A rage unlike none other coursed through Lilia's blood as she stormed from the dining room.

"Lilia."

She would need something other than the training clothes she had been allowed. Riding leathers might make due... she was certain she'd be able to find a pair within the clothier's quarters.

"Lilia?"

The training dagger, however, would not do. She'd have to find something sturdier, sharper in the armory, but it was always locked and constantly guarded. Not that that mattered - she had infiltrated plenty of buildings in the past with far less security.

"Lilia!"

Lilia almost collided into Andro's chest by the force alone of him, pulling back on her arm to halt her from a furious trajectory.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked her, gripping her by both arms firmly as he made her meet his gaze.

Her dark eyes flickered with an inner fire that that only meant violence. "I'm going to kill him," she hissed through her teeth.

"And he's expecting that," he reminded her calmly, keeping his hold on her arms. "And if you run head-first into this, you're only going to get yourself killed."

"So long as I take Baz down with me, I don't give a damn," she snarled in the Lord's face.

"And how do you think Cassandra would feel about that? To find out her sister has been alive all this time, by way of her killing her fiancé?"

His words made Lilia hesitate, if only slightly.

"Cass has nothing to do with this," she countered tersely.

"No, she doesn't, and still Sebastian Gaylen is using her against you, albeit unknowingly."

She held his gaze as her jaw clenched. It was possible Cass was an innocent in all of this- still so blinded by love that she could not see her paramour for the devil he truly was...

Or, there was the off-chance that Cassandra knew exactly who Baz was, and continued to want to remain by his side even still.

Lilia didn't know which scenario disgusted her more.

"If you're going to ambush Lathos, you need to be prepared."

Andro's voice snapped her back to reality. "You're going to let me leave?"

"You are my assassin, after all."

She watched him, waiting for further explanation, but none came. It was then she remembered dinner, and the conversation they were having before the invitations interrupted.

"Why?" she finally breathed. And she didn't just mean his allowance of her departure. And Andro knew that as well.

With a glance down the hallway, Andro kept a hand on her arm as he led her further on. Not to her bedroom, but past it- well past it- to his own sleeping quarters.

"If there's ever a place to talk clandestinely and not be disturbed, this will be it," he explained as she gave him a quizzical look.

Indeed.

Though there were guards stationed outside of Andro's room, they were within the hallway as opposed to right outside his door- if anyone was to infiltrate the castle and attempt to take their Lord's life, they wouldn't allow them to get close enough to his bedroom door before ending his folly.

But, Lilia mused to herself as she stepped through the large wooden doors, if an assassin was any good he wouldn't be running through the halls to begin with. He would look to the windows, which was where her gaze drifted. Large glass doors covered with heavy curtains to keep out the morning sun. They were drawn and opened out to a balcony that, she then realized, looked right out to her own.

She clenched her fists at her sides. If she lost her temper again, she would not get answers. And she needed answers.

Andro paid no attention to her assessments as he walked over to his personal liquor cabinet. There was no wine here- only bottles of clear and dark alcohol alike, and she wondered how often he would retire to his rooms at the end of the day and drink alone.

"It's not wine," he mused as if he could read her thoughts. He had taken out two tumbler glasses and filled each with a double finger's width of dark amber liquor. "But I feel we're beyond the gentler stuff at this point."

Lilia couldn't have agreed more. Though she was always cautious about what she drank, how much she drank, and who she was drinking it with, at that moment she just wanted to be numb, if only a little. She needed to release the tension of her muscles and her chest all the same, and after walking over to where Andro stood at the liquor cabinet, her red skirts swished around her legs. The first sip did exactly that.

As did the second, third, and rest of the glass, as she swallowed it down all at once.

She knew he was watching her, and she didn't care. Not as she slammed the tumbler on the cabinet so hard it shook the bottles, or as she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth.

Andro refilled the glass without asking, and Lilia immediately took it in her hand. But before she brought it to her lips, she stared at the swirling liquid, the strong fermented aroma permeating her sense. "Why?" she asked yet again, her gaze moving to meet his.

The Lord sat down in a plush armchair, and Lilia sat on the edge of its mate on the other side of the table. But she kept her eyes on him as he settled back, taking the contents of his glass into his mouth with one hearty gulp. "Why do men with power do anything, Lilia?" he asked, almost sadly.

"To achieve greater power," she said levelly.

To her surprise, he nodded. "I had known of Sebastian - Baz - for quite some time. I knew who he was, both in his employ and when the shadows fell."

"Yes, but how?" she pressed. She was done with formalities, with secrets.

"Because I, too, have a double life," he replied. "Because, just like Baz, there is a part of my existence so few know, and even fewer accept."

"So, you're telling me," she started, almost incredulous. "You're telling me you run your own guild of assassins?"

But he chuckled at that, shaking his head. "No. No, I wish I could be that adventurous, but no. Mine is more of a covert operation..."

"So, you maintain a pack of spies."

A shrug. "Something along those lines."

"And that's how you knew so much about me," she said solemnly. "Me, my sister... how you knew our entire history."

"And also, how I knew there was a Mark on my head, and that Sebastian Gaylen was assigning his own Second to the task."

She paused as the dots connected. "You have someone within the Guild."

"I do," he conceded, "but don't ask me who, because they are still there, and I will not have their presence be compromised."

Lilia's mind was a flurry of memory and remembrance. How many members did the Guild have? How many had she talked to daily? And how many of them reported back to the Lord sitting before her? For how long...

"Which is also why I know that you, running back to Lathos without preparation, will be nothing short of a death trap, and I'm not ready to lose my assassin just yet." A smile graced his lips at that, and she had to look away to divert the blush forming on her cheeks.

From the alcohol. Of course.

"So, what preparations do you think I'll need?" she eventually asked, very carefully, as she turned to face him fully.

But he was already watching her, a pleased smirked on those grinning lips. And perhaps it was the alcohol that had her noticing the shadow of stubble on his cheeks or the small scar that graced his left brow, dark over his gray eyes. And a storm was brewing in those eyes, turbulent and dangerous, yet still she wanted to get lost in it.

"Lilia?"

She blinked, and he perked a brow. "Did you hear a word I said?"

She hadn't. Her blank stare was answer enough.

Chuckling, he stood and took the empty glass from her hand. "Perhaps we've had enough of that for the evening."

"I can handle my liquor," she informed him defensively.

"Oh, I don't doubt it, but you hardly ate anything at dinner, and knowing how you are sober, I'd hate to be near you nursing a hangover."

She glared at him, yet did not challenge his assumption.

"What I was saying," he informed her as he brought the glasses back to the liquor cabinet, "Is that you're going to need more than leather and steel to infiltrate Lathos during its Summer Solstice."

"Says the one with an invitation."

"And the one with the option to bring a guest," he said as he glanced over his shoulder, that smirk still on his face.

"But you said so yourself- I can't just walk right through the gates without asking for death myself."

Andro turned to face her, his arms crossing over his chest while he leaned back against the liquor cabinet. "Lilia Cortova can't, that's correct. But you're not going to attend as Lilia Cortova."

Now it was Lilia's turn to perk a brow. "I understand the importance of disguise, being a master of it myself, but anyone who's good enough will see through it.

"So, we make sure, when you step through those gates, you're protected beyond costumes and weapons."

Still skeptical, she folded her arms over her chest as she leaned back in her chair, waiting for further explanation.

"Lilia Cortova will be no more," he breathed as he pushed off the liquor cabinet and began walking towards her chair. "And in her place will reside Lady Andro Millian."