"Oh, and here I thought, you wanted to were in the running to be Mrs. Duchess?" Roland quipped and stuck his tongue out at her.
Roland snorted, just a little. He smirked and he let her slip his hand back to himself. Roland went back to his chicken. It was a nice quiet dinner for a few minutes. And for once Roland settled into the moment. The world outside was gone, and here they were, just a wife and a husband having dinner.
"I like this," Roland found himself saying. "This...is more peace than I've had in...years. It's strange to think I've manged to live without it for so long." His eyes flitted to Alanna, gaze momentarily somber, even as they lingered on her neck. Faint movement caught the corner of his eye, just beside the balcony. Looking up, he saw nothing, save the faint fluttering of wind against the potted plants there.
It was a nice breeze that came in and he welcomed it against his flushed skin. Roland heard footsteps behind him, and didn't look up in that moment.
"More pepper, sir?" said a rather unfamiliar voice.
"Darius, I didn't hear you come in," Roland murmured, and only in the reflection of candlelight did he see the flash of silver. And then it came flying at him. Roland jerked sideways and as the dagger came flying toward him, he threw his arms up and the momentum knocked him clean out of his chair.
And from his view upside down, he could see three others climbing over the balcony's edge beside the prongs of grappling hooks.