Alice fell silent, her lips pressed into a thin line.
For a moment, the only sound between them was the faint crackle of lanterns swaying in the evening breeze.
Seeing the shift in Alice's mood, Amelia seized the opening. She had been waiting for this.
"By the way," she began lightly, as though it were idle gossip, "I heard Julies has been involved in several reckless incidents lately."
It wasn't random. It was deliberate. This was her chance to link him to the same careless fools Alice so often scorned. If Alice began to see Julies as no different from them, then surely her attachment would fade.
'All I promised,' Amelia thought, her smile curving sweetly, 'was not to drive him away with marriage schemes. But no one said I couldn't poison the roots of her feelings.'
She tilted her head, pretending to muse aloud. "Come to think of it, his eagerness to take risks for gain… doesn't it remind you of those who choose to live outside the city walls?"
"!"
