Emma's smirk lingered, sly and deliberate, as though she had been waiting for Alice to ask that very question.
"Change the terms, you say?" Alice's voice was level, but her eyes sharpened.
Emma tapped the closed fan against her palm, her every movement measured. "Why, of course. Information alone feels… insufficient now. If I were to help you devise a way to capture him, that is far more valuable than passing along dusty files and scraps of rumor."
Alice tilted her head slightly, feigning indifference though her pulse quickened. "And what do you want in return this time?"
Emma stepped closer, the candlelight catching in her cold blue eyes. "A seat at the table. When Faceless Imposter is finally in your grasp, I want to be there. Not afterward, not through second-hand reports. I want to see his capture with my own eyes."
Alice's lips parted, then pressed into a faint smile. "So you want to witness his humiliation firsthand. How fitting for a Voss."
