Lilian's hand shifted against the obsidian bench, her crimson nails tapping a faint, measured rhythm that to anyone else looked like idle distraction. But her voice slid into Albedo's ear as smooth and deliberate as silk-wrapped steel.
"If you're serious about this, and I know you are, then listen. You won't get to the Duskveils by charging at them head-on. Not here, not in the Academy. Everything is too neatly tied and way too deeply rooted. They'll strangle the path long before you get close. You'll need to start small. Their subordinates."
Albedo's eyes flicked toward her, his smirk curling faintly at the edges, though his posture remained that of a bored student half-listening to a lecture. "So I pull the threads at the bottom of the web and see how the spider shakes."
