Gertrude was feeling somewhat comfortable about her position. Amy didn't really have anything on her except vague suspicion, and as long as Gertrude didn't say anything, nothing could be confirmed. Sure the little Devil could spread rumors and tell everyone how untrustworthy Gertrude seemed, and the others were likely to believe her, but it was hardly actionable.

And as far as anyone was concerned, Merilia herself told the group of bozos to take good care of her.

But that relative certainty crumbled the moment Lilette stepped in and basically outed her whole schtick. She didn't say anything for certain, but it was enough for someone as reasonably intelligent as Amy to piece together. Maybe not the whole thing, but enough to know that it had to do with souls and was likely capital-w-Witchcraft. Gertrude's cheeks reddened ferociously as she was double-teamed by the two women, and not in the way she might have liked.

Of course Gertrude knew that plenty of people might be able to tell that Gretchen was off, which is why Gretchen generally stayed in one place and studied while Gertrude conducted business. She obviously had to come up with something when Merilia dumped them both here, however, and it was reasonable to think that the sister lie would go over easily enough that no one would look too close.

How was she to know that the Roses had a Demonic empath? [i]Fuck[/i].

And it hadn't really occurred to her that [i]everyone here[/i] would probably be interested in newcomers. The mages were probably champing at the bit to examine every last one of them. [i]Double[/i] fuck.

Logically, she knew she should be thankful to Lilette for giving her a warning, but [i]screw that[/i]. Amy didn't have to know all of this.

And yet, in spite of having everything she needed, Amy [i]still[/i] told Gertrude about her abilities. Gertrude would normally think that she was just lying, but everything fit neatly into place. How she knew about Gertrude's oddity, how she could make things appear and disappear, and how Gertrude couldn't parse her magic.

Gertrude obviously couldn't copy magic that came from a Demonic bloodline, which she'd imagined was the case, though she did not know the nature of it.

All of this, given willingly.

Was she stupid?

When Amy appeared behind her and touched her shoulders and adjusted her wreath, Gertrude's immediate response was anger. She didn't like being touched, and these morons kept doing it. Kept touching her and yanking her around and it reminded her of [i]that[/i] asshole. She was furious, until she realized how gentle Amy's hand was. What [i]was[/i] this girl? Amy was obviously trying to get Gertrude to like her so she could use her and then throw her away. Just pretending to be kind. Of course, no one could legitimately care for her. Gertrude brushed her shoulder off as Amy backed away, like the woman's touch carried some sort of disease.

"Let me be blunt. I don't trust anyone, and I don't have friends. I've been around long enough, and no one's gonna fool me again," Gertrude said flatly, oddly less angry than she thought she'd be, "I'll work with the Iron Roses for my own reasons, but I'm not interested in your stupid friendship and togetherness spiel. People use each other, and that's all. I have something you all need, and the Iron Roses... might have something I want. Do you think anyone would be friends with someone weak and useless? Love them? Care about them? They'll throw that person out with the rest of the garbage. Conversely, I'm strong. I'm a prodigy as far as magic is concerned, so even if you all hate my guts, you'll have to play along because you won't get better than me. That's the reality."

As Gertrude laid out her grim worldview, she closed in on Amy, her neutral expression becoming a frown.

"But if you're being real about this, or you think you are, then prove it by not telling anyone what you learned here. If you can do that, then maybe, just [i]maybe[/i] you'll be able to trick me into trusting you."

It was about all Gertrude could do to keep the word from getting out. Normally, she'd just kill whoever got in her way, but she happened to be in one of few situations in which that was strictly not an option. Then, she rounded on Lilette.

"And I don't want you saying anything either, though I doubt you will. That said... know any mages around here good at summoning magic? I obviously don't need any training, but if I'm stuck here anyways, I might as well steal a few magic tricks. Preferably someone who won't care about my... situation."

Gertrude was tempted to call Lilette 'grandma' just out of habit, but the old lady really was keeping it together. Not hard for an Elf, but still.