Calculated Deception

Alaric listened to Aria and just watched her in silence.

He knew that everything Aria did was really all for him.

"I just teamed up with Beatrix to mess with them a bit, nothing major," Aria muttered softly. "What about you?"

She met Alaric's gaze. "So, what's your plan? Can you tell me now? I think I might know, but I'm not confident."

Alaric chose this moment to go along with the kidnapping, ble