- Oh please, will you erase that sulky expression from your face? You know better than me that there was no other option

- I am not - Connor added while observing the swirling contents of a mug in his hand - Not like you would know with your blindfold on....

- I don't need to see to feel the frustration and unspoken demand about you. - then she added after a slight pause - Your silence, it's just thick with it boy.

The room was heavy with tension and the air between the two was cloying with the scent of iron and unease; a slight hum, like that of a tuning fork, reverberated in the air as if the still within the room could feel the weight of the two opposing storms meeting.

Then, just as the atmosphere strained, balancing on a narrow like between restraint and release, a slight grin crept onto Connor's face and then he asked -....Did we manage to fool them?

Julietta pulled her blindfold down slightly, just enough to reveal an irisdescent iris. She felt a fluttering behind her eyes as she looked down with it to the street below - and beyond.

After spending some time looking outside the window, she re-adjusted her blindfold before turning to face Connor.

She answered him with a canine smile similar to the one he did beforehand - That we did.... old friend.

A momentary silence, and then a low, breathy chuckle escaped Connor's mouth; it was followed but Julietta's own. Along with their joyous chuckling mixing, the tension in the room shattered like glass dropped on stone.

***

It was after they had been thrown off from The Velvet Petal's premises. At the alley behind the shop, before Connor could even process what was happening, Julietta suddenly released her aura. It was thick with killing intent, drenching the surroundings with a sickening gloom. The horror of it was so great that it caused Connor to unknowingly release his own aura.

Connor was very confused. He did get them kicked out, but did it warrant such a reaction from her? - Shouldn't I be the angriest of both - He couldn't help but feel wronged.

But as sudden as it came, Julietta retracted her aura into her body and after clearing her throat, shouted the following words - Junior you dare?

Those three words bounced off the narrow walls of the alley, skittering along the brick like a restless insect, before returning back in fragmented pieces.

Connor hadn't been the one to say them, but he developed a blush in his ears and was starting to feel fainter the more her echoes overlapped. The silence that followed was unbearable.

- Junior you dare? - she repeated for a second time with a louder voice.

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A subtle jerk of the head, a sidelong glance and the slightest raise of an eyebrow, Julietta silently asked him to play along only to realise that Connor wouldn't understand the 2 latter signals for she was blindfolded.

- Junior you dare? - she asked for a third time, this time with a subtle tremor to her voice that lingered with intensity.

"Will she just keep repeating this until I answer?" - Even then, he did not need to understand her signals, as the second hand embarrasment he was feeling was enough to make him do so.

After releasing an akward cough, he played along - And if I do old hag?

Those words seemed to ignite something within both parties for what followed was a subsequent clash of steel and a display of raw power and skill; each time their blades collided, gashes and furrows were marred around them.... or so those who until a minute ago had been stalking Connor believed.

- Thank you for taking them off my coatails Julietta. The pair had been tailing me since dawn - said Connor. After taking a sip of the hot cocoa in front of him he added - How did you know they were behind me anyways?

- I didn't - then she added with a playful grin - Just wanted to poke fun at you kid. Noticed them after.

The table in between them trembled, but its end was just as sudden as its beginning. Soon after Connor calmed down, his shoulders hunched down as a slight sigh escaped his mouth. He knew full well he could not win against the devilish imp in front of her.

Thus, he focused his attention into something else - Didn't know you owned the place.

Julietta nodded in acknowledgment as she took a sip of her tea - Pretty useful place this one is. Beautiful. Trendy.... is that what the youngins call it nowadays?

- Must have costed you a lot, setting up shop here in the middle of gentry's district and all? Not that it would make any difference to you I suppose.

- Yes. But the hardest part was to get them to come here - Connor raised an eyebrow in response - Anyways, we made it to be a perfect little spot to gather for tea parties. I don't to spell the reason out for you do I? - She pointed at Connor with fork in hand

- Information. - he answered

Julietta responded with a nod of her head -Tons and tons of it. Some of it useless chatter. Most of it really. But some...

She did not finish her sentence, but it was enough for him to understand, to wonder the question of - "How far does her shadow cast?"

Her gaze fixed on the woman in front of her.

She sat in her seat with a natural elegance, her posture exuding both grace and quiet confidence. Her skin, smooth with a soft glow, as if kissed by the morning sun. Her long flowing hair was like moonlight, shimmering with an ethereal glow under the light leaking through the window. But what was most striking was her poise, which could be only be likened to the moon's reflection from the top of a pond or a mist that drifts out of reach, as though her very being was sitting at a boundary untouched by the world around her.

Watching Julietta like this, without the tinted glasses created from knowing her, Connor could just mistake her as a noble woman in her early thirties, one perhaps blessed by good looks and an amazing upbringing.

Yet he knew that he could never do so.

Because it was this same youthful appearance that the Council of 7 feared.

Because it was that same figure that was the only one to escape from the prison of Gloomhold, creating the smear in the Legion's history many came to know as the Black Vein Ascent.

Because it was the same mind that created and controlled the impossibly huge information network that spanned across the entire empire

Because that woman was Julietta Jacaranda and the sole mention of the monikker given to her by the emperor was enough to bring fear to men's heart - The Obsidian Widow.

- Shall we get down to business then boy?