a knife glinting behind Kier's back. 

Make yourself indispensable. Ensure you are crucial to the desired outcome, play all of your best cards.

She was the final piece of the puzzle. The hammer with which to secure the last nail in a coffin. 

Kier would be grand, spinning lies of opportunities. Introducing himself with quite the reputation, making himself impossible to ignore. It would be too good to be true, and if Lord Atlor was as hungry for power as the Queen rumoured, he would fall for them. 

Fall for the roses and instead be punctured by the thorns. 

Kier would lure Atlor away from the festivities, to the training grounds - all of the huntsman would be on guard at the entrances. 

Liro stopped herself from thinking of the rest of their plan. It was as if she were convinced that everyone could read her thoughts, that somehow, someone would know their plan. Someone else may put a knife in her heart before the night was through.

The thought did not sit well with her. 

She walked around the grand room, trying desperately to keep her eyes from wandering to where Kier was slowly making his way to Atlor. He had to establish himself with other guests, first. If he tried to make a ploy against the Lord with no one aware of his story to back him, the other guests would get suspicious and their plan would dissolve quicker than Liro would be able to blink.

Then she would be charged with the decision of trying to retrieve him, or letting him hang. 

And as much as their relationship had turned to one of begrudging respect, she didn't enjoy the thought of exposing her skin in a den of vipers.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" 

Liro turned, her eyes meeting perfectly level with that of a man. His hair was styled immaculately and his grin was a mix between uncertain and lackadaisical. He looked familiar, though most everyone did. She had yet to find an individual face in the kingdom.

"Yes?" she asked, fighting to keep the condescension from her tone.

"May I have a dance with you?" He extending his hand to her, palm up. His fingers were long and thin; Liro would have bet he could have played an instrument, if he wasn't at a party that encouraged paying to have others play music for them.

Liro wanted to take a step back, but his eyes were on hers, and he wasn't clueless. He could see her mind working in overtime, and with every second, his smile fell a fraction and the tapping of his foot became more persistent.