[Twilight, what is left of Scarlet's oldest friend]
Twilight watched the crimson rift close as Elizabeth moved to join her on the balcony, staring across the ravaged section of the city. There had been no major casualties; she’d planned things meticulously to strengthen the Countess of Blood’s trust. Her support was necessary in the long run.
Elizabeth clasped her hands behind her back, her sword sinking into the floor. She followed Twilight’s gaze to the Moon of Greater Abundance. “Was it really the wisest idea to allow her to return to China? Empress Wu will not be happy when she learns Lady Ying Yue survived. Would it not have been better to capture her?”
She tilted her head to the side while smiling at the pumpkin-colored celestial sphere, and she presented the letter she’d been saving. “As promised…the information you requested on the traitors involved in your grief. All of my careful plans led to this night, Countess. The only thing I couldn’t account for was Rachel.”
The grieving woman smoothly cut the seal on the paper, opening it to read the information she most desired. As she browsed them, Twilight shifted her dress to sit on the balcony. She set down her glass and spun her finger around its rim as a glass of wine seeped through the railing.
“Everything…lines up with what I already know,” Elizabeth whispered, nose twisting with disgust and hate as she folded the pieces of paper and returned them to the envelope. “Do you really have Scarlet’s best interests in mind…or is all of this for some greater purpose?”
Twilight held up her fingers as if taking a picture of the Moon of Greater Abundance. “Come down to the Red Sea. Swim with me… Go down with me, fall with me, let’s make it worth it.” She chuckled, quoting once the prayers the Scarlet Hand used in their rituals they misunderstood. Lowering her hands as the moment neared to break the first seal, she breathed out a satisfied sigh. “There’s a tug-of-war I’m playing with much bigger players than you can fathom, Elizabeth.”
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She reached down to cup the crystal glass in her hand, now spontaneously filled with crimson, as she brought it up to sample the aroma of the bitter tears.
“Illa, Cássia, Ying Yue, Rachel, Harper, Helsing, Selene, a sea-dragon guard dog, and many more threads…some large and some small pieces on the overall board and tapestry. The Scarlet Hand was left with a blind spot the moment Rachel’s misfortune shifted their trajectory oh ever so slightly…creating me.”
Taking a sip of the rich flavor of the wine Elizabeth had poured into her glass, Twilight chuckled. “Babel, Neo Daemon, Fable, and many other organizations are using the holes left from the Scarlet Hand’s bleeding network to build their influence. Soon, they will consolidate their power, though.”
Elizabeth shifted her position to lean against the railing, staring up at the sparkling sky. “You already have my support for what you’ve given me. The Scarlet Hand groomed me to become the Countess of Blood… Every scar on my heart they guided, carefully drawn to manipulate my allegiance, and all it took was so little to unravel all their work,” she concluded, the woman’s body melting into the floor.
Twilight’s chest shook as she lowered the glass to stare at the reflecting liquid, an ominous vibe spreading through the night.
“All it takes to unravel a perfect picture is a single thread, carefully tugged. Love, war, pain, life…all is the same to me. How will Rachel respond when the Eldritch wave rises? Who is the first to burn? Change doesn’t happen overnight, but let’s make the sacrifices worth it.”
Lifting a glass to the sky as the dreaded voice filled the night, Twilight tapped Elizabeth’s still-full glass in a toast, now alone on the balcony. “Incinerate our shackles. Where do we land in the Red Sea?”
