Prologue

She twirled a pale finger in silken lavender hair, absent, detached. The other hand pressed down on the sheaf of papers that she had open on her desk. A thick manila envelope, filled with stapled, annotated, and at times, blacked out sheafs of paper.

She laughed softly as she adjusted her reading glasses on the bridge of her nose.

"What funny things modern humans are," she mused to herself. "Why write it down if you are only going to cover it up again? It only piques one's curiosity, and encourages them to dig deeper, than if there was nothing there at all."

Her companion in the room gave her a hesitant smile of agreement from the other side of her desk—although it was clear from the way that sweat beaded on his square jaw that he wasn't sure what to make of her statement.

She spared the page another tiny, amused smile. Then she closed the folder with a snap.

"You've done well to bring me this. The man that saw you in will see you out, and you'll be paid then. Thank you for your hard work."

He gave her hasty bow.

"It's nothing, my lady," he said. "It was a pleasure working with you."

She smiled from under her bangs.

As soon as the door was shut behind him, she began to swirl her finger around the circular design stamped on the front of the folder. Then she pulled the small intercom on the table towards her.

"Rickten? He is coming out now. Please make sure to dispose of the body somewhere other than the river this time."

She shut off the intercom and returned her attention to the symbol on the folder. A much more fascinated smile graced her fair lips.

"This will be an interesting game indeed."