"If my aging memory serves me correctly, the last time the names Solyne and Kara were spoken in the same breath, it was inside an imperial tribunal.
I do believe it was your own testimony, Irene, that stripped this young lady of her noble station and sent her family to rot in the lower districts.
To call her a dear friend now... one might wonder if merchant blood simply lacks a memory for past betrayals. How...remarkable of you to forgive your enemy, Lady Irene," she drawled, her voice dripping with a casual, aristocratic malice that cut straight through the quiet room.
A sharp wave of hushed, cruel whispers instantly erupted across the ivory-draped tables.
"Did she really think we would forget? To drag a common alleyway apothecary into a ducal tea party and dress her up in Madame Clarisse's velvet does not make her a lady.
