Spirits of the Earth

Every girl has her jewels, it just so happens that Mae'leena Doh'vek's jewel was a massive, stolen ruby that houses an enchanted string of golden chains. And such chains has earned this female thief the tile: The Spider. She can use it to crawl up walls, crawl down them, scale buildings and  balconies, towers alike. There is just about nothing she won't climb or do in order to take full advantage of her new enchanted item- but along with such a powerful item came great enemies.

Thankfully, Connlaoth offered a beautiful front to deter her pursuers. With a civil war making the country side and politics ugly- no foreigners wanted to touch that thing with a ten foot pole-
And Mae'leena found the people here ripe for the picking. All she had to do was avoid a few guards and mordecai-w hich couldn't lay a finger on her when she was in 'spider mode'. Enchanted items were a blessing- the only sort of magics that mordecai could not touch. Besides, she was no real mage herself.

So it was here she lived a carefree and charismatic life, slipping in and out of places unseen- and thus starting many different types of rumors about her. But what could she say? She loved the thrill of it- to slip into high and mighty places and steal high and mighty things. ANd much to her surprise, she simply collected the items, but had yet to find a real use for them. Perhaps it was her youth that coined this logic for her to clutch onto her finds, but now that she was gaining a lot of fun jewels and trinkets- she wanted something to actually decorate her home.

So by chance she over heard the talk about some new duke's love of paintings- and instantly, she fell in love with the idea of stealing one. Never you mind how exactly she would successfully steal it- for the young woman felt invincible. Nothing could touch her- since no one ever had.

So it was no surprise she paid little attention to any details about the new Duke of Wulfbauer's home; who he was or what he was doing (or the fact he was actually home at the present moemnt..). These were just minor details. It mattered little to her. She'd get in, get a painting of her choosing and woudl clearly be out of there well before he'd even know it. So it was a usual job for her, and up the wall she climbed in through a tall window- and then lik ea spider, she hung over the ceiling as a series of men passed her down below.

Thank the Spirits Connlaothan palaces had high vaulted ceilings, so she was hanging out among the chandeliers when the servants or men or whoever they were happened to pass down below. But of course, they had to pause to discuss some things and Mae'leena was growing anxious. Couldn't they just get on with their lives and stop talking in this particular hallway? Really.. she could't dangle here all day- that was boring, and finally, she resigned herself ot carefully resting among one of the gilded chandeliers. It was an intricate thing, and the jewels on it she had already begun to boredly pluck out, but even that only lasted so long. WHat were these men even talkin about anyway? She was half tempted to throw some of the candles at these men's head.

'Just be off then!" she hissed inwardly, trying to shoo them away with a hand, as if her gesture would do anything of much up from her vantage point. Really- this job was meant to be exciting- couldn't they just... do this elsewhere so she could creep on through? Yawning, the anxious thief resigned to biding her time and staring boredly at the walls. They stood between her and the only room she had to sneak into to get her painting- after all, the ones on the wall here- after examining them all-w ere just too...boring. Besides, who wanted a painting of some stuffy shirted man who was probably dead? No thank you! Mae'leena liked her men, fresh, young and handsome... and very much so alive. YOu couldn't flirt with the dead- not that she ever tried.

Erwin's first week as Duke started with a funeral.

The procession for his late father took place under overcast skies and a light cold drizzle, a fitting end for man who sat in Connlaoth's most troubled seat of power. Hundreds of mourners dressed in blacks had turned out for the burial, commoners and noblemen alike. It was a smaller turnout than for the funerals of Avery and Caspian Carwick, but those two had been part of a lineage that had ruled Wulfbauer for generations while Marsden Therrien had held the Dukeship for all of two months. The turnout was smaller this time around for another good reason: the people were frightened. Frightened that the Dukeship was cursed, and that the bad luck might rub off on them too.

Erwin sat through the funeral in stony silence, watching as priests of Ansgar carried his father's mahogany casket into the Wulfbauer Mausoleum, where dozens of past Dukes were interred. He knew that his father would have wanted to be buried at home in Arbutus Vale, but that was before he assumed the duchy's highest position of power. Now it was all about politics and maintaining face. Briefly he glanced over to his siblings huddled in a mass off to the side and felt his heart break for them. His youngest sisters were red eyed and tearing, his brothers fighting back their own emotions. He would have mourned with them. But he was Duke now.

The ride back to Wulfbauer Keep took a mere twenty minutes. Squires took his horse to the stables, and servants took his black cloak and riding gloves. Still clad all in black and followed by a dozen of his new advisors, the Duke stepped through the empty halls of his new castle to the massive study. Under the vaulted ceilings and ornate chandeliers, the advisors rolled out several large parchments out on the room's massive table while servants brought hot tea for all. A tall, older looking man pointed down to the map.

"Now, your Grace, this patch of land up here is the Province of Breckenridge, who produces the Duchy's main supply of-"

"I'm quite aware of our Duchy's geography, Mr. Warbly," interrupted the Duke with a serious glance up at the man. "Will they produce?"

"Ah, well... um... my apologies, your Grace, ah..."

"Will. They. Produce?"

Thankfully, a younger advisor, from behind Mr. Warbly, slipped to the front of the table and pointed down to the map. "No, your Grace. Already the crops are failing, a month earlier than last winter. From our best estimates, the Duchy will be short six thousand bushels of wheat grain."

Erwin gave the young man a long hard look before nodding his head. "And your name is... Halbrook? Thank you Mr. Halbrook. Mr. Warbly, thank you for your time, your horse will be waiting for you at the front gates."

Before Mr. Warbly could stammer out a protest, servants were already gesturing for the disgraced and dismissed old man to follow them and out the castle. Meanwhile, Erwin look a sip from his tea cup and glanced around the study momentarily. His eyes landed on the painting of his late father hanging on the wall right above the hearth. His brow furrowed slightly and he ran his fingers through his salt-and-pepper hair.

"Can we have that painting removed from this room? It belongs in the Hall of Dukes now."

The chandeliers jingled softly above them.

Mae'leena's attentions perked up at the talk of paintings. Watching one of the men hastily pluck the painting of the stuffy shirt man from the wall, she smirked.
"Yes, be rid of that stuffy thing," she muttered and waved her hand of it, but kept her eyes now upon the man in black, regal robes.
"Hello, gorgeous." Her blue-green eyes sparkled. "Looks like he's got enough on him to pluck." She tapped a finger thoughtfully to her lips but remained quiet as she observed from the ceiling- waiting and biding her time for the perfect moment to strike-

Or rather, to find the perfect painting to steal. There were just too many men around for her to slip inside one of these rooms- and she knew just one of them had to be chalk full of paintings! And there, seh could finally claim her prize-
but while she waited, she noted a gem she had missed on the chandelier, and began to idly pick at it until it popped free- and she slipped that gem into her side pouch- which was ironically growing heavier since she had been up there. There had just been too many gems on this thing for her not to steal.

Discussion as to the state of the Duchy went on for some time, and after a while Erwin had to close his eyes and shake his head. Of course it was a lot to do, but with a dozen opinions tugging him in a dozen directions he was beginning to get a headache. These things mattered, and he needed a clear head to sort them out.

"Alright, that'll be enough for today, gentlemen. Thank you for your time, we'll reconvene tomorrow morning. You can leave the maps and your reports."

The tone of his voice had a stern finality to it, and none of the advisors argued otherwise. They began shuffling out the door, each man kissing his ring and offering their deepest sympathies during his troubled time. And just like that, he was the only man left in the study.

With a sigh, he glanced down at the map one more time before turning away. Instead he took his cup of tea and headed over to a soft armchair. He was surprised to see that his ceremonial sword still hung at his side (though it was less ceremonial, and more just a regular sword). Adjusting it slightly at his belt, he plopped down on the chair heavily, head resting in one hand as he drank his tea.

"Gods is this ever boring," she mumbled to herself, now daring to lay at her back side while peering up at the ceiling above her with a frown and groan, but when she heard the men begin to adjourn, she peered down through the chandelier as her eyes sparkled down at the duke's ring.

"That would look lovely in my collection,"s he purred thoughtfully, and began to contemplate a way on retrieving it from his finger. Maybe he'd just fall asleep? The men he was talking to were boring- he looked tired..
It could happen.

But not after she shifted her weight and one of the jewels she stole from the chandelier popped out from her pouch and plopped into his cup of tea. Peering down at the tea in horror, Mae'leena found herself only able to stare.

"Oh, shit."

The Duke sat in that armchair, slightly slouched over with his head in one hand, the teacup clutched in his other. The headache was getting stronger now. He hoped it was just the weather, but he knew it more likely resulted from the stress he'd gone through the last few days. Already having been pulled from the front lines of his soldiers to tend to the affairs of Arbutus Vale, this additional weight of responsibility really pushed him into the deep end. And what a terrible time, too: the mage purge weighed on everyone's minds, and now the impending early winter threatened the very existence of the Duchy's citizens.

With another sigh he sat up straighter and stared down into his tea. The liquid sloshed gently left and right, a wisp of steam rising from its surface.

And then suddenly he heard a clang, felt the reverberation of stone against porcelain, and tasted the tea as it splashed all over his face. Instinctively he jumped to his feet, spilling more of the tea in the process. Soon, he had liquid dripping down his face, and a growing puddle of wasted tea at his feet. In his cup sat a single gemstone.

With a look of shock, he immediately turned his head upwards. And that was when he saw her, a figure hidden among the shadows of his chandelier, bright eyes staring directly back down at him. He only momentarily registered that the figure looked decidedly female, because one overriding thought drowned that out.

"ASSASSIN!" he shouted, his hand instinctively reaching for the sword at his waist. He knew the castle had guards all around and patrolling, but with the heavy oak doors to the study now closed, it was unlikely any of them heard their Duke yelling.

She couldn't believe this- not for a second as her hand went to her hip.
"Assassin?" She made a face as her fingers scrambled to rebutton her bulging pouch. "No." She pointed down to his tea cup. "That was my gemstone, now stop sloshing your tea all over it and give it back to me."
Now how he was going to do it and why never crossed her mind- but hey- she was no assassin!

Erwin's sword was drawn in a heartbeat, and he held it up in front of himself defensively now, even as his other hand clutched onto the little porcelain teacup. Taking a step back and toward the door, the Duke kept his eyes peeled on the girl up in the rafters.

"So a thief, then," he concluded with a frown, slowly inching his way backwards. He should have expected this sort of thing to happen. After all, the last four Dukes (including his father) had all died under tragic circumstances. Maybe this castle really was cursed after all. Or maybe this civil war had made these vagrants that much braver.

Quickly he glanced down into the cup, at the gem rattling around in it. He didn't even know where it came from, or that the chandeliers of Wulfbauer Keep were all adorned with them. This building was just as new to him as it must've been for her. Which begged the question...

"How the bloody hell did you get up there?!" he threw at her, brow furrowing slightly, a small strand of brown-grey hair becoming disheveled and wildly flopping about. There was something about those turquoise eyes up there that had his complete attention.

"What? Stop asking questions and just fish my gem out of your tea cup!" she shouted in a whispered hiss down to him impatiently. Yeesh! Was this man slow or something?

Erwin could only stare up her in dismay when she said that. His upraised sword lowered a bit.

"Your gem? You're robbing my castle and you're calling it your gem?!" He couldn't believe what he'd just heard, the nerve of this girl. Never mind the fact that the longer he looked up at her hidden among his chandelier, the more he realized just how stunning she was. The girl had this intriguingly exotic quality to her. And those turquoise eyes, he idly wondered how they would look by candlelight.

Realizing he was staring now, the Duke quickly shook the thought from his mind. The steely look that had earned him the moniker 'Captain Serious' returned to his face. Slowly he began stepping back toward the door while peering up at her through narrowed eyes.

"We can do this two ways. You can extract yourself from my chandelier and drop whatever it is you took from my home. Or I can have the guards come and extract you for me."

"Yes my gem," she insisted through a huff. "I stole it fair and square." Never you mind she hadn't even left the building left. "Besides, I doubt you even knew you had those gems to begin with. They're just glued to all of these gaudy chandeliers. A shame really. No one would even miss them though."

But at his last statement, she gave him an incredulous look.
"Ha! I'd like to see you try!" Probably not the best choice of words, considering her predicament. "Besides, if you call the guards you might not ever know the little secret on how I got in here." ANd the last part was said playfully, if not a little bit flirtatiously.

"Oh believe me, my lady, once I step outside of this door and summon the guards, your chances of getting out of this castle with my gems fall to zero. And yes, they're my gems. I'm the Duke, this is my Keep, and everything in here is mine."

Erwin's voice remained steady and confident as he peered up at the woman dangling high above. People respected him as an authority figure for a reason. Still, he finally opened up his palms in a show of reconciliation, the sword spinning in his grip to dangle harmlessly from his fingertips.

"Including you, if you're going to play hard-to-get."

The slightest hints of a grin appeared on his face, but it faded almost as quickly; an unobservant person might have missed it. "But I don't want anymore death today, there's been plenty to go around for all of us. And I am very curious on how you managed to get down here. So come down and let's talk."

"Ha-eeeeeesh! Your gems?" Really, he was going to think she'd give them back? Slicking back some of her dark hair from her face she gave him a playful little smirk and moved to lean over the side of hte chandelier- albeit carefully while the gold rings on her eyes glittered along with the gold of the chandelier. She didn't need to be falling.

"Love, I'm not claimable property, but as far as I see- everything in this castle is. Besides, if you were going to call your guards you were going to do so already." And maybe he was like any other men as she gave her body a better position for him to see as he lounged comfortably against some candles and gold. "Besides, who says it's safe for me to come down."S he gave a fluff to her hair. "And you have yet to fetch my gem from you tea."

She didn't like tea- she didn't want to touch it- so she was hoping he'd oblige.
"Besides, we've established I'm no assassin.." She wrinkled her nose. "I'm not exactly a fan of blood." It did kind of make her faint...

Erwin kept his eyes locked on her even as he shrugged his shoulders. "Fine then... I guess we'll just have to play the waiting game."

His eyes never left her as he slowly stepped over to the long table strewn about with maps and reports. The tea set also sat there upon a silver tray, and took the time to fill himself up a second cup of the piping hot drink. He took a quick sip, let out a satisfied sigh, and took a lazed seat down upon a soft cushioned armchair. His sword was laid across his lap.

"Since I obviously can't convince you to do what I want, I guess you'll have to make your own decisions. In the meantime, I'll just sit here and enjoy my tea."

He held up the gem and inspected it thoroughly with a slight smile before holding it up higher for her to see. "Lovely."

As she lay among the golden arms of the chandelier, positioned in such a way as to provide him the best view of her bodily assets, Erwin did glance at them with an eye of approval. That brief glance quickly returned back to her face, his light blue eyes meeting her turquoise gaze.

And when he'd look up he'd receive a second gem to the head.
"Ha-eeesh!! Don't think I'm here to be toyed with! You think I've got all day?" And she threw a second one, hoping it'd plop into his tea- though this time on purpose. It was a positively wretched drink anyway.

Of course, now she had to figure out what to do with this man now that he found her.
"What are you anyway? Some froofy worker for the duke or something? Why don't you just go pretend you're doing work so I can get on with my own."

Erwin winced as the first gem bounced off his head and rolled under a couch. His hand deftly shot out to catch the second thrown gem though, depositing it into the empty tea cup along with the other. With his free hand, he gave the cup a little shake, causing the two jewels to rattle loudly for her.

"I've got all day. I live here," he replied casually as he took another sip of his tea. When she got frustrated, it just made her face wrinkle up in a way that he found absolutely alluring. It brought out a hair-trigger grin from him.

"Why, my lady, do you honestly not know who I am? Why would you choose to rob this castle if you didn't do your research?"

He leaned back comfortably in his chair and stared up at her intently. "This is my Keep. I am the Duke."

"Duke?" Mae'leena laughed,a nd laughed and laughed, but perhaps it was a bit too loudly.
"That's pretty bloody funny. And I'm the Queen of Serendipity. Honestly.."s he shook her head.. then began to peer around the room and looked at his clothing. They did seem rather... froofy, even for a lackey. And those men earlier were making a fuss...But he was all in black. Didn't men wear the colors of their duchy or something? Maybe he just ruled a gloomy duchy...
But wasn't this duke supposed to be... old?

But a knock at the door had her gasping, and the chandelier rattling.

"Duke Therrien, are you alright? We... we thought we heard.." And then there was a pause before the man added, "A lady's voice."
And none of the men had seen one enter his study.

Erwin glanced casually over to the door, very mindful of the shocked look that had just crept onto the girl's face. With an amused smirk, another small break from his otherwise stony seriousness, he glanced back up at her and silently mouthed 'Good luck'. With a gesture for her to come down, he replied:

"No, I'm quite fine. Though could you send someone in here? The chandelier seems to be falling apart."

And with that he leaned back in his chair, looking smug in his satisfaction. His eyes drifted back up to the girl and he shrugged, pointing to a spot behind the couch on the far end of the study. She could hide there - or she could be discovered.

Mae'leena gasped.
"You little rat!" Oh, he would pay for that one. And like all good Saranthian women, she let her temper get the better of her and went to grab for her pouch, fully intending for it to be thrown at his head, but gasped as she felt the button securing it pop off- which shot across the room and clinked off of the wall. A side of it ripped too and she felt a few of the gems begin to shuffle- and as she frantically tried to rescue the pouch from tearing off her hip, she misstepped, but it only took one misstep for the woman to fall.

And it was quite an interesting and improbably series of events, for as she fell, she twisted, and her belt got caught and ripepd off the rest of the way- that of which resulted in the pouch she was so desperately try to save to explode open- so as the woman fell down through the middle of the chandelier- her body managing to sift through the dangling crystal, she found one of her boots becoming caught int he process and with a choke of breath, she found herself dangling upside down, what short skirts she was wearing- exposing everything while the pouch she held dropped everything as rubies and sapphires fell glittering to the ground.

And all the woman could do was stare in awe and horror as glittering gems fell down all around the duke like a rainbow storm.

The first sign of trouble came when the girl's bag popped, sending a button sailing across the room. And then she began to struggle with the pouch at her side, and Erwin instantly knew that trouble was about to overtake them. He bounded to his feet as the gems began raining down around him, half-ducking to shield his head from the shower of rubies. A couple of them landed on his head nonetheless, eliciting winces as he quickly moved out of the way.

And then he heard a crash and a creak. Staring up, his eyes widened at the sight of his chandelier swinging onerously on its chain. In the middle dangled the girl upside down, with her too-short skirt rode up (or rather, down), very much exposing herself to him. The Duke's jaw dropped slightly as he stared at her struggling to untangle herself from the chandelier's gilded arms.

Behind him came another creak as the large doors to his study swung open. The maid stood in the doorway for all of two seconds before letting out an ear-piercing scream and turning to flee from the room. Several pairs of footsteps echoed from down the hall as guards, hearing the maid's cry, ran toward the room in which their new Duke stood.

Mae'leena struggled with her leg, flailing around furiously like a hissing cat. But soon realizing her struggle was for not, she let out an irritated sigh and just stopped. Her body slowly began to turn as her boot made the chandelier creak, and once she found herself now facing towards the door, she noticed the guards stepping into the room.

"Well, shit."

The guards let out a collective gasp as they skidded to a halt just inside the Duke's study. There stood the Duke, sword in hand and standing in the center of a sea of rubies. And up in the chandelier, dangling helplessly and flashing them shamelessly, was a girl. Instantly they all drew their swords.

Erwin found that he could not look away from her. When she was hidden in the shadows of the chandelier, he could only see her face and her eyes. Now though, he finally had a view of the rest of her perfect body. Those subtle curves, the rich caramel color of her smooth legs, and... well, that part.

Clamping his mouth shut with a furrowed brow, he hurriedly looked away and instead turned to his guards.

"I'm fine," he said calmly to them. "Fetch a ladder and have her brought down before me, if you will."

As one of the guards hastily backtracked to find a ladder, Erwin's eyes landed on the frightened maid peeking out from behind the armored men. He gestured for her to come to him and she timidly did.

"She'll be no harm to you, Bethany," the Duke told her reassuringly. "If you will, collect up all these rubies and notify the jeweler. Our chandelier will need fixing."

The guards obeyed- and were none too gentle with dealing with her. Once her foot was plucked, she squirmed furiously in their arms- but they were rough- and she was pretty sure their grip on her was giving her bruises.

But no matter how much she protested and squirmed, they easily managed to handle the woman ebfore forcing her before their duke with a shove, but naturally, they kept their hands on her as the woman growled and tossed her dark pony tale full of hair out of her face.

"Keep your paws off of me." She snapped, but none of them obeyed as she snarled and turned her aqua colored eyes on Erwin with a 'hmph'. She still had some wild sprigs of dark hair in her face, but once she saw the man looking over her, she turned away and squared off her shoulders, and gave a light flick to a loose strand of her dark hair.

"There ain't nothing to see here or nothing to be done. Can't a lady just be fetched from a chandelier without a fuss?" she grumbled, trying to fold her arms over her chest, but the men kept her arms back, which pissed her off to no end.

It seemed everyone was on edge - everyone except the Duke himself. As the guards forcefully extracted the girl from the chandelier's clutches and roughly dragged her before him, he gestured to them to be gentle. They all gave their Duke a reluctant look before acquiescing, though two of them still had their swords drawn and pointed at her. Bethany was on her hands and knees now picking up the rubies, but as soon as Mae'leena touched ground the young maid gave a squeak of fright and scrambled behind Erwin.

Erwin replaced his own sword in its scabbard and folded his arms across his chest. The serious look on his face really suited him at times, and perhaps this was one of those times.

"Trespassing and thievery are crimes against the Duchy, and I could have a hand for that. Stealing from the Duke? That's death. Assaulting the Duke? That's also death," he intoned sternly to her, his light blue eyes flashing. He had to look authoritative in front of his staff and his soldiers.

Those words were accompanied by the tuggings of the guards as they prepared to drag the girl outside and execute her. That was only stopped by the clearing of Erwin's throat and the raising of his ringed hand.

"BUT... there's been plenty of death already today, and I'm sure nobody wants anymore. So perhaps some time in a cell will bring your senses back to you. Unless, of course, you'd rather take a seat -peacefully and without issue- and answer my questions. Because you've piqued my curiosity."

He gestured then to the long table on which his maps and reports were still sprawled. And of course, that little tea set still sat there on a silver tray, steaming away quietly.

Mae'leena made a face, which involved her cheeks getting puff and her lips pouting somewhat, which was a most unbecoming look of such a woman.
"Who said anything about assaulting? Throwing a few gems at your head wasn't going to kill ya, unless your skull is like an egg."

Though as he went on to offer her a couch, her expression changed to one cocked brow and her lips gaping pen, while int he same moment, her entire forehead was creased in line.
"What? Are you out of your mind? You pluck me out of the chandelier, accuse me of stealing.." (which she was... and admitted to) "To offer me a cup of tea and chat?"
She wrinkled her nose. "I don't even like tea."
Really? What was his game?
She gave him a cautious look, like a dog uncertain if it wanted to bite the hand offering it a bone.

Erwin's expression didn't change much, save for the slight raise of one of his eyebrows. Perhaps the girl really hadn't planned this out at all.

"It's your choice, my lady. Of course, I'm a busy man so if you'd rather not waste my time then I suppose we can find a nice suite for you."

He glanced over to one of the guards pinning the girl's arms behind her back and asked in a level tone, "I haven't had the occasion to inspect the cells down below. How do they look?"

The guard gave a grim smile back and replied, "We've cleaned and overhauled the dungeons, your Grace, since Duke Carwick left us. They're mostly clean now, maybe only a few rats left to catch."

Erwin let out a small mirthless chuckle and turned his piercing gaze back to Mae'leena. He shrugged again and turned away, lightly stepping around Bethany who'd gone back to picking up the rubies the thief had spilled everywhere. Pouring himself another cup of tea, he said without looking back, "Like I said... or you could sit with me."

Mae'leena was still at a loss, her jaw gaping open.
"Are you serious? What if I were an assassin?" And the magic words had the guards suddenly fondling her roughly, pushing her forward against a piece of furniture so that her chin was digging into an arm rest while the men's paws dug into her.

"Hey! Get your hands off me! I ain't never said I was some killer!" she shouted, wriggling beneath the men's grasp- but a few hidden daggers were plucked from her person- even the one between her boobs, which naturally, caused her to scoff at the men.

"Seems there's no shame in any man's hands,"s he snarled, and the men cleared their throats and offered her weapons over to the duke.

"She was armed, sir. Should we detain her?"

"By the spirits- I never said I was gonna do him in!" Though at the rage now brewing inside her eyes, there was no doubt she at least wanted to clobber a few of his grabby henchmen.

"If you were an assassin, you'd have been more careful. As far as I can tell you're nothing more than a thief. And not a good one at that."

He turned back to face her, sipping lightly on his cup of tea. The guards had roughed her up some, and her clothing were slightly askew, tugged low enough to expose plenty of her cleavage. It took all of his willpower not to look down there. When the daggers were offered up to him, he took one of them to inspect it.

"If I was murdered with one of these poorly made things, then I probably would have deserved it..." he said with a frown, handing it back to the guard. The girl was struggling mightily now. Maybe a day or two in the Keep's dark depths might cool her off.

"Right then, take her to the cells. I'll deal with her later."

"What?" Mae'leena glared at Erwin incredulously. "You've got some nerve! Not a good thief, my ass!" And she spat his way- for all the good it did. And no amount of complaining could fix her fate- as she was tossed unceremoniously into a cell.
Stumbling onto the stone floors, she scrambled to her feet and threw herself at hte jail cell bars and rattled them long after the door had been slammed closed.

And the words that streamed from her lips were more colorful than a rainbow. The men told her to pipe down, and for nearly half an hour-s he did not. But she had just about run out of phrases- in both common and Saranthian to call these men- when she resigned herself to simply pacing angrily about her cell like a caged dog.

The spittle landed on his face and elicited an irritated sigh from the Duke. Luckily, Bethany was there to gasp and quickly hand him a towel with which to wipe off. And as they dragged the girl kicking and screaming out of the study, the Duke also decided it was time to change into something that didn't remind him of the troubles all around.

A clean tunic, blue and grey and emblazoned with the insignia of Wulfbauer, was already laid out for him in his chambers. Likewise, a hot bath had been drawn and sat there waiting. He took his time, letting the hot waters soak away the aches and pains of his body and his mind. When he was ready, he toweled off and changed into his new attire.

Dinner was served to him in the Great Hall, at the end of an immense table meant to seat fifty men. He sat there alone, dark save for several candles and the gentle fire in the hearth. Thoughtfully he chewed on the roast pigeon, washing it down with ice cold water as he thought about the affairs of his Duchy. Sometime during the meal, a guard approached and whispered in his ear: they'd found an enormous ruby up in the chandelier, and were holding it for him to inspect later.

And when he finally tired of all the stresses that came with being Duke of Wulfbauer, Erwin remembered the girl locked in the dungeons below the Keep. He made his way down there then, holding up a torch to illuminate the way. The door leading to the cells was guarded by the head jailer and several soldiers, who bowed to their Duke and set up a chair just outside of Mae'leena's cell in which he could sit. When they were done with the preparations, they let the Duke into the hallway of cells and closed the door behind them.

Erwin gently took a seat in the chair and peered into the cell at the girl. Faint flickers of torchlight danced shadows across his face and made his light blue eyes gleam.

Mae'leena had tried to take a seat in the corner, but the stale hay that was provided was sticky and wet. And oddly smelled of urine.
"For the spirits's sakes!" she exclaimed, and quickly brushed the hay off of her ass. "Is that-" She turned her hand away frm her face when she went to smell her hand. "Gods..." she nearly vomited. "I don't even want to know what that was!" And she shook her hand about, not sure where to even wipe it off on when suddenly, a chair was brought in and set before her cell.

Blinking, she eyed the chair suspiciously, but then someone approached nad...

There he was- Mr. Froofy Pants, to take a seat.

"YOU!" and she pointed one stinky finger at him. "What's the meaning of this? I dind't even get a proper cell! They said it was cleaned but this hay pile.." and she made a face, her expression turning green. "It.. .."s he made another face and swallowed back the urge to vomit.
"Let's just say I'm pretty damn sure it reeks of piss because that's what's in it. And need I elaborate on what other smells I think are in there too, because let me tell you- whatever it is, it almost made me lose my lunch!"

Though almost- she was still on the fence on that one. She could very well STILL lose said lunch. Ugh.

"This is a proper cell, I can assure you. My jailer is one of the finest in Wulfbauer," Erwin replied in an even tone as he regarded her thoughtfully. He leaned back in the chair casually, as if trying to find a comfortable position, and folded his arms across his chest.

"His job is to keep prisoners incarcerated. His job isn't to mop down the stains and the blood. He does his job well."

He leaned forward a bit, untangling his arms and folding them together against his knees. His blue eyes flashed in the torchlight, flickering left and right as he watched her rant and rave from behind those bars. The few hours of separation, and the darkness of the jail cell, had not changed the fact that she possessed a gorgeous body.

In any other situation he might have relaxed his stance, put on a grin, even engaged in flirtatious banter. But there was no doubt the guards were watching from behind the locked door, and listening. For their sake, he had to act a Duke. His face might as well have been carved in the stone.

"Besides," he added softly, "In my generosity I did offer you another alternative. You're the one who refused it. You chose your own bed here."

"What? To drink tea with you? I wasn't born yesterday. I would have wound up here anyway." And she most certainly did NOT like tea.

Erwin shrugged and replied, "Well then I guess we saved ourselves plenty of unnecessary trouble."

The thought of a nice hot cup of tea brought a slight smile to his face, and he suddenly craved it. Glancing back over to the door, he gestured for a guard to enter. "Some tea. And maybe some strawberries, if you will."

The guard nodded and saluted, and disappeared back outside to fulfill the Duke's request. Moments later, two servants stepped into the dank prison hallway with a small folding table and a tray full of tea and strawberries. They both wrinkled their noses at the prison smell and dim lighting, but worked diligently to set Erwin up before disappearing.

"Now," he said, taking up his cup, "are we done playing games, or are we ready to answer my questions?"

Mae'leena made a soured face at Erwin.
"Are you really just going to sit there lookin' pretty and drink your tea while I rot here in this cell being poked at?"

"That depends. Are you ready to act civilized?" He took a sip of his tea and gazed intently at her.

"This isn't just my Keep, it's also the home of my staff and my family. So until I know for sure that you won't be ransacking the place, I think it's safer for everyone that I just keep you in there for now."

His voice lowered to barely a whisper, inaudible to the guards at the door and only loud enough for her. "To be honest, you intrigue me. I'd rather take you to dinner than watch you from this chair. But I can't be sure that you won't rob me blind while I'm looked the other way."

His stern look never changed, but in the flickering shadows of torchlight she might just be able to catch that brief wink he shot her way. Leaning back, he took another sip of his tea and let out a relaxed sigh.

Mae'leena narrowed her gaze at the pretty boy.
"ME? Act civilized? As if you're one to talk! Throwing ladies into dungeons..."
He should be ashamed!

But as he went on to explain, she simply chuffed at the idea.
"The only danger they're in is being pick pocketed- and it ain't my fault your security is so crummy."
Well that- and she sort of had some magical chains that allowed her to climb buildings like a spider. But they were sort of golden chains- and she always wondered how no one had really seen her climbing before....

But at his last statement of being intrigued, she simply blinked.
"What?"
She eyed him over, and catching the wink only made her growl. She grabbed onto the bars and glared at him.
"Take me to dinner? You must be off your rocker. And yes I would rob you blind, love." And she smirked. "Wouldn't be the first time."
Ok- well technically the first time she never got away with and earned her time in this cell....
It still didn't stop her from acting oh so smug. She was THE SPIDER anyway. Though sadly, he might not have ever heard of her. Didnt stop her ego, though.

"A real Lady has grace and dignity, and does not go about robbing Dukes, or at least trying to. A real Lady would be given all the respect she deserves, and have a guest room. We reserve this dungeon for the riff-raff."

He plucked a strawberry from the tray and bit off half of it, chewing slowly on it. The fruit was a bit overripe, which simply reminded him that the harvest season was coming to an unexpectedly early end. He frowned slightly, realizing how sitting here and arguing with this bumbling thief took time away from his more important duties. And yet, he was so intrigued by this woman.

"You're clearly not Connlaothian, judging from your attire and your looks. Where are you from? Do you even have a name?"

He finished off the strawberry and tossed the stem back onto the silver tray.

"Or maybe someone you're working for? Though given how bad of a thief you are, nobody in their right mind would hire you..."

"Not to talk back to you, my liege, but you ain't lookin' at a lady. And I ain't got no allegiance here in Connlaoth, nor anywhere." Haughtily, she looked the man over. "What's it to you?"

Erwin sighed, taking another sip of his tea. Though it barely showed, an observant person might take his expression to say that his patience was wearing thin. At any moment, he might just stand up and leave.

"To me? Nothing," he remarked plainly. "I'm a busy man. I'm perfectly fine leaving you down here, and letting the jailer decide your fate while I run my Duchy. The question is, what's it to you?"

He sat up a little straighter, continuing.

"You've already caused me plenty of headache on a day where I didn't need any more trouble. You've plucked my chandelier clean, which now has to be repaired. I don't even know if Bethany will be able to find every jewel you took."

A thoughtful look came over his face as he tapped at his chin with a hand, feeling the day-old growth of salt-and-pepper scruff under the pad of his index finger.

"Maybe we'll get a new chandelier entirely. With that nice big red ruby as a centerpiece."

"I told you it wasn't my fault. Besides, as if you even knew there had been jewels in it,"s he said, waving it off as if the idea were nothing. But at his last statement she blinked.
"What did you say?"

Erwin glanced up from his cup, inwardly pleased that he finally found a breakthrough in this impasse. He continued to sip lightly at his tea, letting whatever thoughts she had in her mind brew a little longer. Finally, he set it down.

"Just some mention of renovations to this Keep. Nothing special and nothing drastic. I always did like the way they glowed red in candlelight."

Mae'leena stared at him for a good long while before a grin stretched crookedly on her lips.
"You are a dick, love. But I can respect that. But do something to my ruby, and I'll put that tea up and cram it up your nose. Now, tell me what you're really after. If you found my jewel, why are you down here asking me about it? I'm sure most of your kind would be more than eager to add that to their collection." She folded her arms across her chest and gave him a stubborn stare.

Erwin leaned back in his chair and plucked another strawberry from the bowl, biting into it and savoring the sweetness of it. After a long day, or indeed a long week, it provided him at least some small measure of solace.

"I already told you the first things I want to know," he repeated with a slight frown. He'd never met anyone as stubborn as her. If this were the army, he might've had her flogged for insubordination already. As the Duke, he probably could have it done anyway, but he thought about just how quickly the people might turn on him and shook the thought from his mind.

"I want a name, and I want to know how you got up on my ceiling. Then we'll move on to more complicated questions."

"A name? What? Of my ruby?" She made a face. Was this guy for real? She wasn't that conceded!

Erwin gave her an incredulous look.

"No, not your ruby. Are you simple? I want YOUR name."

Mae'leena blinked.
"My name? What the hell do you want that for?" But then a playful grin curled around her lips as she tried to think of a reason he might.  He was a man after all.
"Thinking about wanting to do some sweet talkin' with me?" she cooed.

Oh, he wanted to answer in the affirmative. Terribly bad. His younger self would have jumped at the opportunity. But here he was, with a bunch of guards just outside the door guaranteed to be eavesdropping.

"I prefer my women not covered in hay and urine," he said with a dismissive wave.

"But I like to know with whom I am speaking. So that I may address them properly."

"It ain't my fault you put me in here,"s he told him with a wrinkle of her nose. "Besides,"s he looked him over. "Maybe you should tell me who you are first?"

Erwin blinked at the question, his brow furrowing even more. He sat forward a bit.

"You really don't know who I am? I am Erwin Therrien, Duke of Wulfbauer. Honestly, you might be the worst thief I have ever seen. Did you just decide to rob my Keep because it was the largest building available?"

For the longest while Mae'leena just looked at him, trying to figure out if she should answer that question- only because, well...
It was sort of true.

"Not exactly."
Her eyes looked him over warily. "But I thought some other guy was Duke. Some guy much older with grey hair. What did you do- steal his throne?"

The Duke froze in his seat, staring at her intensely. His face betrayed no emotion this time, just a hard steely gaze as if staring right through her. His free hand clenched tightly in his lap.

"That was my father. I buried him today."

Mae'leena's face went long. She just had to open her big fat mouth.
"Talk about digging your own grave,"s he muttered. Well, if she was going to win any favors out of this man it seemed all of those probably went out the window. She sighed and turned away from him.
"Word on the street- some call me The Spider, but you.."s he finally turned her aqua colored eyes onto him. "I suppose you can just call me Mae'leena Doh'vek."
Not that it mattered.
She idly wondered how painful a hanging was. Surely it was a quick death.S omething about the neck breaking.

Erwin sat there quietly, a pain bubbling inside of him and seizing up his throat. He pressed his lips there grimly as his eyes gazed off at nothing in particular. The sting of watching his father's procession that morning had been hard enough then, and it hurt even more now. The thought of his younger sisters reduced to tears had him fighting back his own grief.

But he didn't cry, he didn't whimper. He just sat there in a heavy silence, the only sound being the girl's as she paced in her cell. The silence lasted a while before he finally looked back up.

"Mae'leena Doh'vek..." he repeated softly, looking her up and down. Then he stood up. "Thank you for the conversation."

And he turned to go.

Most surprisingly, she kept her mouth shut after the duke left, and began to smack her forward against the bars.
"If I wasn't dead now, I certainly am now. Good going, Mae'leena," she grumbled to herself, then whispered a few curses in her mother's native tongue before throwing herself back to her make shift bed of hay- before then realizing,with a groan.

"Gods, I sat in something wet."

Sometime during the evening the door opened for a servant, who silently collected up the chair and the teapot, its contents now cooled. Instructed not to speak to the prisoner, the servant didn't even look up for a second.

Slowly, dawn broke and light streamed through a small window at the far end of the prison. It grew bright and dimmed, and then faded back into night. In between, a guard came in with a single loaf of bread on a wooden tray, along with a small bowl of soup. He gruffly put the tray in front of Mae'leena's cell and then disappeared. Aside from that, there were no signs of life until later that night when the door opened again.

Unlike the night before, nobody set up a chair in front of her bars. Rather, the Duke stepped through this time with a torch in hand. Again he stopped in front of her bars. This time he leaned his back against the wall across from her.

"I would like to apologize for last night. I was... not myself."

When the duke approached, Mae'leena was wary. For some reason he didn't have his tea, nor his strawberries, not even a chair to sit in. His harassment of her was probably presumed to be brief. Probably her sentencing. She never considered getting old. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad dying young? But, she had a fear of death. It wasn't exactly on her list of top things she wanted to do with her life. At least not now.

So as she approached the bars, she was cautious, aqua eyes narrowing critically upon the man as she took one small step ever closer towards him. She was shrouded by the dark shadows from the bars, most of it masking her face, but the shadows could not hide the bright colors of her eyes as she looked back at the man when his apology was given. And as always, her emotions were clearly written on her face.

She could NOT believe this.

"What? You're apologizing to me?"
Well that was a first! "Yeah, you should be apologizing!" she ranted, finding strength in the fact he was suddenly humbled before her. It made her feel as if she had power- despite the bars she was obviously trapped behind. "I mean first of all you think I'm some bloody assassin- news flash, Mister Duke, see this dress? It ain't made to get all bloody. But now it's probably got piss stains all over it from this cell! And further more, your wonderful guards gifted me with a moldy loaf of rye bread. I hate rye bread! Last time I 'ad it I nearly choked and done killed myself! Not to mention the soup was as cold as the water at the bath houses- and probably equally as dirty. What was in that stuff? You expect me to eat mule shit before I get hung? I would have at least hoped for some of those strawberries, or you know, something actually edible! Now I'm starving since I couldn't get more than a sip down of that soup- and the water- I think your guards done pissed in it. As if I was going to drink any of that."

Erwin stood silently by as the girl ranted, expressionless. Inwardly though, he grew more and more irritated. After another long day of tending to the affairs of his Duchy (and having the unenviable task of issuing an edict to ration the winter's supply of grain), he'd found it in him to perhaps come and have a second, more meaningful conversation with this supposed thief. Clearly that was unlikely to happen.

"You will not be hung," he replied curtly. In his mind, he imagined her body actually swinging from the gallows. Maybe it would shut her up, and teach would-be thieves in his Duchy a lesson on who was in charge. But, of course, that wasn't a good way to endear himself to the people, especially in the first week. No, mercy was the proper course here.

"But you will eat and drink what my guards give to you, and you will like it. My people are hungry as it is, and come the winter many more will starve. My generosity and leniency toward you has been ample enough, and every word you say makes me wonder if I should just have you hanged, to save all my men the trouble of having less on their own plates."

He shook his head and came a little closer.

"I came here to ask from whom you stole that large ruby. So that I might return to its owner what is rightfully theirs."

Mae'leena gave a soured glare.
"You think I'm some fool? I know how this stuff works."
Sort of. She had never actually been really caught before...
"You'll get the information from me and hang me anyways. And I never asked for you to keep me as your 'guest'. I could manage to find better food myself, even if the rations are scarce!"
Besides- if he knew the man whom she stole it from..
She'd be as good as dead anyways.
"Besides,"s he gave a fluff to her hair. "A woman does not give away her secrets on the first date."
Or the third one? If anyone was counting- not that these meetings really were a 'date'.

Erwin deposited the torch into a nearby iron sconce before approaching the cell, arms folded over his chest. The flickering light made his silvering hair gleam, along with his narrowed light blue eyes.

"Stealing from me is one thing. But stealing from my people, when they're already going hungry? That's a line you do not want to cross."

Reaching out, he grabbed a hold of one of the iron bars, drumming his fingers against it. "I am a man of my word. When I say I give leniency, I mean it. But don't think that mercy extends as far as where you're trying to take it, Mae'leena."

He shrugged. "It's a simple question to answer, in any case. Even on a date, any other woman would not be this off-putting."

"Yeah well, what's it to you? I'll hang either way so don't think this lips are talking."

Erwin gave an irritated sigh and closed his eyes, placing a hand on his head.

"You're not getting hanged. But I suppose if you wish to languish down here for the foreseeable future, I'm more than happy to oblige."

Being Duke of Wulfbauer really was cursed.

"Oh yeah? If you don't hang me, who's gonna stop the guy who's name I ratted out?" She folded her arms more huffily across her chest.

He looked back up at her.

"If more of your friends decide to break into my home, and I don't care what their reasons are, rest assured they will join you in this dungeon soon enough. Or put to the sword, whichever is easier. This is Wulfbauer Keep, not a damn circus. I will not have the sanctity of this place broken over some little dispute over a stolen jewel."

"Join me?" She wrinkled her nose. "I'd rather you keep that man out of my cell." Not that she was going to relinquish her stance. She was not telling him anything!
"Besides, I already have such lovely company as yours, what else could a girl ask for?"

"A little civility wouldn't hurt, but I guess that's too much to ask," he retorted in a soft voice before giving the cell bar two small pats and turning away.

"I'm afraid I'll have to take you to dinner another time, my lady. Tonight, you dine alone. When you're done antagonizing me and my household, and wish to actually talk, you can let one of my guards know."

"Pfft, you might be waiting forever on that one, love!" And she gave a childish huff towards him as he left. ANd after she did, only then did she get the sinking feeling that- she was sort of being an ass.
But being left to her own devices, she was soon growing bored and whiny- and realizing how foolish she had been- she decided to take the risk and called out to the guards.
"So the tall dark and 'andsome fella, you know, the duke? Yeah, tell him I'm ready to talk." She said with a huff. "But tell him it'll be on my terms!" And the last part was called after the guard who was shakin ghis head as he left. "MY TERMS!!!"
And after the man left, she hmphed and crossed her arms over her chest and returned to ants-ily leaning against the cell wall.

Chewing on her lip, she mulled over what she was going to say.
Maybe an apology.
HA!
Maybe in hell!

After he left, Erwin spent several hours more awake, sitting at a table in his room as he went over more reports from across his Duchy. Everything he read painted the same picture: the impending winter looked to be the worst in years. And with so many men still away from home on military duty, available labor was scarce. He'd have to make some hard decisions soon.

Not long after he blew out the candles and fell asleep, a guard stirred him from his slumber. The whispers into his ear brought a scowl to the Duke's groggy face, but nonetheless he rose from his bed.

He followed the guard down now, dark rings around his tired but awake eyes. Rather than the regal clothing he'd worn the other nights, this time he had only on a simple linen shirt, a thin coat thrown over the ensemble to protect him from the chill of the prison.

As the guard closed the dungeon door behind him, he approached the girl's cell with an arched brow. "Do you thieves not sleep?"

Not expecting (nor, perhaps, realizing) at what hour she had made her call, she couldn't help but smile- and even laughed at him as she commented, "Nice sleep shirt."
Her eyes were even sparkling over his slippers.

Erwin glanced down at his attire, but made no look of embarrassment. It was hard to tell if he even was embarrassed. The top few buttons of it were left unbuttoned, exposing the top part of his chest.

"It does its job," he replied, stepping up to the bars and peering in. "Now, you have me awake and listening."

"Yeah but..."
She was trying her best to repress a laugh.
"I thought all you fancy folk just wore satin to bed."
And the little part that was unbuttoned was a nice touch. Her eyes lingered there as she gave him a leery once over.

A thoughtful look crossed Erwin's face as he considered her words.

"Perhaps some Dukes that you've robbed before," he said with a shrug. "We in Wulfbauer like to be a little more modest."

An ironic thing, given that half his shirt was open.

"People here don't flaunt their wealth. They're humble and dutiful, as they should be."

"So I guess they flaunt other things?" she purred, staring at his chest.

OOC: lol

He chortled slightly, but made no adjustments to his attire. This was his house, after all. And he certainly didn't need to impress her.

"I was asleep. But in any case, I make no excuses. I am not ashamed," he replied, glancing her up and down. It was hard to even call her attire clothing. "And apparently, you have no shame either."

Mae'leena saw that look and scowled.
"What? What's wrong with my dress?"

Erwin arched a brow at her. "What dress? You mean that napkin you're wearing?"

"What do you mean napkin?" she snapped. "Besides, it's not like I'd let you use it as your napkin or anything."

"Nor would I let you let me," he said with a sniff. "At the very least, it would need to be washed. You too."

She folded her arms across her chest.
"What did you expect? Toss me into a filthy cell, of course I'll come out all dirty." She wrinkled her nose. "I coudl go for a bath. A nice long, hot bath full of oils." She sighed. If only.

"Perhaps I could offer you one, as a courtesy," he said, returning to that overly serious look of his. Sometimes when he saw himself in the mirror, he wondered if he wasn't a statue.

"But that depends on what you want to talk to me about, at this late of an hour."

Mae'leena's face fell.

Right...
that.
"Er... you just said if I wanted to actually talk to you civil like to come callin'. So I did."
Yep, she was dragging her feet on this one!

Erwin's eyes narrowed ever so slightly at that.

"So, you have nothing important to say, but it could not wait until dawn?"

He pressed his mouth together thinly, resisting the urge to turn and march right back upstairs and into his bed. Ansgar knew he had to be awake early anyway.

"Right, let's talk then."

Seeing how she was trying his patience, she realized she needed to stop pushing buttons. Drawing in a careful breath,s eh turned away and muttered.
"Yeah, I had something important to tell ya."
And her brow furrowed as she continued to look at the cell wall as she muttered.
"An apology." Though the words were really mumbled- so he might not have heard her properly.

As she turned, her words were lost in the thick stone walls of her cell. Erwin leaned forward a bit.

"I didn't catch that."

Mae'leena's lips rippled with an incredulous sneer. Sighing, she repeated herself.
"I.. I called you for an apology." But it was still kind of muttered. But she was doing her best!

"You woke me up for... an apology?" Erwin asked incredulously, leaning forward some more until he was practically up against the bars. He couldn't believe that it could not have waited until the morning.

What was more shocking was the fact that this girl was even apologizing. Especially after two days of giving him and his staff nothing but grief.

He took a step back. "I must say," he started, folding his arms across his chest. "I was not expecting one."

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it," she grumbled. "I'm still not happy for being here. But if you're really not planning ta hang me, I guess I should be at least..." She peered over at him from where he had approached the bars and gave a bit of a sniff. "More civil."

"It's a start, and I appreciate it," Erwin admitted with a nod of his head. After two nights of of grief from her, it was a surprising roundabout from this girl. Like he said though, talking like adults was infinitely better than hurling insults at one another from opposite sides of a jail cell door.

"So now that we're both acting civil and like how ladies and gentlemen should act, let's talk. The first question... just what were you hoping to accomplish by breaking into my home? This Duchy's been through enough without need for an extra headache."

"What do you think? I came here to steal from ya, and if I tell you what it is now, you'll just keep it from me."

"Well, the jewels you tried to take are going right back into that chandelier. But I'll be keeping an eye up there, just in case."

He grasped the iron bars and leaned in to gaze at her. The torch behind him cast a halo of light about him and obscured his face in darkness, save for his gleaming blue eyes. It might've been hard for her to recognize that he, for perhaps the first time, actually smiled fully.

"And besides, I have collateral. That giant ruby of yours, which I will be glad to hold in trust until such time as I can find its true owner."

"Bah!" she waved it off. "I only stole those gems up there cause I was bored. Besides... I'm a clever girl, I'm sure I can find a way to steal my ruby back." Thankfully, he hadn't mentioned to get rid of it- or- attempt to open it. She knew how these Connlaothians were with magic.

"First you'll need to escape this cell," he remarked, glancing up and down the hall. There were only five cells down here in this tiny dungeon, but the Keep rarely held prisoners anyway. In times past, anyone kept there against there will were likely nobles and the like, and would've been afforded the decency of at least a guarded guest room. Erwin couldn't even imagine who'd be locked down here. Perhaps mischievous servants or insubordinate guards.

"I was toying with the idea of actually being a decent gentleman and affording you at least a wash. But from the way you brag, I don't know if it's such a good idea anymore."

Her face fell.
"What? Bloody hell you'll keep a bath from me! I'm positively filthy! It's inhuman! And here I thought you weren't up to being so cruel."

"Is it though?" he asked, brow raised. "I offer you a bath, and next thing you know I'm missing every valuable belonging in this Keep. Talk about murky water there."

"Pah! You expect me to steal all your things when I'm naked?"
But then she adopted a thoughtful expression
Oh.. maybe she could?

"I'm sure you'll at least make a decent attempt of it."

The mention of her naked had his eyes drifting down to her amply exposed assets, but he caught himself just at the last moment. Couldn't this girl have worn something less revealing?

Mae'leena gave a snort.
"And let you have a free show? Sorry love, but I ain't no duke's whore."

Erwin held up a hand to stop her.

"First, I'm not lecherous. If I am to receive a show, I'll be damn sure that I've earned it. Second, I'm busy enough as it is to try my hand at wooing you, gorgeous as you might be."

He glanced her up and down before shrugging again. "Third... you haven't convinced me about why I should allow you your freedom yet, albeit limited freedom."

Mae'leena made a face and gave a light stomp of her foot.
"But you offered up a bath! I won't steal nothing if you at least let me get cleaned- unless you're that paranoid I'll steal your soaps."
And idly she had to wonder how much a duke's soap could fetch her...
"Besides, if you're good I could let you watch," she added, the last part purposely being a flirtatious tease. He didn't look half bad anyhow- and really, all she cared about was getting unstinky.
"And if you were watching me, you could see I wouldn't escape or steal nothing."
But oh... a bath! The very idea had her almost begging him for it. She loathed nothing more than reeking of piss. And how many days had she been sleeping in it? Just ew.

The Duke folded his arms over his chest.

"Here's my offer. You tell me --truthfully-- how you got into my Keep and onto my ceiling in the first place, and I will let you out of this cell to clean yourself up." He wagged a finger at her. "Under supervision."

"What?" Mae'leena blinked. "Tell you?" She growled. "But I already told you I can't!"
Besides, then she'd REALLY hang. Or worse yet- what if they get rid of her ruby!? She couldn't have that!

With a sign and a frown, the Duke took a step back away from the cell, back into the light of the torch.

"Well then, you'll have to offer me something for that bath. I don't give away something for nothing."

Mae'leena blinked.
"Give you something? What?" She wrinkled her nose. "But you're a duke. Don't you already own everything in the world?"

"I'm a Duke, not a king," he sniffed, shaking his head.

"Besides, the only thing you could really offer me is the information I want. And clearly, you're unwilling to part with that."

He rubbed at the day's growth of silver stubble on his chin, a thoughtful look crossing his features. "Though I suppose your ruby is valid enough consideration for giving you a bath."

"Are you proposing I let you keep my ruby in exchange for a bath?" She asked, incredulously. "Oh, this I can't believe!" She gave a snort and a mean look his way. "What's that information to you? It's not like knowing it could benefit you. If anything, it would make my life worse than it is now- and let me tell you, my king, it's pretty bad now with the piss hay I have to sleep in."

"Perhaps it might not be as useful as one would think," Erwin explained in an even tone. He could clearly adduce her expression and tone of voice as a sign of her irritation. But then, it wasn't that hard to tell she was miffed.

His face, though, remained stony and unchanging. "But what it does show is that you're willing to give a little to take a little. That you're starting to grow a little cooperative. But I guess that's too much to ask of a thief, or indeed, it's too much to ask anything from you. In fact, all I have is a slew of insults and a half-apology, and in return I'm asked to put a prisoner upstairs in a guest room like a noblewoman."

His eyes drifted back to the open door that led back up to the main hall of his Keep. It was still dark; he could still catch at least a few hours of rest before dawn.

Mae'leena grew quiet, holding her breath in an attempt to hold back any cutting words. She had to remind herself, in that moment, as she released a breath through her nose, that she was trying to be polite.

"Well, I never asked for a fancy bath,"s he muttered, not certain what to say to that as she kept her eyes averted of his.

"We don't have fancy baths here," the Duke replied as he looked down to smooth out the sleeves of his night shirt.  "There's a war going on, in case you failed to notice. Nobody can afford to be fancy these days."

He looked her up and down one last time before continuing, "I'll consider allowing you a bath, as payment in advance. Consider. Perhaps giving you a little more time to think will loosen you up a bit. Or perhaps my leniency will have ended. We'll see."

And with a slight nod of his head, curt and to the point, Erwin said no more. He turned and stepped his way toward the awaiting door without looking back. The night was still at its darkest outside, and he could afford to go to sleep for at least an hour or two longer. Come the morning though, it would be the same all over again. A Dukedom to run, thousands of people to oversee, and a threatening winter to combat.

The jailor closed the door behind him with a slam and a click.

Hours passed and, through the window, the thin rays of dawn filtered. A distant rooster cuckooed the morning hour, its cry echoing in the dungeon even from this distance. As if on cue, the jail door opened again and two rough looking guardsmen approached Mae'leena's cell, the grey tabards of Wulfbauer displayed all over their armored bodies. "Get up," they commanded gruffly.

Though the guard expected someone in the cell- what he hadn't expected was probably one of his own. Through a groan, the other guard looked up from where he lay in a crumpled heap upon the floor. The other guard was taken back, his armor rattling as he stumbled over just what to say-- and just before his cry of outrage came-

Mae'leena- the spider was settling into a nice hot bath. Not that it was meant for her- but in her scheme to escape, she couldn't help herself and threw herself into the sudsy bubbles, clothing and all with a moan. Her eyes rolled back so far into th eback of her head at the sensation she was seeing white.

Damn, this duke lived a good life. If his bath she just stole was any indication of what else he had...
She could get used to this!

Dawn sounded with a distant rooster's cry, which roused Erwin from his sleep. He scowled slightly and rubbed the blurriness from his eyes, but rose from bed anyway. Being a Duke was just like being in battle: his sleep was dictated by the situation around him, and if there was a battle afoot then he'd have to get up. And wrestling with his dozens of advisors... that was the biggest battle of all.

His small hearth was unlit, bringing about a slight chill as a cool wind breezed in through the open window. He hurried from his bedchamber and to the sitting room, where his day's outfit was already laid out for him. To his left, a closed door led to an antechamber where he knew a warm bath had already been drawn for him. Stretching his tired muscles, the Duke stripped out of his nightclothes and made for the bath room. He didn't expect to find anything behind the door waiting for him.

As soon as opened the door, he was greeted by the sight of her, up to her neck in his bath.

Simultaneously, a shout rang from the great hall.

"THE PRISONER HAS ESCAPED!" came the cry, echoing against the Keep's thick stone walls.

"Good morning, Love," she said, stretching out casually within the sudsy bath as she grinned. "I figured I'd show myself in, hope you don't mind."

Erwin's jaw dropped as he finally lost the composure he'd shown in front of her those few times they'd spoken.

"How the... WHY ARE YOU HERE?! THIS IS NOT WHERE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE!"

His first thought was one of irritation, that the guards had led her to his bath. After all, he'd specifically ordered that they take her to the unused guest room on the bottom level, where there wasn't much for her to steal. Poor Bethany was probably still standing in front of that room, expectantly waiting for the stinky prisoner to show up, so that she might wash those soiled clothes.

His second thought came as a result of the shout that echoed up from his great hall, and it had his muscles tensing in surprise. She'd somehow escaped her cell.

His third thought quickly arose after his second: he needed a weapon of some sort to guard himself in case this girl really was some sort of assassin. The nearest dagger was outside in his sitting room though, and if he ran to get it, she might disappear out the window, or worse, attack him from behind.

And finally, he realized with a grim frown -- he stood there, completely naked.

Mae'leena didn't miss that detail. Not in the slightest and the moment he finished speaking, her eyes went just to that.
"Mmmmmmm," she stared at him thoughtfully, her eyes cat like and her demeanor making her appear as if she were purring as she oogled him. "Why, did you come in here expecting to share a bath with someone else there love? Cause if not, I'm pretty sure there's enough room for two."

Erwin quickly clamped his mouth shut, his brow furrowing deeply. He could hear the shouts of his guards as they rushed around the lower level of the Keep in search of the escaped prisoner.

He still couldn't tell if she was harmless or not, but two could play that game. He quickly swung the door closed behind him and strode right up to the side of the tub, glaring down at her and clenching his fists tightly. Never mind the fact that he was unclothed; there was no time for shame right now. A small stream of light from the open window illuminated every crease in his face and every small scar on his chest.

"You're going to get right out of my tub in the next five seconds, or by Ansgar I'll have you buried up to your neck in the yard."

"What?" It was her turn to dip her brows.  "You'd bury me in the dirt after I finally got all of my clothes all clean?"

In his anger, he didn't even realize until that moment that the odd blurs underwater were, in fact, her clothes.

She had jumped into his sudsy bath with her CLOTHES on.

His hand shot into the water and snatched onto her arm, pulling her at least several inches out of the water. "My gods... do you even KNOW how to take a bath?"

Not expecting to be reprimanded in such a way, Mae'leena let out a yelp and fought against his hold.
"Hey, le'ggo of my arm! That hurts!" And she continued to fight his hold through a series of pulling grunts. "And of course I do, I just figured I'd save time by washing myself and my clothes, too."

Rather than let go, his grip on her tightened. Years on the battlefield had given him some significant muscle and tone, and he used it now to haul her a bit more out of the water.

"Into MY tub, covered in piss and dirt. AFTER you break out of my dungeon, AFTER you try to steal jewels from MY house, you think it's fine to just hop into my tub."

He leaned forward to stare daggers at her. "Are you kidding me? By Ansgar, what kind of thief are you?"

Mae'leena let out a slew of swears when the man hefted her out of the water.
"Apparently a thief who's wrist is about to get broken!" she growled. "Slacken your grip or I'll knee you in the balls! I know you keep calling me a thief, but I'm still just a woman. I can bruise and break ya know!"

Erwin had his mouth open, ready to angrily retort, when a muffled sound emanated from outside his chamber doors.

"YOUR GRACE, ARE YOU IN THERE?" came the shout, and then a heavy crash as they burst through the outer doors leading to his solar.

"Shit," the Duke muttered under his breath. He knew they were there for his safety, and he knew in the back of his mind that he should just release her and step away, letting the guards drag her back to prison or just run her through right there.

But somehow, that wasn't what he wanted. He didn't need any more blood or theatrics. Already this morning had gone to hell.

With a rough shove, he pushed her back into the soapy water and hissed, "Keep your mouth shut, don't move, and for Ansgar's sake hide under the water!"

And without further warning, he too leapt into the tub over her, sloshing suds and water all over the stone floor.

A bang came from outside the bath room, echoing on the door. "YOUR GRACE!" came the shouts.

Mae'leena didn't have the proper time to get a breath, and her mind still hadn't caught up with her when the duke shared in with her his plan. ANd as she was suddenly shoved underneath the watera nd pinned beneath the naked man- instincts had her limbs flailing everywhere and groping on to whatever she could.

Erwin could feel her squirming and thrashing beneath her, and distinctly felt her hands go all over his body. With a grimace, he hissed, "Keep it down!"

It was pretty obvious she couldn't hear him, so he reached under the water, groping blindly himself in an effort to stop her from flailing.

Before he could grab at her probing hands, a shout came from the other side of the door. "YOUR GRACE!" came the muffled yell before the door flew open with a loud -SMASH-. Two armed guards poured into the room and immediately froze in their tracks at the sight of their Duke in the tub.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Erwin commanded in his most Duke-y voice, staring up indignantly at the two men who quickly turned red and averted their eyes. Good thing too, because they couldn't see the twitch in Erwin's eye as he struggled with the girl underneath him.

And at the most inconvenient time, Mae'leena resurfaced, gasping for air. And the sight of a woman beneath their duke in such a position within his royal tub made all of the guards just stare. One even was so stunned he dropped his spear that crashed into a loud rattle upon the floor.

Erwin had to fight every ounce of surprise and consternation within him to keep a straight face on. As it were, the corner of his eye twitched as soon as Mae'leena broke the surface of the water, for how close his eyes were to popping out of his head.

To the guards though, that serious look on Erwin's face was one they'd probably all seen before. It meant business. Hastily, the one guard dropped down to pick up his spear, even as the other fumbled for an apology.

"You've never seen a woman before?" the Duke demanded as he looked over at the sputtering girl. With the benefit of having turned away from the guards, he gave her the biggest scowl of all time.

"N-no, your Grace. We just thought, ah... well, the prisoner's escaped and we feared for your life. We'll, ah... continue searching the grounds."

And with awkward salutes, the two guards backed out of the bath hall and closed the door behind them.

Mae'leena was choking and coughing and sputtering away at the bath water for what seemed like an eternity (and she was turning nearly purple in the face) and by then, her eyes were a bit teary as she finally gasped and got a full breath of un-coughable air.

"By the spirits..."s he gasped, trying to calm herself and only then, did she catch his scowl with a blink. "I hope that face ain't directed at me. I ain't done nothing wrong." She narrowed her gaze challengingly back at him- though it might have been hard to take a woman seriously who was wearing such a skin tight, white dress tha twas all wet and now- more or less left nothing to his imagination anymore....

And in fact, it was quite difficult for Erwin to keep eye contact with her. Before, her assets had always been strategically covered in an enticing manner. Now, it was as if she was wearing nothing at all.

He found that his mouth was hanging open slightly, and he quickly shut it with another scowl. The scowl also came as a result of the taste of soap, where her flailing has splashed some into his mouth. He reached a hand up to wipe the rest of it off his face and off his grey-brown stubble.

"Nothing wrong?" he challenged. "You've caused me nothing but trouble, and still I just saved you from being taken outside and hanged. And you still give me lip."

He looked her up and down now and added, "Now get out of my tub. I have a bath to take."

"What?" she barked incredulously. "You just tried to drown me! And I ain't finished with my bath yet!" She told him defiantly with a jutting of her chin, daring to put her face a bit closer to his so he could see the flecks of anger in her aqua colored eyes. "You expect me to just lug myself out of the bath half scrubbed down and all full of these itchy bubbles?"

"Whatever it takes. You can scrub yourself down while standing," he replied curtly, leaning back against the side of the tub. His eyes drifted down to where her skin clearly shone through the soaked whites of her dress.

"Besides, I don't need you muddying up my water with your disgusting dirty clothes."

"What? It was your fault!" she barked. "You put me in that smelly cell! I'm just takin' advantage of your hospitality. This bath was already here when I came in anyway. I'm sure you'd rather have me in this tub then out there trying to steal from you while reeking of piss."

His eyes had closed for a moment, but they opened up again.

"If you had the patience to wait it out, I had a bath ready for you in a guest room. And that cell was to be cleaned out while you were washing up. But seeing as you're too impatient for that and just HAD to break out of prison..."

His nose wrinkled slightly as he frowned.

"Those clothes are beyond saving. I should have them burned."

Mae'leena made a face.
"What!? Why on earth would I let you burn my clothes? There ain't nothin' wrong with 'em! They just got a little sudsy. I should be able to get the stains out if you'd just get off me and let me finish what I started." And then here she gave him a mean grin. "Unless of course you were willing ta help me. Is that why you're still in this tub with me? Or am I just a lucky girl?"

Erwin sat up in the tub and rubbed some of the soapy water onto his arms. Though he was hardly dirty after just waking up, the warmth of it helped to relax his muscles and prepare him for a long day. Brushing the suds off of himself, he turned to regard her.

"The luckiest girl in this Keep," he replied, cool blue eyes meeting her gaze. His expression never wavered from that serious look of his. "I'm a gentleman. If a lady so asked, I would be the first to lend a hand. Take them off, tear them off, whatever she wished. And perhaps have them tossed to the corner and replaced with something nicer and fancier."

He shrugged his shoulders and leaned back again, arms coming out of the water to stretch and rest along the edge of the tub. A small sigh of relaxation escaped his mouth.

"But I'm new to this whole Duke business. It's probably all highly inappropriate."

"You know, I might take you up on that offer- ask you to tear them clean off me-yanking the front clean open- lace by lace..." And her eyes lids hung a bit lower, her mouth hanging just enough he could see her tongue resting behind her top set of teeth as she held a breath and looked him over. "But with an expression so serious, what's a girl to think?" She gave another mean and teasing grin. "If I wanted my clothes off, I'd expect a little fun to go along with it. I wouldn't mind a little romp in the tub. Might do you some good- wipe that serious expression off your face and be replaced with something else." And her smile was more cat like now as her eyes sparkled playfully at the thought. Yeah, a good banging would do the rigid duke some good!

"It takes a serious man to do serious work," he said as he pushed off of his side of the tub and leaned dangerously close to her face. Of course, he still looked as serious as ever, and even the slightest hint of a smirk at the corner of his mouth couldn't change that impression. It made him look stoic, regal.

"These clothes though," he continued, a hand reaching out to feel at the fabric of her soaked dress, "this is some awfully serious business. If I were to tear them off of you, how would I go about replacing them? This sort of revealing clothing is hard to find around these parts. But we can find you something more appropriate."

Slowly, his hand slipped to her front where his fingers began toying with the laces keeping her assets in place. "Maybe a more deft touch is required..."

"Oh, yeah, a big serious man in a big serious tub full of big serious problems that he can keep aaaaall to himself in there." She wrinkled her nose playfully at the idea as she bore a toothy grin, her eyes sparkling when she heard him go on about her clothing and she puffed her chest out proudly, which only helped accentuate her pert nipples as they jutted out from her tight fitting, sopping wet clothes.

"What about 'em? Got 'em while I was traveling through Adela." She said, idly tracing a finger around one of her gold hooped earrings. "Some desert merchant hand 'em at a good price." Though at the suggestion of an alternative pair of clothing, her grin grew bigger.

"I'd only wear those prudish dresses if you laced mine with diamonds. I ain't no cheap girl- and I at least got some sense of fashion. Besides.. what's wrong with a little flesh?" He was obviously enjoying the show. "Go ahead," she leaned back some, tossing her partially damp dark hair off of her shoulders. "Give it a pull. The girls are about bursting in this thing anyways. And if you do it good enough," she told him, eyes dancing. "I might let you play with 'em. Maybe more."

The Duke's hand slowly traced the laces down the front of her dress even as he smirked again. This girl had some sass to her, but he should've known that by now. After all, nothing had been filtered when she was hurling crass insults at him through those iron bars.

The hint at a diamond-encrusted dress finally brought a curt laugh to his face, and his serious expression cracked --briefly-- with an amused grin. "Maybe those rubies you wanted before ought to do the trick," he said, before the grin faded. The corner of his mouth was still curled up in a smug look though. "Though my chandeliers will look a little bare. But like you say... there's nothing wrong with a little bare."

His fingers curled up underneath the laces of her dress, the warmth of the back of his hand grazing at the skin of her exposed chest. With a strong and quick yank, the laces tore apart. His other hand, still lurking beneath the water's surface, reached forward to impetuously grasp her by her side.

"I hope you won't miss this dress, though it was dirty anyway."

Mae'leena was always a live in the moment kind of girl, and one who wasn't ashamed to admit she liked her diamonds shiny and big. The idea of him just giving her those jewels made her almost drool, and lit a fire in her that he already stoked, but now it was roaring. But the clever girl was clever, and when the chandelier was brought up- it reminded her of her other, more important plight..
her ruby

But then the sudden removal of her laces in ones strong yank had her gasping as the entire front of her dress exploded open, leaving her heavy breasts and soap glossed body completely exposed. And he would get quite an eyeful as her breasts bounced to a rest, jutting out pertly from her body, ripe for the taking. Her dark nipples that had one been hidden behind her sopping wet dress now stood at attention as she realized, with a flush- so was he.

"Well now.." she said, giving him a catty grin. "I won't miss that dress if you won't." And she let her fingers tip toe up his neck before she moved to rake her fingers through his peppered colored hair. "But I have a feeling a few other things might be getting dirty.." and as her hand skillfully stroked across the crevices of his muscles, feeling up his water glossed pecks and abs, then down around his shoulder and strong arms before her hands dipped lower to stroke along his inner thigh. It was warm down there- but maybe that was just the water.

"But tell me, my duke," she began, her eye lids lowering as she purred out the words and leaned forward, so that her breasts were pressed together, giving her a heavy line of cleavage. "What is it you desire in this moment? A nice hot bath- or a nice hot girl?" One hand sunk lower in the tub, the other one, seeming to remain flat on the bottom of it while the other groped against the length of his erection before her hand sealed around it in a firm grip. Oh, wasn't she going to be a lucky girl if things ever progressed past just  simply little old bath?

But while he might have been reveling in the attentions she was paying to him below the water's surface, her other hand had collected the string that once laced her clothing together. And with it all now free (and being of a quite extensive length)- she knew just what she had to do it with it order to get everythign she wanted out of him. And while her hand stroked down his length, she deftly removed her hand from his member in one quick motion as both hands came out from the water and encircled around his neck, successfully binding the string was around it as she pulled it nice and tight.

She gave a playful yank and forced him forward, water sloshing around violently between them in the tub, even a wave of it gushed over the side and spilled the sudsy, steaming water onto the floor. And now her grin was a lot more devilish as she twisted the thick thread around her hand and clenched a fist around it for a good, sturdy grip.

"How about we strike a bargain, love? And if you're good," and her lips twitched at the idea as she admired his handsome face. And at such a close angle, she could admire the dark stubble that darkened his jaw. And he had really nice, kissable looking lips- lips that were just a few inches apart now from hers.

"They'll be no strings attached." Now her grin stretched wider, those eyes dancing with a whole other light. Ah this was truly the sort of game she loved to play. "You tell me where my ruby is, and well... let's just say I'll give you a jewel of my own."

While her hand first caressed his thigh and then slipped firmly around his manhood, Erwin gave a little grunt of pleasure as that stirring in his loins traveled up the length of his body. Another man might've lost his composure in the moment, but the Duke had plenty of experience in these encounters. His calloused hands ran up and down her body, caressing her supple breasts, a thumb tracing over those stiff dark nipples. Slowly, they slid back down underwater to her hips, feeling every inch of skin along the way until they grasped at her firm round buttocks.

"Perhaps it was better for you to join me in this bath," he murmured as she stroked up and down his length. "It would've been less fun alone..."

He started leaning in closer to her, but then the splash of water caused by her sudden movement slammed home the realization that he'd let his guard down. As the lace encircled his neck tightly his eyes widened and he let out a low gurgle, hands leaving her smooth skin to grope at the string threatening to choke him. The pounding in his chest went from arousal to panic.

It was tight enough that he could definitely feel it, and perhaps turn a little red as he gaped at her. But she hadn't tightened it to the point of choking him to death. All of a sudden, he felt as vulnerable as he ever could. When she yanked him closer to her face and whispered so sweetly about her ruby...

With a forced gasp, another small smirk crossed the Duke's features. So that was the game she wanted to play. He wasn't ready to die, not by a long shot. But one had to admit -- this sort of death trumped a bloody one on the muddy battlefield any day. And though this sort of play was admittedly a bit darker than what he was accustomed to, two could play this game.

Erwin was mindful of the fact that, at anytime, she could tighten her grip on the lace and choke the air out of his lungs. Nonetheless, he abruptly slid forward, an arm wrapping around her waist and pressing her breasts tightly up against his naked body. His face grew redder and redder from the lack of air, but he managed to gasp out, "You'll have... your ruby back... but you kill me now... and they take it... along with your life..."

Inexplicably, that wolfish grin spread over his struggling face again. His other trembling hand slid down, down, down between her thighs and deftly grazed the lips of her womanhood before two of his fingers slid into her. Even underwater, he could feel a warm wetness about them.

"But why... spoil the fun... so soon...?"

Mae'leena's lips jerked leftward as her eyes dazzled to watch a man so powerful beneath her clutches. She couldn't lie, the idea of dominating such a man had her more aroused than she'd ever been, and when his fingers slipped inside her- the molten hot temperature would prove it. Her eye lids lowered, cheeks rising just a bit as teeth delicately bit into her lower lip.

Oh, yes, two were playing at this game-a nd he was playing it well.

"You make a lot of points." The other one being underneath the bubbles. She loosened her grip on the string, just enough to allow him to breath but kept it playfully tangled around his neck.

"Who said anything about spoiling?" If anything,s he was being a lot more encouraging as she spread her legs open wide so that one hooked over the edge of the porcelain tub.
"Besides, if you knew better, you'd remember I'd already told you I'm no assassin." And her words were spoken on a low breath, as if afraid to breath too deeply, for fear the pleasure she felt between her legs might go away as a heated shiver of pleasure coursed through her body.

Oh, yeah. She chose the right man to rob. Even if she was going to hang, she was having far too much fun.

Her subtle release of the lace afforded him an opportunity to breath, and Erwin wasted no time in taking full advantage of it as he gasped in several large gulps of air. His face was still flush from the tightness around his neck, and he could still consciously feel her grip around it, as though she had him on a leash.

What he also felt was the slight tremble of her body as his fingers explored her, a sure sign that she was enjoying this as much as he. His slickened fingers slipped in and out of those tender folds quicker now, probing for the most sensitive parts of her body. His hand danced about her womanhood as he slowly regained his breath.

By the time she hooked a leg over the edge of the tub, much of the water had been splashed onto the stone floor, leaving barely enough soapiness to fully clean a person, let alone submerge them. With her leg out of the water now, his other hand stroked at the smoothness of her thighs as he leaned further down. His blue eyes, half lidded at this point, remained peering up at her.

Slowly and finally, he withdrew his slick fingers from inside her, lifting it to his mouth to taste her essence. The tanginess of it was almost intoxicating.

"Well...do try not... to kill me yet," he muttered breathlessly as he kissed the insides of her thighs, his stubbled face moving closer and closer to her sex until finally he truly tasted her with a deep curious tongue. For a moment his breath caught in his throat as he leaned into her, the lace pulling taut against his neck.

The actions of his fingers left her in breathless anticipation as she dug her teeth into her lower lip until she nearly bled. And then to watch him take his sex-laced fingers to his lips made her gape as a flush consumed her body and she all but melted into the waters.

The rest happened much like a dream, and finding his head suddenly between her legs she found one hand letting loose the string leash around his neck as her eyes rolled back, as did her head when his tongue was shoved between her legs.  Closing her eyes tightly and with one hand now free, it gripped at his hair as a breath hitched in her throat. She was barely able to release a throaty moan as his tongue lapped and explored inside her, the sensation electrifying her to all ends.

The loosening of the string around his neck finally allowed him at least a full freedom of movement, a luxury he immediately snatched. As his tongue continued to tease in and out of her, Erwin roughly threw her legs over his shoulders and grasped them with strong hands as he continued to taste her. His face was plastered with her fluids, his salt and pepper stubble sticky from it. The moan emanating from her, and the grip she had on his short hair, had the Duke grinning against her womanhood as he hungrily lapped up the wetness.

Their intimate play lasted for Ansgar knew how long, until Erwin abruptly pulled his head up from between her thighs, his chin dripping with her essence. As he wiped away the fluids with the back of his hand, he let her supple body drop from his shoulders and back into the now-shallow tub, eliciting another splash of soapy water.

"Who thought thieves could be this intriguing?" he grunted in a low breathy voice as he loomed over her, his face still a bit red from the exertion -- and from the way the lace still restricted his breathing somewhat. In fact, it seemed his whole upper torso was flush from his tongue work, as was his rock-hard manhood, which was positively throbbing with anticipation and desire. Now it was his turn to have some fun.

When she was finally released from his ministrations, she melted against the porcelain walls of the tub.
"By the spirits," she panted, her chests heaving heavily as she breathed. "And here I thought your tongue was only good for lecturing me." Her eyes sparkled. Or maybe that was a lecture. Grinning like a cat now she moved forward on her hands and knees before curling a hand against his cheek and admiring his blue eyes.

"I think you got something on your face, love," she told him through a purr while one hand brushed at some of her sex that stuck to his beard while she moved forward to kiss him - tasting herself on his lips before pulling away.

And as she did so, she lowered herself back onto her hands and knees before him, but not before  readjusting her grip on the lace she held that bound around his neck while the same hand fondeled and caressed his eager sex at length.

"I guess it's my turn to give you a lecturin' with my own tongue," and the coyness in her voice would not be lost as she leaned forward and gently let her lips brush against just the tip of his erection, letting her tongue slip out and glide across the surface of it as she hotly breathed.
She coudl feel him quivering and it excited her, and as she continued to lick and kiss at his sex, even using a gentle amount of her teeth as she nibbled him, while a hand moved forward to fondle his balls before she took his sex into her mouth and swallowed her mouth all around it.

When she leaned up to kiss him, Erwin returned it with a rough and fiery kiss of his own, his rugged beard scratching against her own smooth face. A hand slipped around the back of her neck to pull her into him, fingers feeling along the curvature of her nape. His shoulders still rose and fell heavily with his deep breaths.

"Do I now?" he replied in that same even tone he always had, albeit a bit breathlessly. "A shame, there's not enough water left in here to clean me off." Indeed, as he stood upright in the tub, the water only reached to his knees.

His eyes followed her even as she slipped back down and teased at his groin with her lips. Her hot breath against his sensitive flesh brought another light shudder of ecstasy traveling up his spine. When she took him into her mouth though, his knees almost buckled. Eyes half-closed, he let his head lean back as far as it could without the string leash choking off his windpipe. The warmth and wetness of her mouth, the way her tongue danced up and down his manhood, sent another shiver up his body.

"By Ansgar, consider me lectured and my lesson learned," he groaned in a low voice. The fingers of his left hand entangled themselves in the thick messiness of her hair, guiding her sweet mouth deeper along his shaft, tickling at her throat as she sucked him off. His heart thumped wildly in his chest and his manhood throbbed against her tongue in unison.

This was what he wanted, not blindly trying to run a Duchy. An encounter could never last for a man in his position. But if this was one of the perks of being a Duke... well then he might just get used to it.

She didn't have to move her head to get the desired results from him, as her hot tongue and mouth  sucked his length long and hard. Feeling his fingers gripping her hair had her tensed lips relaxed as she finally gave his member some reprieve as she began to work it in and out of her mouth; though pausing  when the tip nearly came out and used her tongue to lap at the most sensitive parts of his skin.

Erwin's eyes closed and he let out another low groan as the tip of her tongue teased at the underside of his manhood, sending a prickly tingling sensation coursing through his skin. If she was only toying with him for some ulterior motive... well she was doing a damn fine job.

"By Ansgar, you're damn good," he muttered under his breath as his hand tangled deeper into her hair, pushing the back of her head toward his erect member again. He started slowly at first, thrusting his hips forward and pushing in and out of her moist mouth, feeling himself slide against those tender lips of hers, occasionally a gentle scrape from her teeth. Gradually his grip on her tightened and his movements became more pronounced, more rapidly, more forceful. He was throbbing inside her mouth, his trembling body threatening to climax at a moment's notice.

There was more to be had, though. With one final push of Mae'leena's head, going as deep into her mouth as he could, he yanked her away from his manhood and gave her a gentle shove back down into the water. Still breathing heavily, his blue eyes blazing as they peered down at her with an intense look, the Duke lowered himself back down atop of her, his spittle-covered cock hovering inches from her sex. He took a hold of her thigh.

"I hope this bath is to your liking," he uttered in a low voice. The barest hints of a mischievous grin crossed his face.

Panting, she took this moment to wipe the drool from her lips.
"Ansgar has nothing to do with it," she informed, turquoise eyes sparkling intensely. She admired his look, his own soft flush from his skin, before giving a catty glance of appreciation towards his eagerly throbbing manhood.

"But I must say, this is by far the finest bath I have ever had." And she leaned back into the porcelain, legs spread open as she gave the string stilll bound around his neck a gentle pull. "So what are you waiting for? You know we both want it."

Her tiny yank still had Erwin's breath catching in his throat. "A gentleman does not presume," he countered in a half-choked voice, his hands roughly grasping at her thigh and buttocks, leaving his red handprint on his skin. "Even if he knows it for a fact."

And with that, he leaned his muscled body down and pushed his length fully into her womanhood, the last of his words coming out as a primal exhale as her tightness enveloped him. His hips grinded up hard against hers and his hands groped around her backside. He pressed a kiss against her lips with a bestial unrestraint and met her turquoise eyes with his own blazing blue ones before, with a low mutter of "But if the lady insists..." the Duke slowly began thrusting his hips in unison with hers, their bodies pressed together in embrace.

Mae'leena quirked a brow at his statement of not presuming, amused how the words got choked by her little piece of string, but when he went to grab her, she let out a surprised gasp before a grin consumed her face. She was always a fan for the more kinky, rougher stuff. And the more untamed the better.

"Oh, a gentleman?" she questioned, eyes sparkling playfully- but he gave her little chance to say anything else, when he surprised her by forcing his entire length into her. It burned and hurts pleasurably at his first thrust, but that's what she loved about it, and soon her body was melting all around him and gripping him tight as she held onto him as he began to fuck her.

"By the spirits,"s he breathed, feeling his length work into her as her eyes fluttered close. But no words needed to be said, as her lips found his again as she kissed him, clutching onto his face and shoving her tongue into his mouth. She tasted herself against his saliva and moaned as their hips continued to roll. By the gods, he was somehow hitting every inch of her that felt like heaven, and soon she was breaking her lips away from his to moan as her hands clung around him, and she nearly dropped the string that was loosening in her hands.

Erwin thrust in and out of her more urgently now, his breath quickening with every push of his pelvis. As their lips pressed together, her tongue entered his mouth with little resistance, save for his own tongue meeting it halfway, tasting her again and again. He could feel the intense pleasure building up in his loins with every moment, and he roughly pushed her up against the edge of the porcelain tub as he continued to fuck her. His touch was all fire and passion, almost animalistic as he groped at her.

His hands explored all over her body, raking at the back of her neck, roughly grasping at her hair feeling the dampness of it that matched his own, matted down upon his slick brow. He bit at her lip as they kissed, then suckled at her neck, hot and heavy breaths against her skin even as his loins burned up inside of her, their hips rolling together in unison, every raw aggressive thrust into her soaked womanhood sending the tub water splashing violently around their bodies.

The Duke let out a muffled groan against her shoulder as the unbelievable pleasure welled up inside him as her tightness consumed his rock hard member. "I should... have you during every bath," he uttered in shallow breaths, barely noticing the lace taut around his neck anymore.

Each thrust was hard and needful, water splashing violently beneath them as even the bearclaw tub began to rattle as the thrusts grew with intensity. Mae'leena's hands groped mindlessly around his body, holding onto him tight, forcing him near her as she reveled in the pleasure he brought on by pounding her with a hungered force. Though she adored the man taking her, her back began to ache from the porcelain walls, and she- being every bit as Saranthian as her mother, desired for dominance where she could- and with a growl she found the strength to over turn him as now he was beneath her, and she, straddling over him and rolling her hips over his sex as the hot, moist walls within clamped down upon him tightly.

Her eyes were barely open now as she worked herself over him, one hand lightly digging finger nails down his chest while the other hand remembered it held onto the lace that strung around his neck like a leash. She grinned at that and now used both hands to readjust her place over top of him and held the sting now like a horse's rein.

Feeling the grip of the lace now secure in her hands, her hips moved more fervently as she bounced upon his lap, gasping as every inch of him struck her deep.

Erwin found himself on his back, water lapping up all around him as she rode him hard, sending droplets splashing on him and everything else. He had to keep his head tilted up slightly, both to avoid having his ears go underwater and to avoid having that string leash choke him out again. As it were, when she tugged on it he felt it digging unrelentingly into his windpipe anyway, causing him to sputter slightly. This sort of dark and rough play was new even for him, but something about it was perversely arousing, and he just went with it as his hands grasped tightly onto her thighs to rock in unison with her hips.

His blue eyes remained open and locked onto her, but as the tight walls of her womanhood worked the length of him, he felt the bubbling pleasure welling up inside of him, threatening to burst at any moment. The Duke groaned with pleasure as he nails left red streaks down his chest, and pulled her tighter down against him.

With their bodies now flush and sealed together, they moved as one in rapid, wild thrusts. And while he clung to her, she let loose the lacing, and now gripped onto the sides of the porcelain walls to give herself more support so she could feel him pounding up into with each powerful stroke. By the spirits did he felt wonderful, her sex gripping tighter and tighter as they worked together. She only had one thing in mind and it was blinding and made her frenzied as her breath and moans intensified in their volume while growing shorter in their length until finally she felt herself reaching her peak and her eyes rolled back as she moaned out to the spirits, her words in her native tongue, not familiar to him, as she cried out and begged for more.

She was seeing white, and her sex was pulsating uncontrollably as the moment became a white heated blur and in the end, she lay as an exhausted heap across his form. And she could feel his heart beat, so rapid inside his chest as she smiled.

"Remind me to steal from you more often," she purred, a hand smoothing down his chest. "I could get used to this sort of punishment."

As their feverish copulation reached a peak, Erwin let out a loud growl of pleasure and grabbed a tight hold of her hips, pulling her slick sex down over the entirety of his manhood. Most times he had the presence of mind to pull out, but something about this particular encounter had completely clouded over his thinking with a wave of euphoria, and with a shudder and a groan of release he climaxed inside of her, strong hands pinning her to him until he was finished. Breathing heavily, he lay his head back down in the two inches of water that was left in the tub.

The first thing he did was bring his hand up to his neck and roughly untangle the lace from around his neck before tossing it off into a corner. His skin was heated, his face red as he fought to exhale in steady breaths and ease his pounding heart. A hand unconsciously caressed her thigh as he lay there still inside of her, a slight smirk crossing his face.

"There'll be no more stealing on my watch," he warned her in an breathless, even voice. Finally he pushed himself up into a sitting position with her still straddling his lap. He reached out to touch and inspect the tattered remains of her white dress and idly suggested, "Though I suppose I owe you some replacement clothing."

"It's ok," she told him idly, fingers tracing up his chest. "Just let 'em dry and relace them and they'll be as good as new." And she gave him a wink. "Though I suppose I could just wear something of yours for a while. I never wore the clothing of a duke before. You got any fancy robes in silk or silver?"

"You'll be disappointed to hear that I'm not like the other Dukes," Erwin told her evenly as he grasped her by her backside and lifted her off of his burning loins. Where once the tub had been full to the brim with steaming water, now only a small layer of it remained at the bottom. In their aggressive sexual escapades, most of it had founds its way onto the stone floor of the room.

"I might have several outfits for the occasional social gathering," he continued as he left her in the tub and climbed out of it, "but nothing that would impress a woman with as fine an eye as yours. You've already seen what I normally wear."

A small stone basin sat in the corner of the room, filled with cold clean water. He stepped over there now and splashed some onto his face to wash her sticky fluids from his chin. A small stack of towels lay nearby and he took the top one to pat himself dry, before folding his arms across his chest and peering out the barred window. Far below, the bailey was starting to come alive. And of course, his guards were still scurrying in search of an escaped thief. He couldn't help but laugh under his breath.

Mae'leena pouted a little bit.
"But even that dull suit from before had a richness to it," she cooed, her eyes taking him in with contentment. Ah, she had fucked that. And as she crossed her arms along the lip of the tub, she rested her chin over them as she admired him. Ah yes... didn't she just feel like the queen of the world.
"Got any more towels over there?" she asked, tossing a mischievous grin his way. "Or do you plan to keep me half naked here in the tub?" She supposed this would be a bigger improvement from her  last cell.

It might have been a coincidence, but the Duke pretty much reiterated what she was already thinking.

"You'd much prefer being half naked in my tub than back in the cell," he said coolly, watching his domain from out the window for a brief moment longer, before turning to face her. The entire place was a mess of soap suds, water, and bodily fluids. Bethany would not have a good time cleaning it up.

Snatching a second towel from the pile, he wrapped it around his waist before tossing her a clean one. His eyes lingered on her naked body for a moment, taking in every curve and every ample asset. Though he didn't voice it aloud, it was clear that he'd enjoyed her immensely.

Then, Erwin made his way for the door leading to the parlor of his private chambers. "I have a Duchy to oversee," was all he said as he opened the door an called for the door guards, who were more than shocked to find that the woman they'd found with their Duke had been the escaped prisoner all along.

"See to it that she's cleaned up and fed, but make sure she doesn't steal anything else. Clothes from my closet will have to do for now."

"Yeah, probably," she said, grinning much like a cat as she gave to rise and stretched her hands above her head. But she was quickly making a face as she felt his seed leak out from her and dribble down her leg. Sex could be a messy sort of sport. Not that she mattered. At least she was clean and satisfied, and as she worked at wrapping the towel around her half naked form, giving Erwin a bit of a show as she did so- she found herself soon in shock a moment later when he called for the guards and had her more or less a prisoner in his own room.

"Hey! Are you really going to just keep me up here all day?" she asked, indignantly. Though in truth, he had made his point already. I twas better than the cell.

The guards were already waiting outside of the bath room, in the parlor. They had enough decency in them not to peer in at the half-naked woman though. Erwin discarded his towel and began putting on his day's clothing that had been laid out for him earlier. Riding breeches, a clean white tunic, and an overcoat emblazoned with the crest of Wulfbauer.

When he was dressed, he stepped back into the soaked room and stood in the doorway, arms folded over his chest. "You are free to wander the grounds of the Keep, and outside in the bailey. The guards will follow you around though. Just in case."

He glanced her up and down, towel and all.

"If you still want to take a proper bath, I can have it arranged. Otherwise, Bethany will fetch you some clothes. Mine will be ill-fitting, but I suppose it's better than a potato sack. In any case, I am off to do my duty."

Mae'leena clung to her towel before squeaking out an incredulously, "What!?"
Rushing to his side, she stepped defiantly in front of him with a haughty huff.
"Do you honestly mean to keep me here while you go about your daily business? With.. with all of your stinky Hench men to surround me?" She wrinkled her nose at the idea and her turquoise eyes demanded he explain!

"Welcome to Wulfbauer," was the response Erwin gave her, along with a cursory glance as he tugged leather riding gloves over his hands. That towel covered up her body, but only just. He idly had an urge to reach out and yank it back off of her, but kept that thought to himself. Rather, with his garb on he looked very much a Duke.

"It's not the cell, I'm afraid. I know how much you wanted to go back in there. Maybe you can take a walk about, see the people you were stealing from."

Mae'leena narrowed her gaze.
"Now why the hell would I do that? No thank you. I'll just stay here and see what all I can pocket," and the last part she spoke with coyness.

Erwin frowned. Her raw aggressiveness made their escapades exciting and fun, but it didn't translate to the real world, the world in which a civil war was claiming lives every day. He only returned her look of coyness with his own stony gaze. In front of the guards, he'd gone back to being the Duke again.

"If anything goes missing again, you'll be going straight back to the cell. And there won't be time for baths or anything else after that, do I make myself clear? Now I've already stretched the patience of my staff and men this entire morning."

He let out a soft sigh and gestured to her. "Try to keep out of trouble for one damn afternoon."

"What? Keep out of  trouble? But what ELSE am I supposed to do?" she groaned. "Why can't I go with you?" Though she had a hunch it'd be boring.

"We ride for the valley to the north, to check on the harvest. No doubt you'll complain the whole way, and when we're there as well."

He glanced down to his gloves and adjusted them before looking back up to her. For a moment his eyes drifted to the corner of the room, where he could just make out the laces of her dress, soaked and discarded.

"And frankly, I don't need you stealing some poor farmer's wedding band. My people are in for a bad enough time as it is."

"What? What sort of thief do you take me as? I've got more class than that!" she spat back, hands angrily balled into fists. "I wouldn't steal some common man's silver. I look for the fancier pockets- men who've got too much on their plate as is. I just... see fit to relieve them of it, one jewel at a time." And where she had started off whiny and protest-y; now she was getting a little bit playful and flirtatious again.

Erwin smirked a little at that, but quickly his face deadpanned. He had to remain focused. The duchy depended on him. He forced himself not to admire her body again, lest he get the urge to rip that towel off her and take her.

"When I get back, I expect to see everything where it's supposed to be. Otherwise, you'll find your relief in your familiar jail cell. And I promise you it won't be cleaned in time."

With that, he stepped back out of the bath room and into the parlor. A long ornate bench lined one side of the wall, and he sat on it now as he slipped on leather riding boots.

Mae'leena would have let him rip off that towel. She was always up for seconds, but that expression on his face did not amuse her. What was he- Mr. Serious? She would have changed his tune real quick had he not spoken- fully ready to bring out the charm, (and boobs!); but then his lips began flapping and the mood she was mustering up to use to flirt with him with, deflated.

"What? Are you going to piss in the cell yourself. Even shit in it?" She couldn't see how it couldbe worse, less the defecation of the cell be fresh- and even she wasn't sure which was worse- Fresh shit or old shit. But she didn't want to have to find out. Giving a haughty snort, she folded her arms over her chest.
"Fine."
But she only smirked at his fleeting form as she whispered to herself, "You won't miss what I take anyway."
And she turned around to examine the room with a bit of a frown. What could she possibly steal in his bath house? His soaps? She wrinkled her nose, a soured gesture, before it turned upwards in a frown.

"I guess my new place COULD use some soaps.." ANd she idly strolled through the room and examined each and everyone of them trying to decide which one still smelled the best- all the while she was still wrapped in his towel. It didn't take her long to find some oils and amuse herself with that, as she discarded the rest of her dress to the floor and began to lean back in one of his chaise lounges, rubbing oils down her body while she remained completely naked and ignorant of the guards waiting for her just outside.

They could wait. She was busy. And fancying herself up in some Dukish luxury was something she was going to totally take her time with. She had fucked the man after all. Might as well nickle and dime him on everything else. And if sex got her a moment like this- she wondered what a little bit more would do?

It was only after half an hour of playing with all of the toys she could in his bath room did she finally move into his room- still naked, and slicked over with oil- and paused in midstride among the double door as a few servants, and male guards, were waiting for her.

"What the bloody hell is this!?"
And the men all nearly dropped their weapons, the female servants gaping at such a sight, of an exotic looking woman, glossed over with wild, ragged hair strewn about her form- and skin as succulent as a grease soaked turkey.

It took more than a few moments for the guards to find themselves as they rigidly stood to attention, metal armor clamoring as they did.
"My- my lady, the Duke wished for us to e.. escort you for the day!" The lead guard said.

Mae'leena simply stood there, arching one dark brow at the man and the rest.

"Escort me how?" She planted  a hand to her hip. "You all going to have a fuck with me on the bed or something?" the woman questioned, and one of the maids fainted at such an idea. The elder maid made a huff, and scuttled over towards Mae'leena's side as she pinched her ear.

"Now you see here," ANd as the older maid was dragging her about, Mae'leena whined and flailed beneath her pinching fingers.

"That hurts!"

The older maid just continued to hold onto that ear fast as she stared meanly into her face.
"We will have no disturbances today. The Duke is very busy and he wants to see you dressed now.." Her eyes flashed over the woman's form and she snapped her fingers, but when the fainted maid did not stir, the older woman gave her a kick with her boots. "Bethany, please, it's not like you haven't seen this sort of thing before. Arise and help me with Miss Doh'vek's dress."
Though as Mae'leena was guided away to said make shift dress, she gasped at the sight of it.

"What the hell is that?" It looked like some nightmarish monstrosity! And had so much fabric, lace and frills, she wondered if the woman wanted to dress her in several layers of bed sheet. But with a few light whacks, Mae'leena was brought to attention, and tossed into the gown as the older woman explained,

"It's the dress of his late cousin's. You will wear it and wear it proudly while in the presence of our Duke. You will remain respectful, courteous, and have a maid and guard with you at all times- you understand? You won't piss without me knowing about and.." And here, she gave a hefty pull to the laces of the corset, which elicited a grunted scream from Mae'leena in protest as she grumbled,
"I can't breath in this get up! Why are ya pulling it so tight? I think you're crushing my ribs!"

"Good," the elder woman stated evenly. "We must have you looking your best for his grace."

"What- my best? You saying they like women looking as if they're starved? You just forced in about twelve inches there! I'm a woman with curves!" Mae'leena protested, but the older woman only sighed and instructed the younger woman to sit down and snapped her fingers for Bethany to fetch her her hair brush and while the older woman set to work on Mae'leena's hair, the thief yelped and griped each time she found a knot.

"Be careful with those locks, love- I don't need you pulling them out!" That, she thought, she could leave to the duke. Thinking back to their fun in the tub, she felt herself warm all over- and even more so as she admired the way her breasts nearly popped out of this garb.

"For something so gaudy, it at least makes my boobs look good," She said, giving them a happy puff.

The old maid gave her a deep frown and gave the brush a hard tug to quiet her, but said no more. After a moment longer, she took a step back and gave Mae'leena look up and down. She certainly resembled a noblewoman, in that layered dress. But she would never be one. With a snooty huff and a shake of her head, she ushered Bethany from the room. Instead, their places were filled by armed guards now, silent and stoic.

And they would shadow her for the rest of the day, wherever she went, whatever she did. Throughout the afternoon, when dark clouds started obscuring the sky, and into the early evening when a soft rain began to fall. It started off slowly, but the skies grew darker and darker, and soon the dusk was nothing more than a torrential downpour.

It was dark by the time a chorus of whinnies pierced the cacophony of the storm rattling outside. A line of horses, perhaps two dozen in all, rode through the streets of Wulfbauer and up the hill toward Wulfbauer Keep. They crossed the short stone bridge spanning rocky moat and through the main gates of the castle. The bailey was all but empty at this point, the groundskeepers of the Duke's keep having scurried inside to shelter themselves from the rain and enjoy a nice warm supper by fireside.

Erwin squinted from the water dripping down his face, peering around the quiet castle grounds as he reined his horse to a stop. Even with the layers of clothing, the water had soaked completely through. And on top of that, his stomach was growling from the onset hunger, a result of a long ride. He'd spent most of the day patrolling the nearby towns to assess their harvest situations. And it did not look good. With a grim look on his face, he urged his horse along the stone path and up a hill, past an inner wall that surrounded the high motte on which his Keep stood.

A stableboy hurried out into the rain just to the left of his great door, covering his head with a wool cloak as he took the Duke's horse to be fed and watered. The doors swung open for the Duke and his men. Erwin hurried through into his Grand Hall. He pulled off his riding gloves and cloak and tossed them to a nearby servant before accepting a towel to wipe off his face and hair. The interior of his castle was only dimly lit by several burning torches and a few more candles. A very lonely looking place.

The maids were waiting to greet their lord. "Welcome home, your Grace. There is supper ready for you, and we'll have a bath drawn and fresh clothes laid out."

While he was gone- it was kind of fun at first- but eventually it got really boring. So boring she tried to make a game of it to lose the guards, whcih resulted in them manhandling her rather roughly, gaining her some bruises and a lump on the head. Not to mention her dress ripped, which poor Bethany had to repair while the grumpy Mae'leena vented to her.

It wasn't until the last hour before Erwin got home that she started up her mischief again- this time, having found herself in a room full of pretty paintings which she began to take off the wall. The guards tried to stop her, but each time they let her go, she ran back to theroom to do it again.  Growing frustrated tehy just let her do it, figuring they could just rehang them when she was done. They had no idea what she was up to, but she kept squealing at how pretty the paints were. The guards exchanged looks- wondering what the Duke saw in her (besides her boobs).

The old maid said just as much to the Duke as she helped him out of his riding boots and soaked clothing. "I've always told you that you had a knack for getting into trouble, Erwin," she chided with a shake of her head as the Duke quickly washed off the dirt and grime from his face. "You need to find a wife and settle down. I've told you this for years."

"What can I say, Hilda?" was Erwin's only response. He had a weakness for a pretty face, and he'd been told that hundreds of times before. Back then, it had been a small problem. It only really mattered now that he was Duke. The thought brought a sad frown to his face as he recalled his father's funeral. How times changed.

"You can say 'back to the prison with you,' your Grace. She's a thief and a con artist. She spent all day trying to remove your Mannheim landscape in the drawing room!"

The Duke gave the old maid a telling look, but said no more. He only bathed for several moments before toweling himself off and dressing in more comfortable clothing: a simple grey tunic and dark brown breeches. Nothing like what a Duke would wear.

That done, he made his way out of the room and down to the massive dining hall, where a hot supper and a vast empty room awaited him.

Only this time, he'd have a guest.

"What?! What do you mean supper?" she scrunched her face. "I'm supposed to do what now? Eat with him?" She scoffed, but Hilda insisted.

"As a guest, you have little choice. It would be improper."

Mae'leena's face fell, but as the foods finally found their way to the room she had been playing in, her stomach gave a fierce growl.

"Well, guess I shouldn't make it more angry. Fine, aye, I'll join the man. But if you put those paintings back up I swear to the moon I'll..." and she finished her thoughts in Saranthian as Hilda just gave a muted glare at the girl and escorted her to the dining hall (in which the girl kept getting distracted anyway) before finally, Mae'leena appeared, noisy and in her ruffled white skirts.

She  bobbed as she walked, boots clicking against the floor (as she refused to wear any of the fancy shoes- none fit her anyway..) and as she approached the great big long table, her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. she gave a whistle.

"All of these chairs for me?"

"Of course not. You're lucky you even get to sit at one of these chairs. Now quiet your tongue and find your seat. The Duke is at the end."

And with that Hilda pointed down to the head of the table where, indeed, Erwin sat in his high-backed chair, cutting at a piece of charred steak, illuminated only by two soft candles flickering on the table. It was the only light in the room, and he was the only one in it -- aside from Hilda and Mae'leena.

As Hilda ushered the girl forward and pulled out a chair for her, the Duke glanced up from his meal and looked her up and down. Of course he recognized the dress, for it had belonged to his late beloved cousin, taken too soon by a mysterious illness. It looked a bit snug against her curvy frame, but at least she looked somewhat presentable instead of her former attire.

"It's an improvement," Erwin said out loud as he gestured for her to sit. A servant was waiting with two bowls of warmed butternut squash soup for the two of them. "I hope you've been on your best behavior while I was away."

"Yeah, I showed myself around the place. Now where's my steak?" She asked, ignoring the soup as she looked at the duke's plate.

Erwin didn't even look up as he cut off a nice juicy piece of the steak and put it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. A metal cup of ice water sat nearby and he took it up, taking a small sip to wash down the meat. His cook certainly was one of the finest in the land.

Finally, he glanced back up at her. "The staff here may be servants, but they are still people. Perhaps if you showed them a little respect, they would feed you properly. Though judging by the way you've frustrated them for days now, it might take a little more that just civility."

Mae'leena quirked a brow at him with a soured look.
"And what does that have to do with me getting a steak?"

Erwin took another bite of his own steak without ever looking up once.

"It has to do with you asking them politely, like a Lady. Now try again."

Mae'leena just stared at the Duke, giving him the stink eye.
"And do I bloody look like some lady? I think you're forgetting where I came from..."
You know, like the chandelier! ANd then the jail cell...
and inevitably his bath. Ahh.. his sweet, sweet bath.

Erwin finally leaned back in his chair and propped an elbow up on the soft armrest, resting his head in his palm. His other hand took up his water.

"I have no idea where you're from. I don't even know what you're doing in Wulfbauer," he said with a shrug, taking a sip. "But whatever manners you learned there are useless in my home. My house, my rules."

Mae'leena's brows dipped sharply.
"Yeah, that much you try to make certain," she muttered and shook her head. "Are you really inviting me to your table so that I can beg for my food?"

Erwin shook his head. "Not beg. Just show some civility. How hard could it be? A little please and thank you can go a long way, you know."

"Civility?" She wrinkled her nose. "What do you think I am? Or who? I don't use those phrasings, sorry Duke-y, it just ain't my style. I mean can you honestly see me asking someone please while I try to rob 'em?"

"'Try' being the key word there, of course," the Duke casually said. "But seeing as your chosen profession isn't exactly your strong suit, perhaps you should consider changing your habits."

"What!? Why would I do that? Besides," she said with an indignant huff, folding her arms across her chest. "I like being a thief."

"Suit yourself. In the meantime, the soup is delicious."

And with that, he didn't miss a beat in leaning back forward to cut at his steak again.

Mae'leena just stared at him, stubborn as ever before finally dropping her turquoise eyes to her soup. With a huff, she picked up the spoon and picked at it.
"Got any pepper? Or something to season this with?" she said, and kept poking at it, and eyeing his steak. And her stomach growled loudly.

Erwin let out a soft sigh, though it was barely under his breath and questionably audible. The girl was hopeless.

He glanced over to the waiting servant and said in a low voice, "Salt and pepper, if you will." At least the girl hadn't made some snarky comment this time.

The growl of her stomach was loud and clear, but he did not draw any attention to it. Instead, he glanced at her and said in a level tone, "Now's your chance, before your steak goes cold in the kitchen."

Mae'leena took the seasonings and began to generously sprinkle them all over her soup, but stopped the moment he mentioned steak,a nd somehow- the lid on the pepper fell off and plopped into her bowl, along with a great big pile of pepper.

Cursing, she used her hands like a dog's paw and began to desperately dig out the excessive amount of spice. Grumbling as she did so and wiping her hands all over her dainty clothe napkin and just making a mess, she cut back to him, "Chance for what?" she snapped at him, and lifted up her sticky fingers to wipe the mess off as she glared at him.

"To be civil and get that steak you want," Erwin replied, but he was distracted by the way she plunged her entire hand into the bowl of soup. A slight grimace crossed the Duke's features and he hurriedly waved for a servant to bring some fresh towels for the girl. He didn't know where she came from, but it must've been one pig sty.

"Careful with that dress," he cautioned her with a shake of his head. It had belonged to his late cousin, and this girl was making an absolute mockery of it.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have to be careful if it weren't for your killer spices fall into everything." She wrinkled her nose and accepted the towel to clean her fingers off, but after a moments huff, she finally turned to ask him, after her stomach growled loudly again.

"Okay, fine, what the hell am I supposed to say to get that steak?"
She might as well ask, cause she had no idea what he was expecting.

After all that, and she still had to ask what to say? Erwin let out a soft groan, barely audible under his breath.

"Just be polite," he said with a shake of his head. "How hard could that be? Even for someone like you?"

Mae'leena frowned.
"Yeah but... I never had to be polite to no one before.I  never had to.I  never saw a reason. What good would it do me anyway? I'd just be looked at the same way no matter how sweet or saucy my tongue is."

The Duke had picked up his utensils at that point, but he gave her a look and set them back down on the table. Leaning back in his chair, he shrugged his shoulders again.

"That may be so wherever you're from, but here..."

There were no servants nearby at the moment, but Erwin glanced around for them anyway. They did their duties silently, without criticism or complaint. Stoic, like everyone else in Wulfbauer.

"Here, people get respect from how they treat their peers. You show a little decency around these parts, and people will look at you favorably. Simple as that."

Mae'leena just stared at him and after a while, quirked a brow.
"You must be living in some lap of luxury. That bull shit don't get you far on the streets. When you're hungry with no money, you see how far a little 'please' and 'thank you' get you." She gave a curt laugh. "Hell, if that's how life were meant to be lived, I'd be dead!"

"If that's the case, then you're welcome to go there," he said with another shrug of his shoulders, a coldness in his voice. Every city had its slums and its dredges; Wulfbauer was no different. But at least here, in his Duchy, the people were resilient. They worked hard for their bounty, and he'd be damned if he watched an outsider and a thief steal from them.

"Oh our streets though," he continued, "thieves lose their hands. And if they would even consider stealing bread during a time of famine? Well, let's just say we have no tolerance for that. And good luck finding a nice juicy steak out there."

Mae'leena folded her arms across her chest.
"I never said I wanted to go there. And how would you know how those of the slums act? I'm a kitten compared to most of them." And boy was she mad he tried to make it seem as if his were so grand! She'd been to his slums. Getting almost raped was NOT her idea of people being resilient. "Trust me, if this harsh winter is coming in, it don't matter how good you think people are. They'll snap when they go hungry. That I can guarantee."

Erwin sighed and looked away, out one of the tall windows. From where he sat, he couldn't see down the high hill to his castle's bailey, or the town beyond. But he knew they were down there. And despite how irritating her voice was becoming, he knew there was a shred of truth to her words. This winter looked to be the worst in many years, and food would be scarce. A fine time to be a Duke.

"I'll be damned if I let the people go hungry," he muttered under his breath. Even now, they were doing their best to collect the remaining grain harvest for dispersal when the time came. Would there be enough? Likely not.

Mae'leena snorted.
"What? How do you expect to do that? Give up your own rations?"
And even that was absurd, because she doubted even a Duke had enough food for that.

His eyes peered down at his nearly-finished steak. All of a sudden, he wasn't so hungry anymore. With a hand, he pushed the plate slightly away from him.

"If that's what needs to be done," he answered half to himself, glancing off at nothing in particular. He'd lived on a battlefield before. He knew what it was like to be hungry.

And so did many of the noble houses, whose sons had served with him. But there were always those few soft nobles who wouldn't take so kindly to a Duke (and an impetuous new one at that) to take from them to give to those in need. There really was no winning in this situation.

Mae'leena raised a brow at his steak.
"What? You going to waste food now after a talk like that?"

Erwin glanced up at her. And though her eyes gleamed with wry impudence, there was something else in that look.

"Would you like the rest of it?"

Mae'leena blinked again.
"You pulling my leg?" After all of that talk over civility and starving people and manners, he was just going to offer it up like that. "You really going to offer me that meat?" She stared down at his half eaten food and laughed. "You know I've never had steak before." She never had the money, or time to consider such a thing. It just wasn't the type of food people of her status ate.

"Like you said, it'd be pretty bad policy to let it go to waste."

Short of just pushing the plate to her though, he placed a hand on the polished porcelain and pulled it back just slightly. The look he gave her was a telling one.

"Now after the conversation we just had... let's see if you learned anything. What are you going to say if I'm to hand you this plate?"

"What?" Mae'leena blinked. "What do you mean?" And she frowned. "Pass the... salt?"

Erwin's brow narrowed at that.

"You know what I meant. Try being polite and courteous for once."

Mae'leena paused with tensed fingers on the brim of her plate as she grit her teeth.
"Fine." She nearly choked on her own words. "Thank you." But when she said it, she cast her eyes down at the meat, and it was spoken through grumbles. But then promptly after she said it she added, swiftly, "So can I eat the steak now?"

The Duke stared at her for a long while, his cold hard gaze piercing right through her. She was hopeless.

"Try it again, without the sass," he said, though he slowly began pushing the plate toward her anyway.

"What?" She huffed. "I said thanks!" She grabbed the plate and yanked it towards her and hoovered over it defensively. "You going to scrutinize the way I say my gratitude now?"
Sheesh, what a hard ass!

"What gratitude?" he countered, though at the force with which she yanked the plate away from him, he had no other recourse but to let go. With a frown, he sat back in his chair and took up his cup of water, holding it but not drinking it.

"If you're going to say you're thankful, and least try to make it seem as though you mean it. Not vomit it up like you just ate spoiled fish."

"What? Why not? You're certainly make me feel as if I ate spoiled fish!" she spat back, but then went about hungrily digging into her steak, the juices dribbling down her chin as she moaned.
"Oh... but with a taste like this.." she went on,c utting up a few more hasty pieces and tossing them into her mouth. "I'd say thank you all night!"

Erwin opened his mouth to say something, but the words eluded him. Instead he just stared at the way she hastily devoured the rest of the steak, and the mess she made in doing so. Bits of meat juice were literally splashing from her plate and all over the long tablecloth covering his dining table. It was a wonder that she hadn't irreversibly stained that dress yet.

Snatching up one of the serviettes laid out for them, he tossed it her way. "Use it before you drown yourself in meat juices," he said with a slight grimace. By Ansgar, she was the most uncultured woman he had ever met. And he'd met plenty in his time.

"What? Why? I can lick most of it off," she said, putting a finger into her mouth and sucking on one, then another, then a third of them before she licked at her lips and used the back of her arm-
but catching his look she sighed through a grumble and lowered her arm, and picked up the clothe and began to wipe at her mouth and hands.

"There. All clean. Better now?"

"Much better," he answered with a shake of his head. How his patience was still holding up, he had no idea. But suffice to say it was wearing thin.

A servant came by to collect his discarded utensils, and she averted her eyes from both the Duke and the messiness that was Mae'leena. Hurriedly, the servant gathered up the things to be washed and left the dining hall. A second servant moved just as quickly and awkwardly as she brought Erwin a small platter of fresh fruit to clear his palate.

When the fruit was brought out, her eyes flicked to it.
"What's that?" she pointed to some fruit she hadn't recognized, but for all she knew, it was just some candied version of a normal fruit.

As another servant brought him a fresh fork, Erwin poked it into a slice of melon and held it up, a brow slightly raised. "This is just an ordinary melon slice," he said with a frown, trying to tease out whether she was joking or not.

Perhaps they'd never seen melons before, where she was from? Or perhaps she was referring to the large citrus slices on the rest of the plate.

"And this... this is a pomelo."

"I know what melons are." But at the mention of pomelo, her eyes sparkled. "Pomelo? Now ain't that fancy. I haven't had that in ages." And her mouth salivated over the idea- but just as she was considering plucking up a piece for herself, she shot him a look- and knew he'd just grumble like a dog.
"So what does a girl have to say to get a slice of that?" she asked, playfully.

Erwin took a bite of the melon and closed his eyes, savoring its sweet taste. After a long day, it was just what he needed.

Without opening his eyes, he replied, "That's a good question. What does a girl have to say?"

Mae'leena snorted, but it was a short, playful snort.
"I'll exchange sex for all of that melon?" ANd she leaned forward, giving him a most charming grin- one that made her eyes dance as one cheek rested to a palm as that elbow rested upon the table.

Erwin nearly choked on the mouthful of melon at her words, though he had enough composure to chew and swallow the food. His eyes shot open and he threw a frown her way.

"I was looking more for a 'please,' for Ansgar's sake. And for the record, you'd be selling yourself for an awfully small amount." Though she had fucked him for a bath earlier in the day. He didn't know whether to be aroused by her playful words, or to be frustrated at just how incorrigible she was.

"What? Who said I was selling myself? We could do some kinky things with those melons. You just have to think creatively.." she said, eyes sparkling as she nearly purred the last bits of words out.

He looked at her and slowly lifted the melon to his mouth, taking a nice large bite out of it. Chewing on it thoughtfully, he replied, "But that'd be such a waste of food. Don't you agree?"

"Who said it'd be wasteful? You could still be taking those big bites out of it- just you know, doing that over my chest or nethers." And at such an idea, her eyes sparkled wickedly and she perched her clasped hands beneath her chin. "But who's to say you're looking for that sort of fun? I mean you're a busy guy. I'm sure you've got some sort of business to take care to, even in these late of hours in the day."

"Busy is an understatement," he replied, though his eyes had wandered off as he thought about the scene she'd just presented. All he could picture now was her naked body, melon juices dripping all over her. The thought brought a frown to his face, as he realized the impropriety of it.

Looking down at the plate of fruit in front of him, he added, "Perhaps we might be able to find a way to feed you some of this. But it'd be nice to hear some politeness from you, regardless."

Mae'leena laughed, a loud noise that echoed throughout the dining room.
"Politeness? Well if that's what you want to call it," she said, grinning and tossing him a wink. "But hey, I could think of eve more creative ways to eat that fruit, that is to say, if you don't mind wearing some of it, neither." No one said the girls had to have all the fun!

Erwin leaned forward too, arching a brow now as he glanced across the table at her. "Wear the fruit?" he repeated with a questioning tone. "You mean get it all over myself? Sounds a little dirty."

"Uh... Yeah," she said with a soft laugh. "That's the idea..."

"You do have some rather odd ideas," he replied with another frown. This one was more thoughtful, however, as if he was contemplating it. No doubt she'd be able to turn something as simple as eating fruit into something far more erotic.

Mae'leena gave a snort.
"And you need to get out more, stretch your wings, let yourself sample more out of life, Duke Boring," she teased. "You can't just sit pretty behind a throne all day. Where's the fun in that?"

It was Erwin's turn to snort.

"Duke Boring? I've been called many things in my life, but boring was never one of them," he replied in a slightly defensive tone. "I've heard "Serious" before, but boring? Not a day goes by here where I'm not beset by something new. Some days, I even find thieves in my bathtub."

"Yeah, but it's not like you're the thief in the bath tub," she jabbed, eyes shining with mirth.

"And good thing too. I actually have decency."

He bit into a citrus slice and thoughtfully appreciated the taste of it before glancing back up at her. "Though to give you credit... finding a thief in my bath tub wasn't the worst thing in the world."

Mae'leena made a face. "Bah, who needs decency? I ain't got none and I ain't no worse for it. Though I suppose I should appreciate it since I suppose it's that decency that's saved me from your noose?" Though as serious as it were, her voice was utterly playful and flirtatious as she watched him with hungered eyes while he ate his fruit.

And at his last comment, she leaned more into the table.
"That's true. You could have found me in all sorts of other fun places."
And that comment was a flirt, too.

As if matching her body movements, the Duke leaned forward too. "Oh? And what places would that have been?"

"Guess we'll have to find out." ANd she leaned back into her chair and fussed with a piece of her hair. "So what's for dessert?"

Erwin stared at her for a good while before shaking his head and leaning back in his chair. A small smirk crossed his features as he took another bite of the pomelo. "This," he said, gesturing to his plate of fruit, "is dessert."

Mae'leena's face went long, her lips going flat as her brows raised.
"That?" she snorted. "And here I thought dukes dined on fancy chocolates or creams."

"First of all, what would you know of dukes? Second of all, this is Wulfbauer. If you want to get fat on cake and sugar, you can go to Highheart."

He finished off the rest of the slice and let out a content sigh, eyes never leaving her. "But from the way you're staring at my plate, I'll wager that you couldn't care less about chocolate at this moment."

Mae'leena gave a wicked smirk.
"Now that's not fair to say, I think chocolate could very well amplify this moment, but I doubt you'd oblige anything on my mind. What with your... you know.." and she gave a gesture with her hand. "Decency."

"Well that really depends on what's on your mind, doesn't it?" he replied as he finished off the rest of his water. There were two slices of melon left on his plate, but he refrained from polishing it off just yet.

She made sure to wait until he had a nice mouthful of water before just out right telling him, "Well the idea was to have sex on this table."
And practically anywhere in this room...

As if on cue, Erwin nearly choked on the mouthful of water and gasped for air as he let out several loud coughs. His brow narrowed heavily as he stared at her, eyes a bit red from the choking. "You want to have sex on this table? This is a three hundred year old table. Dukes and Grand Dukes have dined at this table. It has a whole history unto itself. And you propose that we have sex on it?"

Mae'leena leaned in more slyly to her clasped hands.
"Exactly. All the more reason it'd be so... exciting."

"And more work for the staff. Good luck getting the stains out of this polished wood."

He glanced her up and down. "And it'll be difficult to get that dress off of you. A bad idea, in hindsight."

"Bah, are you always so worried about the details? Just do something when you want it. Who knows, you could be dead tomorrow. So why waste the time worrying? Besides.. I think you've got a kinky side to you anyway. No sense in denying it," she told him with a wink.

And then at the mention of her dress.. she laughed.
"What? You never fucked a girl with her clothes still on? I thought that's why they invented skirts." She gave a snort. "You know... easier access..."

"Am I the one who wants it, or is it you?" he retorted, shooting her a slight accusatory glance. Still, she did hit her points well enough. And they did have fun in the bath tub, if one could call it that.

A glance around the large dining hall had him frowning though. There were so many entrances into the place, and likely the servants would come in here to clean up. Ansgar forbid they walk in on something that should never have reached their eyes. Of course, by this time, rumors had probably spread throughout the whole castle about the new Duke, and the woman in his bath. Perhaps not the sort of defining reputation he would have liked.

He stood up from his chair and leaned upon his palms on the table. "Fine," he said. "A little something extra for dessert."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure it takes two wants for it to become a fuck," she told him playfully, eyes dancing at the prospect he was being so.... well... difficult. But Mae'leena was a woman who loved a good challenge, and if that meant persuading this Duke into fornicating all over his castle int he most scandalous of ways- well...

She'd do it!

So it shouldn't have been a surprise when he stood up and just... flatly conceded- but it was perhaps his tone that made her laugh- the noise echoing throughout the chamber.
"Yeah, something extra, but the dessert don't just serve itself, love." And here her eyes danced. "We got to think of a way to make a game of it, get our bodies all hot and bothered- you know, all that good stuff."

Just asking for it and receiving it after such a talk just seemed... too boring. Even if it was sex on a table.

If that last comment was designed to break the Duke out of his shell, it had the complete opposite effect. He stared at her with a dead serious expression and replied, "At this hour? I don't have the time or patience for games. What exactly is it you want? Because I am very content with just going to my chambers for a good night's rest, and having you removed from my castle in the morning. It's been a long day."

As difficult as she made him seem, perhaps there was a grain of truth to all of it.

He wasn't the only one now wearing a most unhappy expression. Mae'leena went from out right flirtatious to down right soured in seconds.

"Fine, if that's the way it's to be..." And she rose from her table and began to storm off, not even so much as an indication of where she was going. But in her mind, there was really only one solution- find her ruby and get the hell out of here. It was nice while it lasted, but eve she wasn't foolish enough to keep trying her luck here. And she was stubborn to a fault- and had the temper of a cat. She was not going to keep dealing with him when she could just find her things, used her enchanted chains and get the hell out of there- but naturally, after she got what she came for in the first place-
and she had found quite a nice selection of paintings, after all.

She'd hate to have to come back and get them and deal with Mister Serious again.

Erwin did not say a word as she spun on her heels and stormed away from the table. It really was an unfortunate turn of events, because he had felt a stirring within him at all her purring and flirting. Despite what he had voiced, the truth was that given the chance he would have fucked her silly all over every surface of the dining hall.

But watching her storm off in disgust was almost satisfying in and of itself. Even after spending several nights in jail and having her possessions confiscated, the girl still thought she could do whatever she liked in his household. It almost brought a smile to that stone cold expression of his, seeing her frustrated at not getting her way. She had a lot of growing up to do.

Shaking his head, he sat back down and proceeded to eat the rest of the fruit left on the platter, all the while contemplating what had just transpired. The girl was trouble. He could just hear Hilda's chiding voice in the back of his mind, repeating I told you so. Of course she had been right. She always was.

Trouble was an understatement. So was the word rude, for Mae'leena was down right angry and storming about, shoveling through things and shoving past the guards, who- at the present moment- weren't sure how much of a 'prisoner' or 'guest't hey could make of her- and soon news trickled back to the duke that well- Mae'leena was tearing through his castle- but she never answered them on exactly what she was looking for- except...

"Duke Erwin... she's making a mess! And said she would not calm down until we return her things!" And the poor maid was positively white as a ghost,a nd also flushed with embarrassment- afraid and fearful she might lose her job for not being able to rein this woman in who was now going about, making a mess of the palace looking for her enchanted ruby and chains.

The Duke had just finished off the plate of fruit and was sitting there in deep thought when the maid intruded on his tranquility. The first thought that crossed Erwin's mind was that he should have seen this coming. Perhaps even allowing her the luxury of remaining in his bath tub those first few moments had been a mistake, and that he should've done the logical thing and had her tossed back into the jail cell. At least he'd tried to have it cleaned for her.

With a slight scowl and a low exhale of irritation, he stood from his seat and said to the maid, "Show me to her."

The study was an absolute mess. Papers and other objects were scattered all over the floor from where she'd tossed them in her rampage. Several of his guards were hovering about the doorway, unsure of what to do with this 'guest' of the Duke's. Seeing Erwin actually approach now, they all stood up straight in attention, not a single one of them making a sound lest they lose their jobs for incompetence.

Erwin glanced them over once, but said nothing. Rather, he stepped just into the doorway of the study, a frown upon his face. "Are you quite done in here? Or do I need the guards to throw you back into your cell?" he said with a tone of finality, arms folded across his chest.

They might rough her up in order to subdue her. At this point, the Duke couldn't say that he would be absolutely adverse to the idea.

Mae'leena didn't bother to look his way, ass int he air as she was tossing things about from an open cedar chest.
"Yes, love, as soon as I find my ruby, I'll be well on my way." And out of his hair for good. It had to be around here somewhere....

He turned to the guards and muttered, "Watch the exits. If it's not me leaving then you know what to do."

With that, he forcefully shut the door behind him and stepped into his mess of a study, blue eyes gleaming angrily in the firelight.

"Your damn ruby isn't in this room. Nor can you expect to get it back, the way you're acting like damn spoiled little girl, throwing a temper tantrum. Where the hell do you think you are? Because clearly you think you own this castle."

Mae'leena gave a snort and ignored him, and continued her search until the cedar chest had been emptied, and with an irritated sigh, moved onto a shelf of books, and haphazardly was pushing her way throughthem in order to find the damn jewel- but even SHE knew it was foolish to look here. But she had been so angered by his appearance she didn't care. At this point in her game, she was blinded by anger and pride and just was doing anythign to keep herself busy and in the process, hoping to prove him somehow wrong.

Emptying the chest had been one thing. But now pushing books off his shelf one by one was the last straw. Clearly she knew that the ruby wouldn't be hidden behind them. It was a move to spite him.

Well, he wasn't having any of it. With several long strides, the Duke quickly covered the ground between the two of them and snatched her wrist before she could topple the next book.

"I SAID ENOUGH."

Whirling around to face him, she glared right back into his face.
"And I said I wasn't done!" And she tried to snatch her hand away, which was a surprisingly hard feat to accomplish, considering she didn't think his grip would be to tight or rough.

"No. You are done," Erwin replied with a bit of a snarl, his anger starting to show through his stony facade. His grip was tight as iron around her wrist. With a forceful yank, he practically pulled her a good foot or two away from the bookcase as his eyes blazed.

"I showed you leniency once by not having your hand removed after you tried to steal from me, and then again when I didn't have you sent right back to the dungeons. I was going to offer you a night in a guest room, and then show you on your way come the morning, with your ruby. But this is how you presume to act in my household? Like a damn child?"

He had to consciously pace his breathing lest he utterly explode on her. As it were, his fury was plenty evident in his grating voice.

"So you can either calm down and act like an adult, and be on your way in the morning. Or you can continue your little tirade and be tossed out tonight. WITHOUT your stolen jewel."

"Oh, yeah? Well that sounds like a challenge! Who says you can just keep my things from me anyway?" she retorted haughtily- seemingly unphased by his obvious growing anger, and undeterred by the obvious fact he was about to explode.

"Your things? They're hardly 'your things' when you unlawfully deprive others of them. I'll bet nothing you own is actually yours."

And likely half of the things in this castle were in danger of ending up in the same situation. Such was the life of a thief.

"So you like taking things, huh? Well they belong to me now. I'm taking them."

Mae'leena was about to retort, when he said the last phrase and she nearly choked on her words as her eyes bulged.
"WHAT!? THE HELL YOU ARE!" And she stormed clean past him, heading for the door.

Erwin's stare of daggers followed her all the way to the door, even as he didn't do anything to stop her. The look on her face was satisfaction enough, to have her get a taste of her own medicine.

When the door was flung open, she was greeted by a gaggle of armed guards who, upon seeing her, immediately jumped to the ready and blocked the way, hands at their sides ready to draw at any moment.

"As I said, this is my house," Erwin called out flatly from behind her. "And the moment you decided to step foot in my door, you decided to play by my rules."

Feeling her own blood about to boil clean out of her skin, she slammed the door int he face of hte guards and whirled around. Storming clean up to Erwin, she demanded, "Yeah? Well, the moment you let me out of my cage, you should have realized I wasn't here to play your little slave. Now order your men to back down or else!"

"Slave? Who said anything about a slave?" he retorted, staring down at her. "I don't need a slave, I have plenty of competent help around here who do a perfectly good job without being so whiny and contrarian."

He shook his head and opened his arms wide. "Or else what? Or else I throw you back in the cage? By Ansgar that's where you belong. I have never met a more uncouth, belligerent, self-entitled person in all my days>"

"Yeah?" she said, eyes flaring dangerously. "Well eat belligerence asshole!" And she socked him clean across the face.

He was expecting some sort of violence. A slap, perhaps. But a punch to the face hit him quite unexpectedly and he almost stumbled a step backward from it. When he turned back to glare at her, a small spot of blood dotted the corner of his mouth. He had to clench his fist to stop it from shaking. And to strike her back. After all, hitting a woman was unbecoming of a Duke.

"If that was to get your ruby back, good luck," he spat, daring her to do it again. Striking a Duke usually meant death, and it was a miracle that he didn't yet call his guards in to just drag her outside into the rain and end her life.

Mae'leena's eyes filled with such rage, it almost seemed as if she were going to strike him again. But instead, she grabbed onto her skirts and dashed over to the window. Poking her head outside,s he noted a lip following he edge of one window to the next, and a few other ridges int he stone work. Seemed like she at least had some semblance of an escape route that way. AN without so much as a warning, she suddenly was outside of the building, clinging to it like a spider and inching her way towards the direction of Erwin's room.

Erwin didn't stop her when she made a dash for the window. After all, only a fool, or a suicidal dame, would have leaped out of it into the stormy night and endure the long fall down to the stones below. When she flung open the shutters though, the Duke suddenly had doubts as to what she was thinking.

And then she disappeared out the window. Gasping and shouting, "WAIT!" Erwin leaped over a table and sprinted his way to the open window, sticking his head out and scanning the ground below for the inevitable sign of a splattered corpse. Nothing seemed amiss though.

Turning his head, he finally caught sight of the girl, inching her way along the slick stone ledge toward the far window -- his own chambers. With a curse he backpedaled from the window and darted for the door. He flung it open and scrambled past the lot of surprised guard in the doorway, down the hall toward the double doors of his chamber.

"Someone get outside, for Ansgar's sake! She's on the ledge!" he yelled over his shoulder.

Mae'leena huffed and grumbled as she scooched her way along the stone building, and about halfway through, she was regretting it- however, she WAS pretty pissed, and anger normally fueled her determination ten fold, and soon she was nearly over to his window when.. well..
She slipped.

Letting out a gasp, she found herself clinging to the lip of the rock, but now her feet were dangling precariously over the inevitable doom beneath her- that was.. if she couldn't pull herself right back up.

Yeah,.. right about now she was regretting this.
At least slightly.

Erwin flung his double doors open and dashed through the sitting room, past the benches and cushioned chairs, past the open doorway that led to his bath room. He could hear the pattering of footsteps behind him, the metal of their boots echoing up and down the hall as some of them rushed outside the castle and others followed him.

Through his own chamber he sprinted, past his grand four-post bed and to the window sill. This time, his heart leaped into his throat as he caught sight of the girl dangling by only her hands, precariously hovering over the massive drop to the ground below. Of course this would happen. He had considered having her taken outside and executed, but this certainly wasn't what he had in mind.

With the rain pelting his face now, he leaned out as far as he could and reached to her with a hand, shouting into the storm, "GRAB A HOLD!"

Erwin's sudden appearance almost had her falling to her doom, as she gasped and her holding began to slip. Grunting, she scrambled to tighten her grip and glared at him.
"What!? Why!?" She shouted angrily. "So you can drop me yourself?"

"So I can pull you in here and not have to watch you plummet!" he shouted at her, the frustration on his face mixed with the exertion of stretching out the window.

"Just grab my damn hand!"

Far below, the gates of the keep swung open and a handful of guards scrambled out into the rain-soaked courtyard, all of them peering up at the dangling woman and the Duke reaching out for her. If he fell for whatever reason...

Mae'leena glared at him, even growled as she looked at his hand, then to his face.
And then she promptly spat on him.
"Like hell I'd trust you!" she exclaimed through the wind and the storm, which by now, was soaking her dress thoroughly, and suctioning her dark hair about her face. SHe grit her teeth, eyes flaring. "Why on earth did you think I even came out here!? I don't need your help! Nor anyone's! And the second I take that damn hand of yours, you'll just try all that funny bullshit again!"

And with a growl, she used that anger that peaked inside of her, and dragged herself clean back up onto the ledge and.. hugging now onto the side of the building, she panted heavily for a good long while before finally turning to him with a fierce growl.
"NOw out of the window, Duke Boring, before I spit on you again. I aim to come inside and look for my ruby and you sure as shit ain't getting in my way again!"

Erwin could only stare dumbfounded at her when she burst out in another tirade, hugging the wall tightly to prevent herself from falling. The rain drops rolled down his face now as he gaped, arm still outstretched. The fabric of his shirt had already become soaked through.

And then slowly, his eyes began narrowing more and more, until the scowl on his face gleamed dangerously in the night, accentuated by a flash of lightning in the distance. To think he had even offered a hand to her, trying to coax her from the ledge and save herself a grisly fate. What was he thinking? Did he honestly care, or had he been unconsciously swayed by the thought of her sex? Either way, a moment of clarity finally hit him.

"Is that so?" he shouted across to her, no longer controlling his anger. He closed his outstretched hand into a fist and pulled it back to him, shaking now. "There, my hand is withdrawn, if it pleases milady. You want to fall to your death? Be my guest, I don't control the air. You're welcome to it."

Across the ledge a guard also peeked his head out from the window of the study. Turning his blazing blue eyes to his soldier, he called hotly, "The lady is free to go."

And with that, he pulled himself back inside and slammed the window shut, locking it. The guard on the other side quickly followed suit.

The slamming made her cringe. Perhaps she over did it, as a sense of dread chilled her belly. For a good long while, she stared at both windows that were now shut and frowned.

"Well... shit."
Now what was a girl to do?

His anger was so hot that it was hard for Erwin to see straight as he paced his chamber back and forth, breathing heavily in an effort to calm himself. It wasn't often that he let his emotions show like that, and the thought that she'd gotten the better of his sense made him even angrier. With another snarl, he roughly pulled his wet shirt off of his torso and flung it against a wall before sitting down in a cushioned chair, shaking his head.

The rain was still clearly audible from outside, as were the occasionally explosions of thunder in the distance. He heard none of it. His ears were still pounding from the blood in his head.

Somewhere in it all, he barely recognized the demure form of one of his maids as she timidly came in with a tray of tea. She remained silent as she poured him a cup, but offered the Duke a gentle pat on his bare shoulder with a gloved hand before disappearing back outside.

Erwin didn't hesitate in taking up the tea and taking a long sip of it. The taste of it soothed him somewhat, and he felt his heated breath steady at least slightly. What a way to start his first week as Duke.

For a good long while, Mae'leena remained perched upon the stone ledge, contemplating what she ought to do. She knew groveling and an actual sincere apology was the right start but...
From that tone and the fact he locked her out on the ledge (which, she knew it was locked, for she had tried, several times, to open the window... both of them)- she had a feeling that might not be enough. And now finding herself completely stuck, she released a sigh and crawled back over to his window.

Frowning and staring at the wood for a while, she gave it a light knock.
"Erwin?"
She paused a moment, pressing her lips together. "Is it too late for me to grovel?" Another paused. "And say... I'm sorry?"

The adrenaline coursing through his veins prevented him from sleeping just yet, despite his overwhelming exhaustion. So Erwin sat at his table, shirtless and with his cup of tea, going over another small stack of parchment that reported on various happenings around his Duchy. And just like his mood, every bit of news seemed grim.

He didn't know how long he sat there staring at the reports with weary eyes, but eventually his tea went cold. With a sigh he dropped the latest report on the northern harvest and buried his face in his hands.

A faint knock came from the window, just barely audible over the sound of the storm. Apparently the girl hadn't jumped yet. And now she was trying to worm her way back into his good graces. Well, he would not fall for that again.

"I said you were free to go," he said in a voice muffled by his hands. "So go."

Mae'leena made a face. She heard a voice- but couldn't rightly hear him, so she tried again with another timid knock.

"Erwin? Look.. I said I was sorry... I know I can be dumb- okay... really dumb but.... I was just angry and I..." Sighing, she just turned away. What was she doing? He'd just lock her up anyways. So she went back to moping and shivering in the rain. Man this sucked.

"A likely story," came the Duke's reply, back in that serious tone of his. The anger had subsided enough for him to swathe himself back in his calm collected demeanor, though just hearing her muffled voice from outside stirred the irritation within Erwin.

It was enough to spark him awake once again, and with a slow exhale and a shake of his head, he went back to reading the reports in the middle of the night, all but ignoring her 'plea'.

Mae'leena visibly frowned, then glared at the window, turning stubbornly away from it. She spent another hour or so looking for a means to escape, but those methods proved fruitless- as it was still raining, and raining hard, making it impossible for her to go anywhere but down. ANd she was not about to throw herself off the ledge.

Grumbling, she crawled back onto the thicker window ledge and leaned into the closed wooden shutters, and shivered as she drew her legs in, pinning them to her chest. She was thoroughly soaked by now,a nd had been shivering from the cold for hours.

Yep- this was just terrific, her temper and mistrustful attitude finally landed her in some place worse than a urine, infested prison cell. Well... at least it didn't smell like urine out here. Perhaps.. the only plus side to her fate.

Maybe she could just bide her time- he had to let her in eventually, right? He couldn't be that cruel... RIGHT!?

Exhaustion had finally overtaken Erwin, and he'd nearly fallen asleep in his chair, still clutching onto that thin parchment of a report. He barely registered the flickering of the candlelight as it began to burn dimmer and dimmer. The rain continued to pelt the stones outside his window, causing a faint echo to sound throughout his chamber.

What did stir him from his dozing was the thump against the outside of his window, and the Duke jerked awake slightly, turning blurry eyes to it. The weight of it had to be more than just wind and water, but it took him a moment to realize it was the girl on the other side, perhaps trying to shelter herself from the cold.

Which means she hadn't taken the easy road that dropped straight to the stones below. Resilient and stubborn. But still an irritating thorn in his side. He folded his arms across his chest and scowled slightly, turning his seat to face the locked window. Whatever she was suffering, she deserved it. It wasn't cruelty, it was justice. He was the Duke now, and by Ansgar if it took this to teach her some respect then so be it.

The next noise he'd here was from the wooden shutters shuddering when a heft win swept through. And Mae'leena winced through it, trying to bury herself as much as she could up against the cold stone in her homely little recess of the window ledge- but it didn't do her much good, the winds cut through her soaking wet dress like a knife. And soon her teeth were chattering loudly. But even as the winds picked up, it seemed at least the rains were with drawing. Not that it mattered. Rain or no rain, Mae'leena was a soaking wet rat.

He did not remember how, but sometime during the night Erwin had dragged himself over to his large bed and had fallen asleep upon it, atop the covers. By all accounts he should have slept late into the morning, but instead he woke up groggily at his usual waking hour, just prior to the dawn. He could hear the howling of the wind outside, though the lack of pitter-patter meant that the rain had stopped.

After splashing his face with cool water from the basin, and after changing into a clean shirt and slipping on riding boots, the Duke left his chambers and down the grand steps to the entrance hall of his castle. Though early, sounds of activity already echoed up the stone walls. The servants here were awake before he.

Pushing the doors open, he stepped outside into the chilly morning air, stretching his arms and cracking his neck as he gazed down at the dark bailey of his castle. The ground was soft and muddy from the rain, and the air was heavy with moisture. He breathed it in deeply and stepped outside.

He hadn't gotten four steps when he felt a strong hand grab his wrist and whirl him around. There was Hilda, greying hair frayed and disorderly, a thick robe still wrapped around her small frame. The look in the elderly Housekeeper's eyes said it all.

"Your Grace, what are you going to do about that?" she questioned sternly, gesturing high above them. Erwin glanced up. In the distant darkness, he could just make out that little form huddling for warmth against his window ledge.

"Leave her there," Erwin said with a shrug before attempting to turn her away, but the veiny old hand firmly held him in place. If ever someone was to show insubordination, it would've been Hilda.

"Erwin," she admonished in a stern tone, pointing a finger up at him. "What kind of man did I raise you to be? You're going to let that girl just sit on the windowsill until she jumps? That's sick and twisted. If you were going to have her jailed or executed you should have done it to begin with. But I did not raise you to be torturing people, Duke or not. And that is most certainly torture."

"You know firsthand what trouble she is-" the Duke began, but he was quickly hushed by the Housekeeper.

"Trouble or not, you are a Duke now. I don't like her one bit but you cannot be doing this sort of thing. Bring her in, feed her, and send her on her way. But do not continue this farce. What would your father think of you? You are his son and you are the Duke, not an animal."

Had Mae'leena been awake, the poor girl would have been ripe with anger, possibly even throwing things at the man below- but as it turned out, only just barely after the sun had risen did she fall asleep, and remained in an awkward position snoring away in the window sill infront of his room. And those that were aware of her presence, on occasion, chanced a glance up- and notable whispers were being exchanged throughout his men.

Erwin spoke in a quiet voice to Hilda, but the looks of his men were not lost upon him. Some of them didn't seem as if they cared about the personal vices of this new Duke. Others knew him from years past and knew what he was like. But some of them just didn't know what to make of the Duke.

And Erwin couldn't afford to look weak this early in his reign.

"It's been one night, in one small rainfall," he said in a hard tone, gesturing up the wall to the snoozing girl. Granted the night had been quite chilly, and the rain had come down in torrents. "I've slept through worse than that. Let her wake up on her perch and let her think about what a pain in my ass she's been. If you want to talk to her through the window or something then you are welcome to it. But she isn't coming back in until she learns a little humility and begs forgiveness. She's thick as a rock, but even rocks can break."

And without another word, the Duke turned and strode away from his elderly housekeeper, leaving Hilda staring at his back, speechless. Being a Duke in these dark times really did harden a person.

The day was a chilly one. Since the evening rains, the temperature dropped ten fold, so that when the rains came again that evening- it was sleeting and coating the sides of the building in ice. Throughout the day, Mae'leena had been shuffling uneasily about up on the side of the wall and from time to time, she'd call down to some of the men below asking for help.

Naturally, it was met with ignorance, for none of the men would dare help her. They would NOT go against their own duke's orders. ANd this left Mae'leena feeling desperate and bitter, and afraid and alone. She had never felt so trapped before in all of her life- even when she was thrown inside the jail cell, so when she noted Erwin returning from his day out, she huddled over by the window, eagerly waiting for him to return to his room....

But that would be hours later, and by then, she was growing desperate and edgy, especially since the sleeting rain was pelting down upon her and making her even colder than before. And she was growing tired of her snot running down her face, and her sleeve, was probably becoming stained as it was necessary to use it as a kerchief to keep herself from eating her own snot.

And she hadn't realized it that, despite being so cold, her entire body was hot in a flush and fever. So it was probably why, after she heard SOMEONE enter inside his room, that she desperately crawled and perched even closer up against it. And waiting for the room to settle down again, and being certain Erwin was alone- her quiet voice came through the closed shutters again.

"Erwin?" she gave a gentle scrape. "Erwin, look, if you're in there. I'm sorry. I really am. I hadn't meant to be so cruel with you."And her words were cut off by a bitingly cold wind that cut through and ruffled through her damp hair and skirts. Her teeth were practically chattering.
"Look, just let me inside. I'd rather suffer your wrath than remain out here. It's freezing and there's ice coating the walls."

She frowned. Did he even care? Was he even listening? Was anybody even in there?
"Look, I know I'm a stubborn fool- and I never meant to make you feel like shit. If anything... I'm the one who's shit."

For she certainly felt like it as she sighed and nestled herself back into the corner of the window.
And she hand't realized how cold her face had become from the chilly winds until hot tears were trailing down the sides of it. Annoyed, she brushed them away and hugged her legs back to her chest.

And like the last few days, this one seemed to drag on forever. Before dawn even broke and brightened the overcast sky, Duke Erwin Therrien was meeting with advisors to discuss the duchy at large. By the time he and his small contingent finally rode their way back through town and into Wulfbauer Keep, the sky had darkened to almost night. With a drop in temperature and a torrential downpour of sleet and ice, everyone's mood was gloomy.

After a quick supper, Erwin retired to his room to pen a dozen letters that urgently had to go out to the four corners of his duchy. Even before he'd dipped the quill into the pot of ink though, a small rapping on the outside of his window brought back the realization that the girl was still out there, shivering and miserable. His mood grew even darker at the interruption.

Until she started speaking. Through her entire soliloquy he sat in contemplative silence, frown deepening at her words. After all the misery she'd brought upon this castle, Erwin didn't know whether or not she was being sincere or conniving. He could hear her teeth chattering though, hear the weakness of her voice.

When the voice ceased and the sound of precipitation took over, Erwin scowled slightly and went back to his letters. He didn't get too far before gently placing the quill down on his desk, standing, and stepping out the doors of his chambers.

A few moments later he returned with Hilda, Bethany, and two armed guards. As the household servants waited expectantly at the door to the Duke's chambers, Erwin stepped over to the window and unlatched it. With a slow exhale of indifference he unceremoniously flung the windows open and was greeted by a faceful of ice and sleet. And a shivering girl who practically fell in.

Without saying a single word, Erwin turned and sat back down his desk. His left hand picked the quill back up and dipped it into the pot of ink, beginning to write on the stack of parchment in front of him. While the maids and soldiers rushed over to throw towels over Mae'leena, Erwin never once looked over his shoulder at them. If one stood at the correct angle though, one might have noticed the hard look on his face, as though he was inwardly berating himself for his unwarranted leniency.

The opening of the window was so sudden she hadn't a chance to catch herself as she fell painfully to the ground. Pain shot up her shoulder as she let out a noise and curled back upon the stone floor. SHe wasn't sure what was happening, what was going on, but just before the door was drawn closed, a sharp crack of lightning flickered into the room and thunder shook the very floors. And then a towel was placed over, and a blanket to keep her warm as the storm was muted behind the closed shutters.

It was in silence she was tended to, the maids barely saying a word. And the first faces she saw were those of the women, who, not one looked her in the face as they tended to her, coaxing her to sit up, or to stand. BUt her legs were useless as she blinked and turned to look as the guards approached, equally ignorant to her, ignoring her face as they moved to help the women get the woman to stand. And it was only when the men turned to address Erwin did she notice his own back to her, a figure about as cold as the stone walls around him- and just as hard and foreboding.

"My duke, the lady- where would you like her taken?"

Though one of the servant women perked up, mentioning a bath. Mae'leena shivered and gripped onto the blanket.
"N-no..."
But no one seemed to hear her as they went on discussing this. And she felt so dizzy, the room around her seeming to swim.

"Yes, a hot bath before the woman catches her death."

Mae'leena made a face towards Hilda- for she was the one speaking closest to her. And as Bethany caught the woman's gaze, she made a face.

"I'll go prepare the bed," Bethany suggested. But it was then Mae'leena's voice broke through.

"I SAID NO!"

Blinking, the guards and women fell silent and peered her way.

"What's the matter with you all?" she said, fighting off the shivering in her voice. "I'm a bloody thief, yet I've been paraded around, given fancy food, a bed and even this dress." She didn't bother stealing a glance Erwin's way, she knew he wasn't looking. "My places isn't up here. Just take me back to the jail cell."

But no one obeyed her, they all simply turned to Erwin and waited for his commanded, all the while the thief stood there, plastered and wet in her dress, shivering and a pool of water was collecting beneath her on the floor.

The Duke continued to stare down at the blank parchment rolled out in front of him, quill clutched tightly in his fingers. For half the day he'd almost forgotten about the girl perched on his windowsill, and now dripping a pool on the floor of his bedchambers. But now...

By Ansgar, she was possibly the most frustrating woman Erwin had ever met. He honestly did not know what to do anymore, seeing as how she acted contrarian no matter what his own actions or words were. All he knew was that he'd had enough of it.

His voice was soft and calm as it spoke, though his hand clenched tighter and tighter around the quill until his knuckles were white. "Do as you see fit, Hilda," he said quietly. "Just...get her out of my castle by morning."

The old housekeeper gave the Duke's back a long look before nodding with a polite "Yes, your Grace." The two maids and soldiers practically lifted her sopping wet self up and led her out of the Duke's chambers, closing the door behind them.

With a slow breath, Hilda gave Mae'leena a stern look up and down and said, "That dress is beyond saving now. But you... a bath and a bed, and then off with you tomorrow. If I hear so much as a peep of protest, young lady, it'll be out into the rain tonight."

Mae'leena groaned.
"Didn't anyone hear me?" But she barely had the strength to protest, and whatever else she was muttering was of little consequence, and once she was dumped into the bath, it sobered her a little bit as she let out a yelp and found herself being scrubbed and brushed down by team Hilda and Bethany. But the woman didn't put up much of a fight before she found herself then dressed in something nice for sleep, then a bed in a well guarded room.

It wasn't the jail cell she demanded, but she was beyond caring as she shivered herself off to sleep. And though she was thankful to find reprieve in a good night's sleep- it did not come. All night she writhed in the bed, nightmares plaguing her- ones of darkness, and of blood. It was in the middle of hte night in a feverish dream she must've been calling out and something that was enough to alert all the guards.

"They'll kill him! They'll try to kill him! The Duke! THe window!" And for the life of her, Bethany had no idea what this fuss was about. To the guards she turned and demanded,

"See that the Duke is safe! I and Bethany will stay with her." She was in no mind to escape anyways, lest she feel the fury that was Hilda's scorn. But as she watched, her hardened expression softened into more of a worrisome frown as Mae'leena's burning hot hands found her own and she continued to mutter and shiver and sweat upon the bed.

A hand to her forehead caused Hilda to draw back with a gasp.
"Bethany. This woman is feverish. Quick, fetch me some cold water and rags on the double."
The least she could do was quell the girl's fevered panic and at least enable her duke SOME night's rest. Oh, she could not wait to be rid of this one!

BUt to see her still muttering, calling out in concern for Erwin, of all people...
It made her wonder- what sorts of dreams was she having? And then a flash of thunder and a call down the hallway made a shiver go down her spine.

"To Duke Erwin's room now! Quick! Get every man in the house and have the others redouble their efforts at the front doors!"

Hilda shot up from the bed ad when Bethany came in, she demanded, "What the devil is going on!?"

"It's.. it's the duke. He's been attacked!"

"Attacked!?"
Mae'leena was all but abandoned as Hilda commanded Bethany to remain, but she was not goin to sit idle as her duke's life was in jeopardy, and as she rounded the bend and pushed through a sea of guards, she gasped to see the duke's room in disarray.

"D-Duke Erwin?"
Oh no.. was she too late?

Echoing footsteps rang all through the castle as soldiers and servants alike rushed up the steps toward the Duke's chambers at the news of a possible assassination attempt. When Hilda reached the door, three soldiers were already there trying to ram their way through the reinforced wood and iron. The door was starting to splinter, but it had been locked from the other side. The sounds of a scuffle that had first alerted the soldiers of trouble had long died down.

Several of the maids huddled together just off to the side, collectively praying to Ansgar for the Duke to be alive. After all, they'd lost four dukes in the last three months. Another death might just break the Duchy.

Finally, one of the soldiers shouted, "It's free!" before ramming his armored shoulder one last time into the doorway. With a immense crack the shattered door swung open into the Duke's sitting room. They were greeted by a face full of parchments blowing haphazardly about from the cold winter wind. The window in Erwin's chambers had been flung wide open, allowing the wind (and sleet and ice) to come pouring in to the chambers. Everything was a mess.

Blood was splattered all along the stone floor, with flecks dotting the walls and the desk. A trail of it disappeared around the corner. With another shout the soldiers scrambled in through the sitting room, past the bathroom and into the chambers. "YOUR GRACE!" they clamored.

There were two bodies lying motionless on the ground, clad all in black leathers and furs that helped conceal the blood that dripped from the wounds in their corpses. A bloodied sword and several bloody daggers lay discarded nearby, just at the foot of the Duke's grand bed, whose sheets were torn asunder by large jagged slashes through the fabric.

And there sat Erwin, back leaned against the far wall of his chambers, a hand clutching the side of his blood-soaked linen shirt. His blue eyes slowly lifted to regard the soldiers as they piled into his room, but his breath was shallow and his skin pale.

Bethany remained at Mae'leena's side. But truthfully, she was scared enough to piss herself. Especially as the Saranthian went on, prattling about the Duke needing to be saved. Was she some sort of witch? She crossed herself and prayed to Ansgar, waiting for news, all the while Mae'leena suffered from delirium and fever.

While the injured Duke was being tended to, Hilda reappeared in the doorway to Mae'leena's room, this time with more armed guards in tow. The look on her face was one of worry and distress, but also one of anger.

"She knew about the attempt on the Duke's life!" Hilda hollered, pointing an accusatory finger at the feverish girl. How dare she! And after the head housekeeper had practically begged with Erwin to show her a little decency and allow her in from her freezing perch. Hilda practically quivered at her own foolishness. SHe should have known that Mae'leena was out to get Erwin all along.

"Arrest her and have her questioned. She knows the truth of it!"

Mae'leena gave no fight when the men came and hand cuffed her, an din fact, when she was thrown into a cell for questioning, the cool, stone floor was welcoming to the flaring heat of her body. But she couldn't tell what was up or what was down anymore as she continued to dip in and out of her fever induced dreams.

The rest of the night, and into the morning, saw no rest for every soldier and staff member of Wulfbauer Keep. Mostly though, the commotions remained above ground. Down in the dungeons the dark musty halls seemed almost... calm. Two guards stood stoically in front of her cell, the same one that she'd been thrown in those few days ago when she'd first been caught.

As if by clockwork, every hour someone came down to check on the feverish and delusional thief, making sure that she was still alive and recovering. They treated her with an almost distant kindness, as though softly pampering her and urging her to quickly recover from her illness -- so that they could viciously interrogate her on the assassination attempt.

If time passed slowly for her, it certainly did for the Duke as well. Much of the previous night was a blur to him, but he only faintly remembered being hoisted back onto his bed, surgeons and physicians working diligently to seal up that stab wound in his side. The two would-be assassins had been removed from his chambers.

As if to make a point, their corpses had been taken down to the dungeons along with Mae'leena, lying prone and on display in front of her bars, as if the sight of them might elicit something from her.

The corpse seemed to be a futile effort, for the few times she did rouse from her fevered state, the very sight of the corpses sent her into a muttering frenzy, which nothing seemed to make very much sense. But somehow, through some of her ramblings, she did manage to ask out, "Is the duke okay?" And though she seemed sincere, no one was buying it as they explained to her the reasoning for the corpses, which only served to anger her.

"What? You think I had anything to do with it? I wasn't even there! Why the hell would you think I'd be in on it?" Then to further the matter, they explained because of her warning... to which she snorted a reply to and glared.

"Warning? If I was aiming to kill him- why would I warn him? Idiots. The lot of you."
But that's about as close as Mae'leen was to acting like herself. She went back into fits of shivering and into a high fever, and had been asleep now for nearly two days with no progress to her health. If anything, she was getting worse.

The guards were indeed perplexed by that, though one nasty looking soldier leered at her and replied, "Maybe you're tryin' to get our Duke off his guard. You did a pretty good job with the bath stunt, girl, so who knows? Safe to say, if the Duke recovers he won't be at all happy with you..."

The guard had said if, which may have been an exaggeration. For though Erwin had taken a nasty wound, he had always been strong and resilient. Even now, under the constant watch of his servants and physicians, he was slowly recovering. The same which couldn't be said for her.

Sometime during the night a maid brought a draught for her to down, perhaps to break her fever. Aside from that though, her only company were the scowling guards watching her twitch and shiver in her feverish delirium.

When the maid tended to her, Mae'leena made sure to inquire about the duke. Though she was in prison and still not quite anywhere near her full health, she still felt the need to inquire, since her fears from the dream were still plaguing her.
"Just tell him to avoid the clock. The grand father clock." she moaned, but naturally, the maid wouldn't think anything of it- after all, how could she or anyone else, except the Duke himself, know the grandfather clock had been apart of the plan. One man had snuck in and hid within the clock, the other- ironically, had found a way to perch on the very same window sill Mae'leen had taken homage to just a few days ago. They had come at him from different directions, and she had seen the cut, seen the blood, and she shivered as she drifted back off into a restless, fever induced sleep.

Erwin's eyes finally slid open several days later, the first sight in his blurred vision being the familiar canopy hovering over his giant bed. His head was pounding and he could feel a cold sweat clinging to his brow. He tried to sit up but found that he didn't have the energy for it. He also found that any movement he made drove a fierce pain up from his left side. With a groan he lay his head back down on the pillow.

Immediately a dutiful maid rushed to his side and exclaimed, "Don't move, your Grace! You're still recovering from the stab wound, and the physicians said for you not to move around."

With another groan, the Duke closed his eyes again. Slowly, faint memories began pouring back into his mind. There'd been a banging on his window, as though even the howling winds were desperate to escape the cold. He'd been in bed at the time but thought nothing of it, until the window crashed open, the latch splintering. Immediately he'd sat up from his bed just in time to avoid the dagger plunging down into his sheets. Somehow in the course of his struggle with the man, a second one had emerged from his clock of all places. He'd felt a sudden fire in his side as a knife plunged into his flesh.

The rest of it was a blur. Somewhere during the struggle he had managed to reach his sword and dispatch both of his would-be attackers, but that was as far as his memory stretched. Between then and now, there was only black.

"The girl knew about the attack," the maid continued, and suddenly Erwin's eyes shot open again.

Around the same time the duke was recovering, so was Mae'leena, for despite their already guilty notions about her, they still needed her more conscious to interrogate her. So it was nearly a week when she came around, groaning and lifting herself up from the cell floor and peering back at the men who, by now, were more bored with her and on edge, then anything. So any funny words to bark at her had long since faded, but Mae'leena- now more alert, was quick to ask questions when someone came around to serve her food.

When she had an update of the situation, she made a face, recalling what had all happened and took the food and water quietly. But even as she mulled over what to think of this all, the servant also informed her.
"And... since you seem to be fairing better- the Duke's men want to interrogate you."

"Interrogate me?"
And she had barely finished her bowl of sludge and water when she was yanked clean out of her cell. Having enough strength to fight back, the woman was hardly an easy prisoner to shove back into a little room where a few of Erwin's elite men were glaring at her through hawk like gazes.

"What is this all about anyway?"

"We want to know how you knew about the attack on the Duke."

"Knew about it!? I thought I told you already-"

"Well we ain't buying it was from a dream!" the man said, and wasted no time slamming his fists hard upon the table. "Now start talking or we're going to make you talk."

"But I ain't lieing!" she barked back. "I was barely conscious anyway. I had a bloody fever. I only saw something in my dream. I thought the Duke was in trouble- I didn't even know that part was real!"

"YES, BUT YOU HAD WARNED US JUST AS IT WAS HAPPENING!" The man roared with enough force it seemed to shake the room.

"What? What are you talking about? How could I have known that!? ANd what's with all of these accusing looks!?" she snapped.

"We have every reason to believe you were in on this attack. And there are only a few options we feel could have made it plausible you'd even know about this attack-"

"What!? In on the attack- what- what are you even getting at?"
And then they told her...

"Like I said, you were either conspiring with the men- or a mage who had seen them through you magics."

Mae'leena's face fell.
"WHAT?!" Angrily she slammed her own hands upon the table and stood up. "THAT IS RIDICULOUS! I AM NEITHER OF THOSE THINGS!"

"THEN YOU ARE A LIAR AND A FOOL!" The man;s voice boomed like thunder. "And we will see you hang for such heresy!"

"But there was no heresy! I wasn't even-"

Whack.
And the man's force behind the hit was enough to silence the woman and send her to the ground.

"See that she's taken back to her cell. We are done here for now. ANd no more food or water until we can get her to talk."A nd with that, the captain of the guard stormed out of the room and Mae'leena, dragged off back to her cell, her entire face black and blue and her nose gushing blood down her face.

"... and that's what she told us, your Grace. That she 'saw it in a dream' and wasn't part of the plot," the captain explained to Erwin later, as he sat in his bed, propped up slightly on a pillow with his torso wrapped tightly with bandages. The maid who had been dutifully spooning small portions of a soup to the Duke sat back to allow her liege room to think and speak.

"She saw it in a dream," Erwin repeated in a weak voice, a frown crossing his face. An unlikely story as he'd ever heard. He tried to move slightly, but winced from the pain in his side. Evidently the stab had taken more out of him that he would have liked.

"Aye, your Grace. More likely she was shouting the warning out of a change of heart. Knowing she'd get caught along with the other two."

Erwin let out a soft breath. Clearly the captain of his guard had a more plausible story than the girl's. The Duke had never liked him, for he was a remnant of the old guard, having served under the Carwicks, and having developed a repugnant reputation. But here, he made a lot of sense. "Find out who those two men were, and who sent them," he commanded softly.

"I want to know what her involvement is in all this. And I want to know it soon." Lifting a hand weakly, he gestured to the captain in quiet admonishment. He wanted answers, but Wulfbauer was not a duchy of torture, not anymore. At least not under his watch. "But do try not to knock her all her teeth out. I'd rather not have to listen to her gumming her story to me."

The captain pressed his lips together in embarrassment but saluted smartly nonetheless. He turned to leave, but Erwin's voice echoed behind him with one last command.

"And send for the church, and for a mordecai. Just in case it turns out the girl's telling the truth, and she really is a mage."

"And just who are these two lug heads?" Mae'leena asked, arms folded across her ample chest.

"Father Brenwald and Sir Walter Rennick."

Mae'leena lifted a brow.
"And am I to know who the hell that is?"

"My dear, I am a man of the church, a speaker of the word and revealer of light. I serve Ansgar and preach his word, and today, that's what I intend to do, child," Father Brenwald said, after marking himself and smiling softly at the girl.

Though Sir Walter was much less amicable as she gave the woman a mean look.
"And I'm a mordecai, warrior beneath the church, commanded by the will of God and our Grand Duke."

Mae'leena still looked unimpressed
"And.. what is the meaning of all of this?"

And soon she'd find out, as the priest went on to bore her in attempts to get her to submit to the will of Ansgar- and repent for her sins- all of which she flatly and rudely refused. And when the mordecai was chiming in, it took a lot for him not to throttle her.

"And to think- I have to remain with this woman until she is finally hanged!?"

Mae'leena just stuck her tongue out from him before the mordecai was dismissed for a break. But the effect only made Father Brenwald shake his head.

"Think about what I say, dear child. It could save your life. Ansgar watch over your soul." And he marked himself again and cupped his hands in prayer before bowing his head and stepping out from the jail.

Watching the men leave, Mae'leena scowled.
"Idiots."
What was this game all about anyway? She'd barely been in Connlaoth a few months and here she was- now being prodded for heresy and an attempted assassination! Ugh, if she were ever to talk to Erwin, he'd get a piece of her mind!

They continued on this path for several days. Between the revolving door of Father Brenwald, Sir Rennick, and the captain of the guard, the hours alternated between discovering whether she was a mage or discovering whether she was an assassin. Given how difficult she was, nobody made any headway. At least on Erwin's orders they'd stopped beating her.

Finally, in the pre-dawn chill of one morning, the captain showed up at her dripping little cell with a pair of shackles in his hands.

"Right then, you're going to explain this whole mess to the Duke himself. And don't be playin' the roundabout game like you've been playing with us. Because he will have you hanged in an instant. You know how much you've already irritated him."

He paused for a moment and leered down at her before calling over his shoulders. "Manacles for her feet too. I don't trust this one as far as I can throw her. Unless I can throw her off the roof."

"Pah! If he was going to throw me off the roof he would have done so without playing these silly games." But not many other words of defiance were blown out hotly from her lips, she was tired anyway- and after having barely eaten anything, she was a lot less voluptuous than she had once been. She still had her curves, but now she had a sharpness to her, and the last week in the jail and her sickness showed evidently in her eyes and the dark circles beneath.

Once she was locked up, she was pushed to move forward, but as she tripped over her own two feet, she scowled back towards the men.
"Come off it already! I can only walk so fast with these bloody things on my ankles!" And despite her protests, she was being shoved forward once again, and on more than one occasion was she hitting the floor again. Her knees were banged up greatly, and her wrists and ankles were getting sores already from the confining wood and metal that bound them, so by the time she was directed into the duke's room, she looked about as ill tempered as a cat.

"My duke, we've brought the woman as you requested." And with a bow, the men returned to being rigid on either side of her, all the while Mae'leena glared back uncertainly at Erwin.

If she looked ill-tempered and unkempt, it was the complete opposite with the Duke in front of whom she now stood. Though sitting up in bed now, he still looked paler than usual as he slowly recovered from the deep stab wound in his side. His own hair was askew from its normal neatness, and the usual day's growth of beard on his chin had grown into something thicker.

The look in his eyes though... they were the same cold hard eyes that everyone was so accustomed to, a gaze that pierced even the toughest of men with their steeliness. If there was ever a time for seriousness, now this was it. No games, no teases, no impassioned sex. He wanted answers now.

As soon as the girl had walked in, the maid fussing about his bandages quickly excused herself and slipped off to the corner of the room, where she could remain invisible until called upon.

Slowly, the Duke took a deep breath, wincing slightly at the movement. It still hurt to breathe, but at least he was conscious and alert now. In a soft and hoarse, but decidedly stern voice, he said in a quiet tone, "Who sent you?"

Where as the others might cower at his cold and hardened face, Mae'leena, too exhausted over all of these lectures and threats and games, found herself breathing a hot sigh at such a question and furrowing her brow.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told your guard. And your other guard. And every other man or maid or woman or servant or dog you sent to question me. Nobody sent me." She shook her head, slowly, numbly before proceeding. "I don't possess any magic. I work alone." She was always alone. It was just how it had always been, and it frustrated her to no end no one was believing her.

"I'm a thief like I told you the day you arrested me. There ain't nothing more to it than that."
And it was only here, after blowing out her answers on a hot breath did she look the man over and notice the difference from his days of rest and healing. It was only at this observation did she adjust the weight in how she stood, the chains tinkling as she moved.

"And those men.." And here, her eyes flickered sheepishly over his wounds. "I haven't a clue as to who they were. When I screamed.. " And here her gaze dropped a little, as did her voice. ".. was worried about you, I was feverish. Screaming nonsense. I could not have known what I said held any ground."

Just great, knowing her luck the feverish craziness she was sputtering because he left her out to die on his ledge now came back on her after he decided to have some decency and a heart to let her in. And it wasn't like she was ungrateful for it, for she had been hopeful to be on her way, far from this place, and from him- even.... even without her jewel, though she knew that without it, she had no means to support herself, with on job, no lovely hood or a method to continue what 'work' she had....
But at least she'd be away from this craziness, for she was just about at wits end as he was as she glowered and scowled at the ground.

And now she was standing before him, asked the same questions she was asked a dozen times over- and she just knew it in her gut she was going to hang for something, that for once in her life, was not her fault.

Erwin stared long and hard at her before tersely ordering, "Give her a chair, and then everybody out."

"But your Grace, what if-"

"I am Erwin Therrien. I don't die that easily."

With that final word, the soldiers and the maids all fell silent, knowing better than to contradict their Duke at this time. They didn't necessarily agree with the decision, but it wasn't their place to speak up now. A chair was brought into the middle of the room and the bound and shackled girl forced down onto it, before the rest of the staff filed out of the Duke's chambers.

Erwin stared silently at her for a long while, his face unreadable. Finally though, he spoke in a soft voice.

"You knew exactly how they would come in and try for my life. Yet you claim to have been dreaming. Do you actually expect me to believe such a tale? I am no fool."

Mae'leena gave a soured look from where she sat in the chair, dark hair hanging across her face and casting her eyes into deeper shadow to mix with the dark circles beneath her eyes.

"Forgive me your Dukeness," she said bitterly, peering right back into his eyes without an ounce of fear. She was tired of all of these games as much as he was. "But I don't give a shit what you think. It doesn't matter what I say here. I'll keep blathering the truth, you won't believe me, but if I lie, tell you what you want to hear, you'll have me hung. Doesn't seem like I'm in the most pretty of spots." In fact, it was just as bad as him keeping her out there on the ledge, and she still felt a bit miffed over that, even if she deserved it... partly.

"But if you're aiming to hang me, just get it over and done with. I can't handle this anymore. I think you've done broke my nerves. I don't even care about my ruby any more. Just throw it in the fires or something." For even she was having a hard time not trembling in his presence, though not out of fear, but from the anxiety that was over whelming her for days upon end. This was just madness. But perhaps, it was only just CONNLAOTH.

Erwin sat up a bit more in his bed, though he winced noticeably at the movement. He too had a sour look on his face, as though she had said something that offended his senses.

"I want the damn truth. If I have to put you on trial to get it, I will do it. But don't presume that I will have you hanged on a whim, because I am a man of the law, not a murderer. If you go to the gallows, it'll be because you deserve it."

He pointed an accusatory finger at her. "But don't feed me a story of portents and dreams, and have to nerve to call that the truth."

Mae'leena glared at him.
"But that is what happened. Ask the maid yourself! I wasn't even fully with it. Not mentally! You had me out on that bloody ledge all night that I was crazy with fever! That's all it was! I don't even fully remember crying out about it neither. How was I supposed to know, what.. whatever it was I saw in my delusional state was actually happening?!" And then she realized, as she put it like that.. it did seem crazy, and a bit too convenient considering the circumstances, and the very idea made her growl at this reality.

"And go ahead, Put me on trial. But my story won't change. There's nothing to change about it. It is what it is, and that's what I saw. Two men coming at you with a knife. Though if I had any sense about it, which I didn't, maybe I should have kept my mouth shut."
Though she knew either way it wouldn't have ended good for her. In fact, if he had died, she'd just got t he noose sooner.
"Are we done here? I really don't have anything else to say. Crazy or not. That's what happened, whether you wnat to believe it or not."

"If that's all you can say on it, then it only makes one thing clear."

He leaned forward with a frown. "Either you are a mage, or you are a terrible liar."

Mae'leena bristled at what he said
"What!?" Her eyes went wide, before they narrowed in anger, but as she jutted forward in a defiant motion, she was met with the frustrating confines of the wood and shackles that now bound her. Glancing down at them, then back up to him, she growled.
"I am neither thing! I never was born with magic, never had the gift. And if I wanted to lie, surely I'd come up with something better than this!"

How else do I explain your story?" came the retort. "It's one thing to dream of violence, it's another thing to dream of a man coming out of my clock with a knife."

And he pointed to the grandfather clock against the far wall of his chambers, the innards still shattered from the struggle with his would-be assassin. How the man had fit inside the thing, he couldn't tell.

Mae'leena made a face as she looked at the clock.
"What- did a midget attack you from that thing?" she shook her head, before glaring over at Erwin.
"Well I don't know what else to say. It is what it is. But if you think I'm some mage, you got another thing coming. Dream magics? That's unheard of." She made a face. "It's not like I have dreams like this all the time. And if I had powers of dreams coming true, I'd certainly wish to be dreaming of something else."

Erwin frowned but stared off at nothing in particular. Clearly neither of them would budge, and he wouldn't be getting his answers anytime soon.

"Roderick," he called and the captain of the guard instantly opened the door and came back in. Evidently nobody went very far these days.

"Escort her back to the cells." He let out a soft sigh. "And alert the magistrate. We'll settle this at trial."

Her cell, or so it would seem, was a welcoming sight after such a nuisance of a meeting. She wasn't sure what Erwin had expected of her, but it certainly was not this. She had nothing to admit, nothing to say, except one situation after another here kept putting her one step closer to the grave. And the night had become remarkably cold, and she was left, shivering most of the night on the cold stone floor- for even the bed of straw could not help her, for she was too prideful, evne then , to crawl into that piss smelling bed.

But as the night rolled onward, voices were carrying her way, breaking her from a dream as she stared up at the moon light cutting hazily through her cell bars. And at the sound, she recognized the voice-f or it was not Erwin's, but that annoying, captain of his guard. And though her face wrinkled at the very sound of it, that expression began to fade as she began to pick up on something else.

"She's an easy scape goat, that one," he went on, telling the men as Mae'leena inched forward, pressing her nose against the bars. "All we have to do is make something up, say the next attack was 'seen' by her. She'll either be guilty for being a mage or in cahoots with the assassins responsible, and the Duke will be none the wiser it's me. Once my cousin presumes the throne, as he is the one next in line, my position here will raise and be cemented, and you will take my place as Captain of the Guard, and reap in the benefits at ten percent, all of you. Now, we have to be careful about this, he'll be extra precautious after we failed the first time..."

And as the men went on to reveal their plan, Mae'leena's eyes widened.
"Those assholes. If only these cellbars weren't between us..."
But as it turned out, Mae'leena was stuck in jail, and any warnings she wanted to give to the Duke would be muted. Whow ould believe her? Who could she trust anyway? But then she had a crazy idea and figured to go out on a whim here-
After all, despite this ridiculous situation she was in...
Duke Erwin had spared her life before.

And so did his one maid, and so when she called on her, she told the guard,
"Yeah, yeah, get me the old maid- I don't know her name. I just know she has wrinkles all ove rher face and silver hair! Yeah, that one!"
And she waited to see if in the morning, the maid would come.

She'd be surprised if she actually showed up, and throughout most of that morning, she was pacing about like an animal. What if she had been too late? But if that were the case...
she'd already be hanging by the noose.

Though still not fully light out, evidently the old maid was already up and about. It took a little while but eventually the tiny wrinkled frame of Hilda stepped into the dank dungeon, her hair a mess and her body covered in a thick robe to keep out the chill. Her eyes were very much alert, and upon laying them upon Mae'leena, her silvered brows curled downward in a deep frown.

"And what is it now, young lady?" she demanded.

Mae'leena made shifty eyes as she looked around the jail, pressing her face up against the bar.
"Well, if we could.... you know, have a moment alone? Like.. privately?" she asked, voice barely over a whisper. "I got something- and I... er... well, I only feel as if you'd be the one to believe me."
Or if not, the one least likely to throw a fit. But, from what she saw, the Duke trusted her immensely, and hopefully more so than his so called captain of the guard...

Hilda scowled at the imprisoned young lady, as though warily watching a wolf at the edge of her sheep pen. Still, she waved the accompanying house guard away, waiting for the click of the door behind her before placing both wrinkled hands on her hips.

"I haven't believed a word you said since you first stepped into this castle. You've been nothing but trouble for the Duke. Erwin, that poor boy, has enough on his plate without having to put up with you as well! Do you know how much is riding on him being able to run this Duchy?"

"Look, I don't care about this duchy or how it's run, but if you care about it, or this new duke of yours, they're going to attack him again! I over heard it this evening!" Mae'leena hissed as she gripped onto the bars. And just before Hilda could get a word in, Mae'leena leaned even closer to the bars, making her voice come out low.
"The captain. The one of the guards. He's got something planned to off Erwin."
She just hoped this damn woman would believe her because, well frankly, she was out of options while she rotted in this cell.

"You overheard? Do you really expect me to believe that Roderick is plotting to murder the Duke?" Hilda said incredulously.

And yet, there was a glimmer in the old woman's sharp eyes that betrayed her hesitation. She'd never trusted the captain of the guard, who only kept his post as a remnant of the old household. If it had been up to her, the Duke would have found someone more capable, more loyal... and more trustworthy.

"And what exactly did you overhear, young lady?"

"Well... they were going to use me as a cop out. And there was more than one of them whispering over it," she said, hoping the glint she saw in the old woman's eyes proved to lead to something fruitful, and if not, at least some shred of doubt that she could at least take this piece of information to Erwin.

"Look.. I know you hate me. And so does he." He, meaning Ewrin, naturally. "But I doubt... rightly hate him myself. I know I'm a criminal, and I know where I stand compared to him. But I ain't no assassin, and I ain't takin' blame for something I didn't commit. And  I couldn't go on with myself knowing I knew about this and didn't at least try to warn him." And here, she drew back, her frown growing small, as her voice came out more quietly.
"And it's like you said... He's got a lot of expectations on his plate..."
And he, at least seemed to care about the people he ruled. Not all Dukes could be charged as guilty for that.

Hilda scowled and looked her up and down, but said nothing. But the old woman's gnarled face wrinkled in concern and, finally, she removed her hands from her hips and wrung them together. There was no reason to believe this girl. And yet, somehow... she did.

"You wait here while I get to the bottom of this," Hilda hissed as an order, notwithstanding the fact that Mae'leena really had nowhere to go. And then, turning on her heels, she stepped to the dungeon door, rapped sharply on it with bony knuckles, and exited as a guard opened the door for her.

The conversation with the captain of the guard was short, stiff, and punctuated by occasional elevations of volume. Of course he denied the whole thing, but somewhere in it the crafty old housemaid knew instantly -- the man was lying through his teeth. Furiously, she stomped back into the dungeon and up to Mae'leena's cell, followed by a protesting guard.

"Get back, you damn fool," Hilda snarled to the guard before approaching Mae'leena's cell. "YOU. I want to know everything you heard. Word for word. There's something fishy going on in my house, and I will find out the truth."

Suddenly, her eyes went wide and her knees began to buckle. This wrinkled white hands at her side trembled uncontrollably as she slid to the cold stone floor in front of Mae'leena's cell. The hilt of a rusty dagger could be seen from just over her shoulder, protruding from her back.

Those old eyes shone with pain and fear for a moment as she looked desperately up at the prisoner. She reached out with a clenched hand, through the bars for the girl before finally her body went limp.

The guard looked down at disdain before peering at Mae'leena. He smirked and winked at her. "I'll have to alert the Duke. He'll be very upset to find that you murdered his housekeeper."

With a bark of a laugh, he turned and went back out the dungeon door, presumably to finish the job those assassins failed to do a week prior, leaving the dungeon empty save for the prisoner and the prone form of a tiny little old housekeeper lying in front of her cell, arm stretched through the bars.

The flickering torchlight caught something clutched in that tiny little hand. The end of a key.

"Wait... what are you-" but it was too late. What was the old fool doing!? Was she really going to approach him by herself!? Oh, how foolish! And when the old woman came storming back, Mae'leena felt ill over this, and very much on edge- as if knowing something would happen.

Then it did. Gasping, Mae'leena stumbled back a step as Hilda fell down tot he ground, bleeding before her eyes shot tot he man who promised to frame her. Snarling,s he threw herself at the bars.

"You bastard! Come back here and I'll show you how dangerous I can be!" And she gave a few impotent shakes of the iron cell before cursing and kicking at it. She began to pace through the cell, wondering what all she could do. But as it was, she was trapped inside the cell. But then the glimmer of something silver caught her eye, and she cautiously crept closer towards Hilda.


The key.

From the doorway, the voice of the captain of the guard drifted into the cells.

"Is it done?"

The muffled voice of the other guard answered.

"The old crone was getting wise to us. It's alright though, they'll pin it on that stupid girl and nobody will be the wiser."

"Good. We finish the job tonight."

Mae'leena was quick to grab the key and hide it on her person, glaring at the men, even though they were hardly paying much attention to her.

"If anyone is stupid, it's you. The Duke ain't that naive to be fooled into another assassination attempt."
Well, there was that one time in the bath tub his judgement was a bit... but she wans't trying to kill him and

Well, that was neither here nor there. And they weren't talking about sex. They were talking about taking the man's life. ANd she boldly glared at them through the bares. All the good that would do her! But still, it made her feel at least a little better to know that, despite them being villainous, they hadn't stolen her pride yet. Those bastards.

Roderick's head peeked in through the doorway and glowered at Mae'leena. His eyes drifted down to the prone form of Hilda on the ground, and with a snort he spat on the wall. She'd always been a pain in his side, as though she suspected his loyalty. She had been right, of course. But now it was too late.

"You keep your mouth shut, murderer. The hangman'll come for you soon enough."

And with that, the two of them slammed the dungeon door behind them and disappeared up the stairs, leaving Mae'leena to contemplate her fate.

And keep her mouth shut she did, glaring silently at the man until he left, and she waited until long after the echoes of his footfalls faded before slipping in the key and pushing her sell door open with a whine of it's hinges. She peered around, it seemed as if she was the only one left in the dungeon. Peeking around some more confirmed she was.

Not about to curse this blessing, she swiftly snuck out into the hall, heart beat racing as she tried to recall the way up to Erwin's room. But would she be too late? Though something caught her eye at the end of the hall, and it was then she realized she had caught up to Roderick and his men.

Mae'leena hung back, trying to over hear if they were about to say something when she heard a gasp from around her. It was Bethany with a tray of tea, and before the girl could scream, Mae'leena was upon her, a hand over her mouth.
"Don't drop the tea, just listen," she whispered harshly to the young maid. "Hear those men?"
And when Roderikc's voice perked up, both women fell silent.

The voices from around the bend were low, even for this quiet wing of the castle. Roderick and his lackeys likely did not expect anybody to be listening, but they kept their words hushed for a reason. After all, what they were doing was as high treason as they could get.

"The younger servant girl will be bringing the Duke his tea any moment now," the captain of the guard said in a muffled voice. "When she does, I will go in and inform his Dukeship that the old hag was murdered by that stupid girl in the prison."

He pointed a finger at the shorter guard. "You make sure there is nobody between him and the cells. The Duke'll rush down there, and we'll do him in there. And the prisoner as well. Make it look like a struggle."

A quiet laugh among the three men. "When my cousin becomes Duke, you'll both be bathing in gold and up to your necks in women."

From behind Mae'leena, Bethany gave a frantic squeak from behind the hands clenched tightly to her mouth. There were tears in her eyes; evidently she was not prepared for something as vile as this.

"Hey, hey, keep yourself calm!" Mae'leena pressed, voice low and in her ear. "Now look, we have to warn the Duke before this all goes down, but  we can't have the men seeing me." ANd she hesitated, hand still over Bethany's lips. "Think you could help me sneak in to warn him?"
They hadn't much time...

Bethany's eyes glistened with tears even as her lips quivered from underneath Mae'leena's hand. The silver tea tray was positively shaking in her grasp, so much so that it was a wonder nobody heard the rattling of the cups.

Still, after another soft whimper, the young maid slowly nodded her head. From around the corner, the guards continued to converse with Roderick. Their voices softly faded away as they rounded a corner and out of sight.

Mae'leena peered around the corner cautiously, holding a breath as she watched as the men disappeared. She then turned back to Bethany, the tea tray shaking in her hand.
"Give me the tray, and you lead the way. There's gotta be some way to get to Erwin's room before the Captain. If we don't, he'll die."
And as much as she had not much invested in this, she was no killer, and in fact, death scared her a lot. But there was something about the troubled and quiet Duke that made her feel for him. Yes, it would just not due to have him be killed.

Bethany was so shaken it took her several minutes before she was guiding Mae'leena through the walls, through the servant's route, and up around a dark bend towards Erwin's room. Mae'leen kept quiet with her, and when they reached Erwin's door, they chanced a glance around to ensure no one was around before Bethany drew in a breath to steal herself and knocked on the door.

"My duke? I have urgent news. Please open up."

A muffled voice came from the other side of the door. "Come in, Bethany, the door is open."

The sniffling young maid opened the large wooden doors into Erwin's chambers, and was greeted by the sight of the Duke sitting at his desk with a handful of paperwork strewn about. He was without a shirt again: the physicians had said it would do him good to let his bandaged wounds air out every so often.

Erwin glanced up to his maid. A regular sight. What he wasn't prepared for was the sight of Mae'leena standing right behind Bethany. His eyes widened and, instinctively, he reached for his nearby sword.

Seeing Erwin reach for his sword had Bethany's breath hitch in her throat.
"My Duke please!" And she gestured for Mae'leena to follow her inside, the door closely swiftly behind them. "Hilda... she.." But the woman's voice broke off, sobs becoming her,a ndi t was here Mae'leena finally stepped forward, still wary of Erwin's blade.

"Hilda's dead, and before you can think to blame me for that, you only have your captain of the guard to thank."

If ever the Duke had a stunned look on his face, it was now. Though to be fair it was still very much unreadable, his body language and the way his hand froze on the hilt of his sword belied his shock -- both at seeing Mae'leena out of her cell, and at the news.

Slowly, his sharp eyes turned from Mae'leena to the softly crying Bethany, who could do nothing more than nod her head even as she closed the door behind her.

Erwin said not a word, but his gaze turned back to the Saranthian with a look that was half-pleading and half-questioning, as though she ought to explain herself.

"They're planning to sabotage you, or.more importantly, to kill you off. I over heard them, and asked for Hilda, hoping I could trust her but she went to confront the men herself and they stabbed her, right in the back infront of my cell." And it was.awful, there was so much blood...

Bethany was still crying, and so Erwin finally stood and stepped over to the young maid to offer a comforting hand. His own eyes were slightly narrowed at the news, but he refused to let any grief show, at least externally. His sheathed sword was clutched at his side even as he patted Bethany on the back.

Looking back to Mae'leena with hard eyes, his stony voice emerged from his mouth, almost hidden behind a thickening salt-pepper beard. He hadn't shaved in a week.

"How did you get out of your cell?"

"Hilda came with a key before they killed her. They must've forgotten and it was in range for me to grab after she was killed. So yeah, I got out with the key." She explained, shifting het weight unevenly beneath his gaze.

The Duke fell silent at that, and his eyes slowly drifted away from Mae'leena to stare off at nothing in particular. The only sound left in the room was the soft wind outside, and Bethany's soft mewling. Slowly, Erwin's lips pursed together, as though holding in whatever explosive words he had for the moment.

The only words that emerged from his mouth, though, were spoken softly. His hard gaze turned back to Mae'leena as he asked, "Who is responsible for this?"

The grip on his sword tightened considerably.

"Roderick," she told him carefully, growing a bit wary at the way he stood, anger gripped to his blade. "The captain of your guard. They were planning to act against you tonight."
And though she tried to sound confident in her words, they drifted off in nearly a whisper at the end. Was he upset at her? Was he going to pin this blame at her and twist it around so she was guilty for something else? She'd hate to see his wrath beyond what she had already witnessed,a and she found herself feeling numb as she stood there inside his room.
This was like a nightmare. A terrible, terrible nightmare.

"Just Roderick?" Erwin asked slowly. Surely the captain of the guard would not dare to act alone in such a treacherous endeavor. But if he had swayed some of his underlings to his cause, and the Duke did not know of their identities...

Luckily, Bethany finally found enough courage to fight through her tears and stammer out two more names. "I... I saw Jaymes and Lewin," she squeaked. "I don't... I don't know if there are others."

"I don't know the names of your men, but the two ugly fellows who kept glaring at me," Mae'leena added, still keeping herself in a poised and cautious stance. "But there was a group of them. He was not working alone. He mentioned something about his cousin taking your position and that the others would get gold for their time in helping conspire against you."

"Jaymes. Lewin. Roderick." the Duke repeated, his eyes drifting past the two girls and to the doorway. Any moment now, a knock would likely sound on the door to tell him about Hilda... and to spell his end. He let out a soft sigh. Things were so much easier as a soldier, when he could absolutely count on the loyalty of his fellow brothers-in-arms.

Turning, Erwin stepped back into his chambers where several more longswords hung from ornamental racks high up on the stone walls. Just underneath them was a beautifully carved gun, the stock depicting a blossoming arbutus. He removed both the gun and the swords from the rack.

"I hope you know how to use one," he said as he handed both girls a sword. Bethany clearly didn't. She stared wide-eyed down at the blade, clutching it with both hands.

"You're giving us swords?" she asked, obviously just as stunned as Bethany. Though she knew somewhat how to wield a blade, she had only really ever wielded a dagger. Frowning, she gripped the hilt and stared at Erwin.
"So do you really expect us all to fight them? Wouldn't it be smarter to, I dunno, do some sort of surprise attack instead?" Taking them head on seemed like suicide!

"I expect you two to defend yourselves," the Duke replied tersely, eliciting another scared whimper from Bethany. Erwin himself had a sword in one hand and his wheel lock pistol in the other, the pan already primed. "If it comes to that. Roderick may be the traitor you say he is, but he is also a seasoned warrior."

His eyes drifted back to the door. "The moment they see you two, they'll know their scheme is exposed. You should hide. If it comes to a fight, I'm the one they want."

And just then... the sound of footsteps from down the hall.

Mae'leena cursed.
"This is a half-assed plan if I ever heard one." But at the sounds of footsteps she hadn't a choice. Sparing one look Erwin's way, she grabbed onto  Bethany's sleeve and rushed off with her.
"Stay behind this end of the changing screen, I'll remain on the other," she hissed out the orders to Bethany, then drew in a breath and held it- and kept her ears open and waited to see (or rather hear..) what would happen...

"There is no plan," the Duke muttered under his breath, his eye firmly on the door. He slowly placed his sword on top of his work desk and sat back down in his chair, the gun on his lap. The guards would be here soon, and there wouldn't be time for a plan.

He didn't know who else was part of this scheme, and couldn't count on any of the other household soldiers with complete certainty. In fact, the only people he could count on were in this room with him, and it seemed as neither of them knew how to use a sword.

If he was to die, at least he'd do it a soldier, not a Duke.

The knock came. "My Duke, urgent news that requires your attention," came the muffled voice of Roderick, the captain of his guard.

Erwin breathed out slowly and replied, "Come in."

The second Mae'leena heard the man's voice, she froze. Even her heart felt as if it had stopped, but then hearing Bethany's soft whimper, she turned to the other woman and gestured to her lips for her to be quiet. Last thing she needed was a weeping woman to give them away!

"Just stay back here if you can't fight," she hissed. "And don't start crying! You'll make things worse!"

The door slowly swung open and two guards stepped into the room, followed shortly by Roderick himself. They all had feigned looks of distress and grief on their faces, though it didn't take Erwin much effort to see past the sham. For one, none of them had ever been on good terms with Hilda. The moment Erwin had become the Duke, some weeks ago, she'd immediately taken charge of the household staff, something that Roderick had found decidedly unbecoming for a man of his station.

The Duke turned to face the three of them, a calm look on his face as his hand drifted up the stock of his handcrafted gun. Surely he didn't look out of place.

"My Duke, ah... there's been some tragic news," one of the guards said in a soft voice, as though he himself cared. "There's been a murder downstairs."

And though Erwin had kept his own stony visage the entire time, that small mention of his Hilda brought a twitch to his eye.

Roderick noticed it.

"Yeah, one you committed you asshole," Mae'leena seethed through a whisper, not loud enough for them to hear, but she was definitely glaring daggers through the changing screen in which she hid. She could sense Bethany was trembling and about to sob and cast her the meanest of glares. If this woman ruined this moment- they could all be dead!

The guards maintained their feigned grief, though for a brief awkward moment neither they nor the Duke moved. Their gazes met in a stalemate, the guards not knowing what else to say as Erwin stared at them with cold hard eyes.

"A murder, my Duke," Roderick continued. "Hilda, she's dead."

And then Bethany could not hold it in anymore. "IT WAS HIM!" she whispered in a trembling voice. Realizing her mistake, she clutched a hand to her mouth, but it was too late. A sob came out and echoed across the room.

All three guards turned their heads toward the changing screen. It was Roderick who recognized the voice first, and cursed.

"SHIT, HE KNOWS!"

The sounds of swords drawing here punctuated by the loud ear-splitting bang of a gun being fired as Erwin shot Jaymes through the chest, sending the man flying backward in a shower of blood and smoke. Tossing the gun aside, the bandaged Duke stood gingerly from his seat and tossed the gun aside to reach for his own sword.

Mae'leena could have jumped clean out of her skin at the shout of the men, the scream from Hilda, and the bang of the gun. But she hadn't the time for really anything beyond making a hasty retreat from behind the screen, which she found, worked doubly well as a weapon, fr as the men came after her- seeing she had escaped; they charged her seconds after their surprise subsided- and she- well, she rammed her shoulder into the screen, using it to fall on top of the two approaching men- and managed for it to only hit one of the two of them-
But it was still enough to make a difference and she clumsily held up her weapon defensively and growled at the on coming man.

"Bethany, get the hell out of here!" She was useless anyway. "And warn the others. Someone- anyone about this treason!"

The girl still stood there with wide tear-filled eyes, the sword clutched uselessly in her trembling fingers. Apparently she was too in shock to even listen to Mae'leena, let alone move an inch. Lewin still approached them with his sword drawn, a look of grim determination on the traitorous guard's face.

He knew it. They all did. The only way for him and Roderick to survive now was to cover all their bases and kill everyone who knew of their treacherous plot. Roderick, having been toppled by the falling screen, was slowly picking himself up off the floor.

As Lewin brought his sword down at the screaming maid, Erwin suddenly interjected himself into the melee, his raised sword deflecting his opponents and sending him stumbling back. The Duke let out a low grunt of pain as his other hand immediately clutched at his bandaged side. Evidently that wound had been more grievous than anyone could have imagined.

"Bethany, GO!" the Duke shouted, roughly shoving the girl out of harm's way and toward the door. It was only then that she squeaked out a sob and made a mad dash for the door past the recovering Roderick.

"You, get out of here as well," he muttered to Mae'leena through clenched teeth as he prepared for the two guards to come at him again. Their plan now was to obviously kill all three of them -- but surely they would attack the most prized target first.

Mae'leena couldn't believe this. This was madness, and just when Erwin was barking out commands for the women to go, Mae'leena did quite the opposite, and grabbed the nearest, heaviest vase and hurled it at Roderick's head with as much force as she could.
"Yeah right, you can't fight in your condition!" she snapped. "Besides, just because I ain't no good at fighting don't mean I can't start throwing shit at these men to make 'em hurt!" ANd as Roderick was trying to recover from the vase to the face, Mae'leena whirled around just in time to see another sword swinging,a nd this time it was at her. She was barely able to evade it, and picked up a nearby chair and began to use it as a shield- deflecting the attacks and dancing back as the man continued to advance upon her, his weapon aggressive and his swings, sharp.

Never mind that the vase she just threw was worth quite a bit of money, the situation certainly called for it being shattered across Roderick's face, causing the fallen captain of the guard to scream in pain. Erwin couldn't be angry at her now.

Nor could he be angry at her for not following his command and running out after Bethany. Out of the corner of his eye he just spied the frightened maid reach the doorway and out to safety. The two traitorous guards saw it as well.

Lewin continued to advance at Mae'leena, the sharp edge of his sword sending splinters flying from the chair legs against which it impacted again and again. Erwin tried to intervene again but the man was larger than him, and his wounded side did not make for a fair fight, even with two of them facing just the one man.

It never became a two-on-two though, as Roderick finally climbed back to his feet, his face cut up by broken shards of ceramic from the vase that had struck him clean on the face. The captain took one look at the situation -- and also dashed for the door.

Mae'leena had enough of this. If she didn't act soon, she'd be cut to ribbons. So she did the only thing she could think of, and with a shout- she charged full force towards Lewin, and startled him and forced him to become pinned against a nearby wall, temporarily keeping his attacks at bay.
"Erwin! Knock this guy out or somethin'! Quick!" For she was certain she couldn't keep him pressed against that wall for long.

Erwin rushed forward as soon as Lewin found himself pinned up by the chair. But rather than incapacitate the man, instead he asked grimly, "Why, Lewin? WHY?"

The guard gave him one look, lips pursed and eyes narrowed before grunting out, "Nothing personal, my Duke. It's all just business." And he lifted his hand to fight off Mae'leena's chair.

With a solid 'CRACK!' Erwin slugged the guard across the face with the hilt of his sword, sending a mouthful of blood and spit showering both himself and Mae'leena. A second punch knocked out several teeth and crumpled the guard, short sharp breaths wheezing out of his unconscious self as he slumped against Mae'leena.

With heavy exhales, and almost quivering, Erwin immediately turned away from the girl and the heavy body draped over her before making his way for the door.

Mae'leena was nearly knocked over when Lewin fell over, and gritted her teeth that she was now splattered with his blood. She could only be thankful she wasn't on the receiving end of Erwin's ire anymore, and once she was able to shove the damn man off of her, she rushed after the Duke.

"Hey, wait up! I could be more used to you if you just hear me out!" she called, still holding the sword in hand from earlier. "You know that ruby you took of mine? I.. I sort of need. I could use it here. To help you out. I'm sort of better at wielding that than I am a blade."

Erwin was nearly out the door when Mae'leena caught up with him. Though given his condition there wasn't a chance in hell that he could outpace her, he continued out the door nonetheless. He never turned to look at her, but his hard-edged voice replied softly as he tracked his way down the hall in what he hoped was the direction Roderick had gone.

"Wield a ruby? How would wielding a giant gem help me?"

"Didn't you ever wonder how I got up in that chandelier?" she asked, panting as she ran. "Just tell me where it is, okay? I can use it against him. It.." and here she hesitated. "It's not just a big ruby." And she paused a moment before she confessed, "It houses chains inside." And she left out the word 'magic' on purpose. That's all she'd need is to help him with this then be thrown at the chopping block anyway for possessing something of magic.

The Duke halted briefly in his tracks as he absorbed her words. Even in his anger, he still had enough sense within him to process all the information tossed his way.

A ruby that somehow housed chains inside of them. A mysterious girl not from this land, without a clue as to the political turmoil in Connlaoth. The more he thought about it, the more he suspected her secret.

But now was not the time to confront her about it. He only had one purpose at the moment, and that was to bring Roderick to justice.

"Down the hall, first door on the left. You'll find it on a shelf in the back," Erwin replied quietly before continuing forward down the corridor toward the castle's main foyer, grimacing as he felt in his ribs every painful step. He could already hear shouts from that direction. Down the other hall, the door leading down to the castle vaults loomed.

Mae'leena didn't miss a beat. She committed the directions to memory and rushed down the first hall, took the first door on the left, and rummaged through the shelf in the back. The second she saw the glittering ruby, her eyes lit up. Snatching it up, she wasted no time in trying it out,a nd latched the end of the golden chains up high onto the miniature chandelier above her. Seemed like these tools were still working. Giving them a pull, the chains receded and back into the gem they would lie as she kept them pinned up close against her hip and rushed out into the hall.

Now she just had to catch up to Erwin....

From down the hall came the sound of a crash and a multitude of shouts. Rounding the corner of the long hallway, she'd find herself at the top of the long staircase centering the castle's main foyer. Erwin stood halfway up the steps, sword in hand, his other arm wrapped tightly against the bandages of his side. He was breathing heavily, but his attention was down near the front gate.

There, Roderick had Bethany at swordpoint, the disgraced captain of the guard's eyes darting around menacingly as he shouted, "NOT A STEP CLOSER!" The young maid was frightened out of her mind as tears streamed down her terrified face.

A handful of other guards had surrounded Roderick, though they understandably all kept their distance. Evidently they had not fallen sway to Roderick's treachery, though it was certainly possible that they were simply putting up a show in front of their Duke in order to spare themselves an execution.

Mae'leena gritted her teeth as she hissed.
"You can never keep a damsel out of distress." With a shake of her head, she remained just behind Erwin, hoping no one had seen her enter the scene.

"Hey, is there another way down there? I think I might be able to help," she whispered in a voice barely over a hiss. "But I'll need the element of surprise and I don't think your illustrious captain of the guard saw me enter."

Erwin's eyes remained glued on the shouting guard in the middle of the foyer, and the crying hostage in his arms. His muttered reply was a bit hoarse, but loud enough to be audible over his shoulder.

"Across the hall and through the stone arch," his said through gritted teeth. "That's the servant passageway, there'll be a door that leads outside. Cut him off."

And with that he took another unsteady step down the staircase. "Let the girl go, Roderick. Be a man." The captain of the guard replied with a spit toward his Duke as he began dragging Bethany backward and toward the castle's front gates, eyes darting around nervously as his options slowly dwindled.

With her ruby now in hand, she felt much more confident in her abilities. And now that the captain of the guard was trying to get away with all he'd done like the coward he was, she wasn't about to let him get off so easily.  So she nodded to his instructions and gave him a little smirk,
"Thanks, love. I'll cut him off as best I can."
And she left, weaving her way through the narrow servant's passage and found herself outside.

And it was raining. Of course it was raining, but she didn't have time to dwell on that now as the rain was coming down in heavy sheets, slicking her white outfit to her body like a second skin. For now, she had to try to find a place high above the doorway to hide out until Roderick exited-
then she'd make her move.

Seeing a ledge that had enough room that she hoped she could fit, she used her golden chains and once the hook was secured, she let the magical chains draw her upwards through the rain and onto the slippery stone ledge.
It took her a moment to get her balance, but once she did, she peered out over the side just in time to see Roderick opening the gates.

"Oh, no you don't, hot stuff. You aren't going anywhere."
She couldn't hear what the man was saying, but it was evident by his devilish smirk he thought he was going to get away. Not on her watch. Not when revenge could be so sweet.
And with the golden chains in hand, she bided her time until he was attempting to mount a horse, still juggling Bethany- and his blade.

It was enough of an opening for her to strike, and a glint of gold snapped through the air like a bolt of lightning , attaching to Roderick's wrist in one swift motion. ANd the moment she felt it connect, she gave a pull- and suddenly, Roderick was air born. Hearing the chains chiming as they slithered together to retract back inside the ruby, Mae'leen was waiting for the Captain of the Guard, who came sailing her way. He had barely time to register where he was when Mae'leena gave him a smirk.

"Going somewhere?"
ANd then her fist connected to his face, and down off the ledge he fell, landing with a sickening splat in the mud.

Erwin stepped outside into the heavy downpour just in time to see Roderick snatched up into the air by the magical chain and then sent crashing back down into the mud. While the other guards stood, stunned, by the blatant display of magic the Duke crossed the muddy courtyard to where the Captain of the Guard had fallen. He must've forgotten his nobility completely at the moment for he immediately mounted the groaning Roderick and began raining punches down on the man.

The guards were too hesitant to drag their Duke off Roderick, so by the time Erwin collapsed panting off of him and onto his back the Captain's face was purple and swollen. Erwin's face screwed up in pain and anger even as the rain pelted him. By the time he opened his eyes again the other guards had surrounded the unconscious Roderick and were in the process of dragging him away. Others were tending to Bethany, who as usual was bawling her eyes out from the ordeal.

"The mage!" someone shouted and pointed up to Mae'leena up on the ledge. They all had fear and anger in their eyes as they stared up at the girl and her magical ruby. The only one not watching her with wary eyes was Erwin.

"No," he said softly as he was helped back up onto his feet, clutching at the bandages at his side. He also turned his eyes up to her. "Let her be. She saved my life."

Seeing Erwin attack the captain like a rabid dog made her cringe. But she couldn't tear her eyes away, and soon all eyes were upon her.
"Well this is lovely," she muttered to herself, not missing the death glares they were giving her. Give them a stick of fire and surely they'd have seen her burn. THankfully she was all the way up there, and them - all the way down in the mud. Mae'leena made a most unpleased face at them, but when Erwin turned to her, she bristled a little, only easing up a small amount after his comment.

But she still wasn't about to come down there. Not when it seemed as if all the rest were still looking for blood.

Erwin kept his eyes locked on Mae'leena, droplets of rain running down his face and dripping from his chin. The other guards were also regarding her suspiciously, but they had their orders from the Duke. All it took was a quick glance from Erwin before the guards all scurried off to do their respective duties. Behind him, Bethany was quickly being ushered back inside and out of the rain.

Soon, it was only the two of them left outside in the rain, with barely a trace of the conflict with Roderick, save for a small spot of blood in the dirt where Erwin had broken the man's nose with his punches. The Duke diverted his gaze and looked blankly across the empty courtyard. With all the excitement died down, it finally actually dawned on him that Hilda was dead. The woman who had raised him from childhood.

He felt a knot inside his chest and grimaced slightly, hand balling into a fist. He would have grieved, but now that he was a Duke there was no time for such things. Instead he took a breath to steady himself and turned for the castle.

Glancing up at Mae'leena, still perched high on the ledge, he bit his lip and finally said, "I'm sorry for everything I've done to you. You're free to go, if you wish."

As the rain continued to pitter patter upon her, she almost didn't hear his apology. Blinking, she braced herself against the wall and held hr breath, and once it did reach her ears, she was shocked at it.

"Go?" she called back down towards him, her voice echoing, even in the rain. She could have laughed.
"And where do you expect me to go? Now that your men all had all a good look at me and know the secret of my ruby... I'll be hanged!"

And frankly, she was not looking forward to a future,t hat was well... so...

ghastly? deadly? Yeah... anything but death would be nice....

Erwin had already turned for the door, but stopped in his tracks. The words she spoke were true, and they sent a small chill through him, colder than even the cold of the rain. He turned back to her with a frown.

"Away from Connlaoth. You've seen the situation here. You know what people think of mages." Even though he didn't share in those beliefs. If anything, he would have liked to take her ruby and try it himself, but that was no way for a Duke to act. Especially with such a delicate political situation looming over both him and Wulfbauer.

A thought occurred to him. He was the Duke now. "If you remain in Wulfbauer, I promise no harm will come to you. Winter draws near, and we have no need for anymore bloodshed."

Except for one man, of course, who would hang very soon.

Mae'leena wrinkled her nose. Despite after all that happened (or maybe because of it) she was still not apt to believe him.

"Wulfbauer ain't all of Connlaoth," she told him with a bit of fire, the winds picking up and tossing her dark hair about. "How can I be sure I won't be beheaded along with your Captain?"

"Like I said, if you don't like it here you are free to go," Erwin replied one more time. How had the relationship between the two of them become so strained? She had spent so many days infuriating him, driving him to the edge of his patience. But she'd also saved his life. Not to mention the intimacy they'd shared in his tub. It was as complicated as Connlaoth itself. "Your choice."

He turned away again, blue eyes blazing. He had a Dukedom to run. And a traitor to sentence. And an old frail lady to bury.

Sighing, she decided to relent to his invitation, and with a chiming clink of her gold chains, she slipped down onto the ground near him.
"Fine, but I'm keeping my ruby," she said, and suddenly took him by the arm as she smirked. "And do I get a big, fluffy bed too. Since I'm presuming you wouldn't kick out such a high class guest," she teased, squeezing his arm as she hitched her enchanted ruby to her hip.

Her sudden change of demeanor caught Erwin by surprise, and the hard look he gave her was one of seriousness. Surely she was used to it by now. Yet, he made no move to tug his arm away just yet.

"No more funny business. I hold no ill will to mages, but even I can only do so much."

This screamed of a bad idea. But, aside from on the battlefield he hadn't exactly made a name for himself as someone who was chock full of good ideas. With a last small exhale, he slowly began making his way back toward the front gates of his castle, where a towel and a shirt was waiting. Oh, and with a drenched girl in tow.

Mae'leena snorted and swiped her damp hair from her face.
"I ain't no mage. Just the ruby holds magic. I don't," she told him with a roll of her eyes. "Pretty sure there's a difference there, love."

He shot her a little frown. "If there is, I don't know it. And I doubt anyone else here knows it either. So... keep your ruby out of sight."

Stepping (or rather, limping) out of the rain, Erwin was immediately greeted by a gaggle of maids offering him clean towels to dry off with. One of them even was so generous as to offer Mae'leena a white towel, though she did so with a wary eye. Erwin shrugged away Mae'leena's arm as they stepped out of the downpour, and dried himself quickly so that he could step over to where they were treating Bethany, still bawling her eyes out.

"Thanks, doll," she said, plucking up the towel and ruffling it through her dark hair. She patted it down around her body, before pausing to observe the Duke, and the now bawling Bethany.

"Hey, you ought to stop them tears right? You and your duke are still alive, right? That's enough to be thankful for."

Bethany took one look at Mae'leena before the waterworks started again. Clearly she wasn't ready to handle such trauma.

Erwin was about to agree with the Saranthian, when he suddenly remembered.

Hilda.

A knot formed in his stomach and the towel in his hand dropped to the floor as he rushed off toward the dungeons.

Not about to be left behind with the crying broad (as she was not exactly comfortable with women like Bethany anyway, or tears for that matter), so she called after Erwin, "Hey! Wait for me!" ANd jogged after him, quickly reaching his side.

"Where are you going in such a hurry anyway? Think there's another conspire-er in the castle?"

Erwin all but ignored his follower and rushed down the flight of stone steps toward the castle dungeons. By the time he reached the doorway, two guards were already there. They turned their heads at the sound of footsteps and saluted the Duke, but the looks on their faces were grim. One of them gave the Duke a solemn look and shook his head.

Behind them lay a body, covered gently with a white sheet to spare her any more indignity. With a sinking feeling in his gut, Erwin leaned heavily against the stone wall with a hard look on his face. Hilda really was dead.

The guards quickly pulled up a chair for the Duke and eased him into it before casting uncertain glances to each other. Quietly, they left Erwin and made their way back upstairs to wait until summoned again.

It wasn't until she saw the cloth laying over the body did she realize why he came here, and awkwardly she hung around the door. It wasn't until after a few minutes of silence did she release an awkward, breathy laugh.
"You know, I owe that woman my life. She was killed because she was the only one that believed me, that Roderick was up to something."

Erwin sat there with his head in his hands, silent for the moment. There was an odd hollow feeling in his gut as he stared at the covered body. Things had gotten progressively worse ever since he became the Duke. First his father, and then the attempt on his life... and now this.

"I owe her my life too, and more than that," he replied quietly with a shake of his head. A rare soft laugh of irony bubbled from his mouth, to match hers."This Dukeship really is cursed. You should run while you can."

"Yeah, well I ain't planning to stick around that long. I've got my own set of eyes. I've seen what crazy hell this place can turn into." She shook her head. "But as you said, the winter's aiming to be bad. Though I tend to gamble my luck alot. Maybe I can get south before the snows come. After all, it ain't winter yet."

"If you want to take that route, you'd best get started now. By the looks of it, this rain will turn to snow any day now."

With a sigh and an even harder look on his face, he called for the guards. "Take Hilda away from this place, and send word to Arbutus Vale. She deserves to buried at home."

Mae'leena lifted a brow at him.
"Can't wait to get rid of me, eh? Well I ain't leavin' right now. It's dark, it's cold, and it's wet." She shivered to emphasize this. "You're stuck with me for at least one more night." She'd be crazy to travel other wise!

Erwin waited with a heavy heart as the guards gently took up Hilda's body and took it away before saying, "After all I have done to you, stay as long as you wish. My apology."

He stood. "I never want to be down here again. Let's go."

Mae'leena was hoping her perkiness might help ease the dismal sadness that over took the graying Duke, but it seemed any pleasant tone in her voice might have been lost. He looked so melancholy, and something pulled at her heart. Did sh actually care this Duke was sad? She tried to shake away the thought and followed him in silence. Perhaps he needed his space.

As he led the way back up, the flickering torchlight gleamed the soft sadness in the Duke's blue eyes. By the time they reached the main level of the castle, though, those same eyes had once again steeled themselves into something harder. Though a pall had been cast over the entire castle over the death of Hilda, business went on as usual. For the most part.

A trusted advisor, upon seeing Erwin, immediately approached. A few words of condolences were followed by reminders of a dozen or more meetings he had to attend that day, more than a stack of papers and correspondences to peruse, and many more things. It took the Duke only a few words for that entire calendar to be wiped.

"I need to clear my head," he said, and that was the end of that discussion. Though the advisor would have argued against pushing back so many important issues, he knew the Duke needed this time to grieve. With a nod of his head, the little man disappeared.

Turning to Mae'leena, Erwin said, "I am going for a ride, away for this castle. If you wish to retire to your room, I'll see that a bath is drawn for you."

He started to turn, but then stopped. "If you're capable on horseback though... the staff can find you suitable clothing for the weather."

At such an offer, the thief titled her head.
"Eh? You want me to ride with ya?"
But she was no fool. Turning down his offer, and it was such a rare offer, would be foolish.
"Well, I've been known to ride a horse from time to time."
But she was no elegant rider by any means- and in fact, was a bit terrified of horses. But the Duke didn't have to know that. And as she smiled at him (as it seemed she was the only one capable of attempting to pretend it was 'sunny'), she patted him on the shoulder and said, "Sure, I'll ride with ya. How's a girl to refuse a ride in the rain?"
But then she paused to add, a bit sheepishly, "But I will be allowed a bath when I return, right. I mean, I'd hate to get your beds all smelly like horses and sweat."

Erwin gave her one long look before nodding his head. "Whatever you want."

The entire castle had become blanketed by a palpable feeling of sorrow, and so the Duke did not press any of the staff to help him. Rather, he returned to his room and quickly threw on some warm riding clothes, boots and gloves.

By the time someone had found some weather-appropriate clothing for Mae'leena, the Duke was already out in the stables saddling his favorite horse. The rain had stopped for just a moment, but the dark clouds looming overhead still threatened to pour at any moment. And with the air becoming chillier by the moment, it seemed as though the rain might turn to snow any day.

It was chilly by the time Mae'leen had returned, and she was well layered- but in men's clothing. She would have arrived sooner, but she had to fight with the maids that she did not want to wear a dress. Most common women here didn't anyway, and when riding a horse, it seemed silly they wanted her to dress all proper. She eventually had gotten some men's clothing, even if they were a bit big on her, as she made her way to the stables.

She saw Erwin but before she could say anything, a harsh wind cut between them and burned her cheeks a fiery red.
"By the Gods, if my nose doesn't freeze off before we return..." But she shook her head of it and peered over at him. He looked so solemn, so remorseful and more distant than before.

"So.. where are we going?" She just assumed the Duke had some large lots of lands they could just run across. And despite the chilly winds, the idea actually sounded pretty fun-
and much like her companion,s he wanted to forget the events of the day as much as he.

Erwin shrugged his shoulders at the question. "As far as I need to go to clear my head. I assume you've already been through the city? You must have, to reach this castle. We can go further than that."

Seeing her flush in the cool wind, he gestured for her to come inside the stables. His own horse was standing at attention, not paying mind to this new woman nearby. A second horse turned to look inquisitively at Mae'leena.

"Wulfbauer surrounds this castle, but the town is not too big. There are fields and hills beyond."

"Well, if it ain't obvious, I'm not from around here- or even this country,"s he went on with a shrug. "And I've seen the city enough to know that the big, stone buildings are the prime places to thieve."
No use in lying to him. He already knew what she was.
"And if we're really going out there to clear your head... sure we shouldn't pack for an overnight trip?" she quipped, eyes dancing at the jest.

Erwin considered it for a moment before scoffing slightly. "We'll be back before nightfall. And if not... well I'm the Duke. I'm sure I can have it taken care of."

He gave his horse a gentle pat on the nose before handing the reins of the second horse to Mae'leena. "I have enough plans and obligations in my schedule as it is. We can wing it this time."

Mae'leena beamed.
"That's more like it. Be like the wind, free to go where ever it wants, when it wants. The winds have no rules, and the winds bow down to nobody."
With a rock on her heels, she took the rein in hands and patted the horse upon the nose.
"She got a name?"
Of course she meant the horse.

"Argent," Erwin replied softly. "She was my father's. That means you will be riding a Duke's steed."

One last glance out the stables and back toward the massive wooden doors of his castle brought another frown to his face. In one smooth, albeit slow, motion (and with a slight wince), Erwin mounted his own horse. It gave a gentle snort before trotting to the stable entrance.

"Enough of this castle. Let us ride."

"Argent, huh?" She smiled at that and continued to pet the horse's long nose, and her smile only grew when he revealed who's horse it used to be. "Well, I'll take good care of her. She's a pretty horse."

Mounting her horse right after Erwin had, she gave a light kick to Argent's side and was soon off and running behind Erwin. The wind through her hair felt amazing, and at the speed they were going, she felt as if she were flying.

"I could run like this all day!" she called after to Erwin.

Their ride took them out of the castle and through the town of Wulfbauer, the thundering hooves of their horses splashing up puddles of water in the rain-soaked streets. All around them, citizens went about their business; few looked up at two riders emerging from the castle. After all, it wasn't so uncommon a thing in this Duchy for horsemen to come and go. The province was known for its horses.

Those who did look up and recognize the Duke all did the same thing: gasp and then fumble into a bow or a curtsey as the pair rode by. Erwin gave them only the briefest of looks before urging his horse past their curious eyes. Curious not only because the Duke was riding in such weather, but because of the strange girl who followed suit.

Eventually they came to a long bridge that crossed a fast-running river, marking the edge of the City of Wulfbauer. Erwin reined his horse to a halt and turned on the bridge, wiping rain from his face to regard his home. Up on the hill in the middle of the city stood his castle. Exactly what he needed to get away from.

"If we run all day," he finally said to Mae'leena, "we will lose view of Wulfbauer altogether. The hills will give way to the forest." He gave her a questioning look, but in his mind he had already chosen to continue riding as far as he could go.

Mae'leena had been relatively silent as she followed the duke, taking in the surroundings with glittering, curious eyes. She always loved to travel, considering she never made one place a home- but rain or shine, she was enjoying herself,s o when Erwin addressed her, she only grinned back.

"I'm not tired if that's what that look was for, but from the looks of things, it's as if you want to run away." And of course, her tone was one of jesting.

A small ironic laugh escaped the Duke's lips as he glanced up at the dark grey clouds overhead. The rain was still coming down as a drizzle, but more likely than not it would pick up later.

"Right now? I'd like nothing more," he answered. With a hand, he patted his horse's neck. "Good then. If you can continue, so can I."

With that, he tugged at the reins and crossed the bridge into the countryside.

Mae'leena's smirk grew. Following after, she allowed herself to enjoy the sensation of the wild wind and rain through her hair, and as her horse neared Erwin's, she called after him,
"You know, I never helped a Duke run away from his kingdom before." And her eyes danced at such an idea, the horse still thundering beneath her.

Was he really running away? Somewhere in his mind he knew that, eventually, he'd return to the castle and take charge of the Duchy once more.

But for now, it felt real.

"I've never run away from anything before either." And I'm not starting now, he thought stubbornly to himself. But it was pretty clear that he was trying to escape the stress that came with the job. At least for the moment, riding into the wilderness with nothing but wind and rain in his face made him feel more alive than he'd felt these last few months.

They were still riding when the sky began to darken into evening. All around them were the hills and forests of Wulfbauer, with barely a structure to be seen. At least the rain had worn off a little bit. With a tug of the reins, Erwin slowed his horse down and gave Mae'leena a questioning look. "We might have ridden farther than we ought to have ridden."

Mae'leena laughed at such a claim.
"What do you mean? Haven't you ever ridden on a horse after dark?" And she gave him a coy grin, eyes sparkling. "The best adventures are always in the night, love. Keep riding. I'll show you."

"You don't know these lands like I do," he replied.

But in the fading light, and given the events of the previous morning, that little fact didn't really matter to him right now. He just wanted to get away, Wulfbauer be damned. It didn't matter that she was a stranger to these lands. He hadn't really been paying attention anyway, and their current location might as well have been a foreign country to him.

"Lead the way, then," he said to her. "I'll follow."

Mae'leena flashed him a smile which glowed in the on coming night. The trees were all blacker than shadows as she prompted her horse to ride beside them. Then when a path seemed to open up through the trees,s he coaxed her horse to weave through a path as she smiled through the wind and scent of pine. It wasn't until they were in a deeper and more cozy part of the forest when the stars began to twinkle above and the day faded into just dusts of colors in the sky.

She turned to Erwin, eyes sparkling mischievously in the dark.
"Ever have sex beneath the moon?" she asked. "It's one of the single most exhilarating things."

"Yes," he replied, giving her a pointed look from his saddle. Was she honestly suggesting such a thing, given all that had occurred between the two of them? And all that he'd lost in the last day...

A part of him felt disgusted at her even suggesting such a thing, but another part of him spied the way the moonlight caught her figure, how it accentuated her curves even underneath all the additional riding clothes his servants had piled onto her. Was it shameful for him to look at her in such a way?

"But never in the dead of winter," he added.

Mae'leena wrinkled her nose gleefully.
"Good thing for us it ain't winter yet. Come on. Get out of those stuffy clothes and let's roll around in the pine needles," she said as she dismounted from the saddle. "I haven't had good sex since we fucked in the bath- and I won't lie, I'm dying to have another go with you." And here she paused and caught his look.
"And you shouldn't hesitate. Sex will help make you forget. You were running away, weren't you?" And she moved towards the laces of her dress. "Let's just forget it all together."

Her words brought a bit of anger bubbling in his gut, not at her but at himself for even allowing himself to listen to such nonsense. And yet, he found himself dismounting alongside her.

"How can I ever forget?" he countered, so near to her. "To forget the treachery of my own people, to forget those who I have loved and lost?"

He was almost bristling when he said those words but somehow in the midst of his little tirade he found that he had roughly gripped his arms around her waist and had forcefully drawn her near.

She felt a fluttering inside her, was it fear, excitement? Or maybe it was the chill from the rain? Either way, her eyes still danced as the soft noises of rain fell onto the pine trees all around them. She was close enough to him now to feel his heat, and though he held her firmly, roughly- she lifted a hand up now to cup his cheek.

"Yes. Let it all go for another day. Just look at me."
She paused, eyes still locked to me.
"And just take me beneath these trees. Nothing else should exist in this moment, but our bodies, and the wind and rain."

Erwin gritted his teeth together in a mixture of anger and grief, a culmination of all the pent up energy inside of him that he'd kept repressed for the last little while. The exhales from his nose were heavy and long, and the bit of moonlight that gleamed through the rainy clouds seemed to set his blue eyes on fire.

He stared down at her for a while, arms around her tensed and nearly shaking, eyes blazing. He needed an outlet for all this energy.

With a slight scowl he drew her close to him and pressed his mouth down hard upon her lips, kissing her with a mixture of passion and irritation. Simultaneously, his hands came up about her body, working deftly to recklessly undress her under the dripping cover of the pine canopy above.

She had to admit that seeing his eyes glow the way they did made her toes tingle a bit in fear, but that soon turned into exhilaration as he began to tear away her dress. Clumsily she retorted in kind, unbuckling this and that, and plucking off the buttons on his clothes. Her breathing was already growing hot, white puffs of breath escaping her lips as she opened his shirt and peeled it away, all the while thick, luscious lips would meet to his, as tongue and teeth played with his lower lip, before her tongue was reaching within.

His touch was all fire and passion as he shrugged out of his unbuttoned shirt, leaving only his bare torso with the bandages wrapped around his ribs. The cool raindrops sent tingles along his body as their icy touch splattered against his bare skin, but he ignored them in the heat of their kissing. He'd slept in worst conditions before.

Having essentially torn away her riding clothes to expose her gleaming caramel skin and her ample breasts, Erwin ran his hands all over her body, feeling the warm flesh beneath the slick layer of dew and rainwater that dripped all around them.

A second small tingle and shiver ran down him from the small splash of water, as he roughly pulled her down into the damp grass.

The rain soaked grounds were a welcoming feeling against the heat of her skin. But even as she was dragged down to the ground, her lips never stopped claiming his. Fingers raked through his hair, her body pressing closely to him as her other free hand blindly groped for and claimed his cock.

She smiled as she kissed him, feeling his rock hard stiffness within her hand as she breathed and moved to work her grip gently down and up his shaft, "You want me to ride you?" she purred. "Or do you need to be on top?"

As they rolled around in the grass, Erwin returned every one of her kisses as his hands grasped hard at her thighs, her backside, and any other exposed skin he could find. Between kisses his mouth went to her breasts, bared teeth and tongue teasing at her hard nipples.

When she grabbed his manhood and began stroking it, he gave a little grunt of pleasure before rolling her over so that he loomed atop of her. "We'll play it by ear," he muttered breathlessly when he found a chance to speak, feeling the warmth of her fingers around him.

Mae'leena's eyes glittered in the shadows beneath him.
"Sounds kinky," she cooed, a hand feeling up the strength of his back and down slid down to his rear, coaxing his rock hard shaft to prod between the heat of her legs.

Erwin needed no other cue, as he abruptly pushed the entirety of his length into her in one smooth motion. Another small grunt escaped his mouth as his hands gripped around her thigh for leverage, and then he began to fuck her. All the while he continued to kiss her and breathe heavily into her neck, blue eyes blazing.

Already little patches of mud were dirtying up their bodies as their copulation sent the wet ground splashing all around them.

It felt so good to get so dirty, and the cool mud was a welcome feeling on her heated flesh. It coated her lightly, and as they rolled and their hips bucked, the pine needles scattered across the mud coated them and fell off in vicious cycles while her lips met to his, over and over again. Hands found their way around him, smoothing up his form and cupping the back of his head and digging into his hair, as her tongue sought his as she breathed, and breathed hot and sweet.

"By the Gods in the heavens, you feel so good," she moaned breathlessly, her hips rolling in tune with his. She could feel his girth and length within her, her sex so tight, so hot, yet he'd be able to move with ease for she was as soaking wet as the rain.

The dirt, grass, and pine were beginning to stick heavily to his body as he dug his fingers deep into her thighs, leaving little red streaks as he rhythmically thrust in and out of her. Sweat mixed with the light rainfall, and with the wetness between her legs has he stared down at her with a hard gaze. The Duke didn't say a word, but a distant flash of lightning illuminated his blue eyes, and revealed just how different he looked at that moment: angrier, more animalistic than ever.

Somewhere behind the mounting frustration and even greater mounting pleasure was the thought that he'd never been this rough with a woman before. But he couldn't stop. Not when he finally had a release for all the pent up emotions that had finally burst out of him. With a growl, he pressed his mouth down on hers again and shoved his tongue into her mouth as their hips and thighs banged together hard with each forceful thrust.

Hard and fast and wild was the way she liked it, and she couldn't deny there was a bit of a thrill to see his expression so- but even she was not immune to the fear it curdled within her belly. Ironically, it only heightened the sensations of pleasure as she felt her sex pulsate and taste more eagerly of his thrusting sex.

"Gods, Erwin..."s he moaned, fingers digging into his hair, into his flesh as she writhed with him, and eventually held her ground just so she could feel the full force of his bucks into her. The slapping was loud, and the sensation intense- she knew she'd be smarting after this, but she didn't care. She had a long few days as well- and somehow she had survived through it all-
and if anything, this was something she also needed, too.

Feeling herself growing near her peak, her hands gripped onto his ass as she arched her back, lips falling open and breaking away from their smothering kisses as she moaned and moaned, louder and louder each time he fucked her. Each time he nearly pounded her into the ground.

His powerful thrusts was also taking a toll on Erwin, as he could feel a burning in his hips and loins to go with the ecstasy building up within him. Even worse, where at the start of their fucking he could barely feel the bandages tightly binding the wound in his side, now everytime he pressed his length into her a painful burn shot up his side. His breaths grew shorter and shorter, and sweat wicked easily off of his brow, matting down his hair.

Her loud moans drowned out any other sounds around them and, with a slight tremble he felt a peak coming about him. Snaking his hands up, he grasped both of her hands and pulled them over her head, pinning them in place before leveraging one last thrust completely into her soaking womanhood. He exhaled a loud guttural growl and buried his face into the side of her neck as he climaxed into her with a shudder.

With her hands above her head, it pulled up on her heavy breasts, leaving them more fully exposed and bouncing with his last, heavy thrusts. And when at long last he was spent, and she- feeling his heat explode inside her, she too arched up into the sensation and rocked her hips as she came. Her sex moved wildly about him, their juices mixing before she released a final sigh of contentment from her screams and melted beneath him. Her hands were still pinned above her head as she breathed, and breathed heavily, but she began to catch her breath after a time and peered up at him with a crooked smile.

Erwin lay over her form, feeling the press of her breasts against him as they both breathed heavily from the exertions. His frustration seemed to have abated at least a bit, from the euphoric ending to their wild sex, and with a clearer head he closed his eyes and just breathed in the cold winter air, each exhale sending out a small white mist from his mouth. The sweat of their bodies drifted steam up into the night.

Peering down at her wry grin, he leaned down and gave her an almost routine gentle kiss on the lips before releasing her and rolling off to lay in the soft wet dirt, eyes peering up contemplatively past the canopy of pines and into the sky. It was all black up there, the rain clouds obscuring everything but a tiny speck of moonlight that somehow filtered down.

Smirking at the kiss, she remained laying there in the mud and pine needles, hands now resting just over her head with the tops of them caked in mud and seeds and pebbles and grass, while the rest of her lightly glowed from sweat that sparkled beneath the faint, laced light of the moon. She watched how the sweat rose up from their bodies in an enchanting mist, before closing her eyes and shifting slightly. And that's when she felt his orgasm spill down her leg.

She wrinkled her nose and swatted at it, pushing it into the mud.
"No one ever said sex wasn't messy," she said with a shrug, and moved to lay on her side as she looked over at him. "Do you feel any better?" she asked, her eyes seeking his.

Erwin's head was still pounding from their joint exertions, and it took some moments of steady breathing and focusing up on the rainy sky for his heart to slow its rapid thuds. At her question, he replied quietly.

"Marginally."

And it was a lie, but also a truth. The Dukeship still weighed heavily on him but he had to admit that their sexual escapades did help to alleviate the stress somewhat. He couldn't forget his duties forever, but just a brief moment was nice. It also helped that she was as vigorous a lover as he.

He turned to regard her with an even gaze and said, "Messy doesn't begin to describe it. I've slept in mud before, but never naked in winter. We'll need to find shelter soon before the night chill overtakes us."

Mae'leena kept a proud, lop sided grin.
"Well, if we had sex all night, the chill would never touch us," she told him, idly drawing a finger down some of the mud upon his arm. "Though would your men back at the castle get worried? I mean, if you don't return home this night."

"We won't make it back tonight," he said as though a point of fact. They'd ridden too far and too long.

"And my men will already be out looking for me. Discreetly. The City does not need to know what goes on in the castle."

He sat up and peered off into the forest for a brief moment before turning back to her. The idea of rolling together in the mud did sound like an intriguing prospect, in all of its absurdity.

"Perhaps a better choice would be an inn."

"I'm fine to rest up for the night where ever, love. But if we stay at an inn, maybe we can share another bath," she told him, giving him a little wink.

"If they have a bath," he answered almost too indifferently as he finally climbed back up to his feet. Small splotches of mud covered essentially his entire lower body, which he didn't bother to brush off. He did frown slightly at how dirty his bandages had become. Hopefully wherever they ended up would have fresh linens for him. At least the rain felt nice as it slowly dripped onto his shoulders and head.

He turned and stood over Mae'leena, naked in the moonlight. The light hit her at just the perfect angles to accentuate every one of her assets, and he felt another stirring in his loins. Somewhat surprised that he hadn't already exhausted all of his pent-up energy before, he quickly shook off his urgings and said, "Whenever you're ready."

"You're a duke," she said incredulously while supporting herself on her elbows. "Shouldn't people be throwing themselves down to kiss your feet? I bet even the slummiest inns would get you a bath- if even a cold one."
She moved to rise up from the mud, and only then did she shiver as the cold air met to her skin.
"By the balls of Gods is it ever chilly," she said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. "Let's get dressed and find an inn. I'd be happy just for a fire." And she moved over to retrieve her strewn clothing from the forest floor and mud.

"If they have a bath, they'll be fairly compensated for it," Erwin replied as he stood for a moment longer, letting the rain run down his bare back. "My people will struggle enough with the coming winter, without having to entertain my whims."

Finally, he joined her in collecting up his discarded clothing. Most of it was damp from the rain anyway, so the little extra dirt they'd managed to splash on it made no difference. One of the riding cloaks he picked up certainly belonged to her, and so he pressed it into her hands.

"Of course, we'll have to find an inn first," he added in a matter-of-fact tone, before slipping back into his trousers.

"I ain't never said nothing about not paying, but hey- considering you've got lots a coin, you could always tip them well, eh?" she told him with a nudge. She took the offered cloak after she pulled up her clothes and tossed it onto herself loosely without fully securing it shut, allowing the chilly winds to come in and chill her still sweaty flesh.

Brushing her damp hair from her face, she peered around at the forest.
"So... should we head back the way we came? Or chance moving through the denser wood?"

Erwin took a glance behind them, past the muddy spot where they'd coupled to the road that stretched back toward Wulfbauer. It loomed in the darkness, almost daring them not to go back. He felt the same way.

"I'm not ready to go back. We'll continue forward," he replied, throwing his shirt loosely over his head and grabbing the reins of their horses.

He'd been down this road before, and knew that an inn existed further down the road. The only question was: how far?

"Shall we walk through the woods or ride along?" she asked, still all bright smiles at his side. "I know sometimes it feels good to get a walk in after rutting."

Erwin gave it some thought before nodding. He, too, felt the burning in his loins from the furious urgency of their fucking. It was a pleasant ache.

"It'll take longer," he cautioned, but handed the reins of her horse to her anyway and began trekking down the road.

"How did you end up in my Duchy anyway?"

Mae'leena gave a shrug.
"How do I end up anywhere? I just wander about, but I won't lie- I heard something about some precious paintings you had come to own and I .. well...." she gave a sheepish smile his way. "I kind of wanted one for myself. Would be some sort of story to tell, eh? To have a stolen painting from a duke's grand home..."

Erwin slowed in his step. He had some priceless pieces in the castle, especially his Laperriere watercolor, painted by one of the greatest artists to ever come out of Uthlyn. It was at least five feet in length though, and heavy in its golden frame. Could she have lifted it off the wall? Did she even know which one it was?

He turned. "Do you know which ones are the precious ones?"

"Which ones?" she paused to look at him, and her brows dipped low. "What the hell are you talkin' about?" And she lightly hit his arm with her fist. "As if there is a difference. They're all worth a lot of money. I bet their gilded frames are worth more than a few precious pennies."

He stopped then and gave her an incredulous look.

"You actually meant to take a painting off of my wall and walk out with it." Never mind the fact that she was a terrible thief, and that it would've taken two men to carry those things.

"What?" And here she stopped and gave him a more soured look. She folded her arms across her ample chest and glared. "Yeah, what of it?" And she looked him over. "And what's with that look?" And she moved away from him and continued to walk.

Erwin let her go ahead of him, let her seethe in her temper tantrum. For his part, he only looked at her retreating form with a slight frown, before smirking quietly.

"Perhaps it's time to change professions," he said quietly before following after her.

"Change professions? Whatever for?" she smirked back at him devilishly before giving a shake of her head. "Besides, how do you know I couldn't have stolen all of your paintings if I wanted to? You have never truly seen me in action before." And she paused to give him another soured look, hands to her hips. "And catching me on the chandelier doesn't count."

Erwin frowned right back at her. "That's the only one that counts, in my book."

She gave a snort.
"Don't get cocky, my duke," she said and hooked her arm with his. "After all," she went on to hug her breasts against his arm and leaned up to whisper in his ear, "I know your sweet spot. Next time we have a fuck, I'll show you how to sing."

Erwin paused to smirk down at her. The nerve of this one.

"As long as you refrain from theft, my lady, you can do whatever you want."

"Well, I don't obviously need to steal from you, love," she said, giving him a wink. "And wipe that soured expression off your face. You know you needed the distraction right? My body works wonders on that, and more. If you're good, maybe I'll give you a massage tonight and round two. That's to say if we can find a warm place, first."

"If I'm good? I'm the only one here with any sense," he repeated almost incredulously, but said no more. He really could use the distraction. This entire venture into the middle of nowhere was a distraction in and of itself.

They really were in the middle of nowhere though. Although the dense forest started to thin out slightly, there was still no sign of an inn ahead of them. The Duke frowned slightly at that, and peered over to his companion, clinging to his arm. "I do not recognize this place."

"And?" she said, perky as ever. "What's the matter with that? Ain't you ever been out running away before? Without a real destination? A real path? It makes you feel as free as the wind. The world of men can't claim you, can't chain you down. Just keep walking, we can make up our own rules here."

"You forget," he said to her with a wry look. "I'm the Duke of Wulfbauer. I have duties to my people."

"Pffft, why bother with responsibilities now when you could be free? Though, duty to you does equal gold, so I could see why you'd want to stay."

"It also means my people live better lives. Myself included." He eyed her. "And that gold they pay? Those are taxes, and I use them to better their lives."

She rolled her eyes.
"I'm not convinced. But whatever helps you sleep at night, love. Frankly, I prefer sex or rum. And a lot of time, both."

"Just because I care for my people, does not mean I don't enjoy the little things too," he answered. Minus the rum.

The trees finally gave way to more hills and plains ahead of them, barely illuminated by the bit of moon peeking out from behind dark rainclouds.

"Well, we're making progress."

"If you call more wilderness progress, then yes," she told him with a smirk. "I believe we have."

Erwin ignored that comment and continued forward, giving his horse a gentle pat on the neck. At least he had one companion who didn't cause trouble.

After climbing the first hill, a small flickering light in the distance greeted them.

"Like I said. Progress."

She snorted. "You probably knew it was coming." And she gave him a big, coy grin as she tightened her grip on the reins.
"Race you there?" And before he could deny her or agree, she threw herself up onto the saddle and gave a sharp kickto the horse and a cry as it took off towards to faint twinkling lights.

Erwin barely had time to respond before her horse took off, sending him sputtering as those racing hooves splashed mud all over his face.

With a grunt of effort, and taking great care not to tweak his injured side, he slowly climbed into his own saddle and took off after her.

The lights grew brighter and brighter as they neared, and indeed -- it looked like a roadside inn.

The village was small and the inn looked cozy as the long shadows from a moon casted wind mill creaked in the wind. When Erwin would catch up, Mae'leena was all smiles, eyes and body glittering in the moonlight. She stood next to a sign that read Deventir.
"Looks like a cozy town, eh?" Though she couldn't have known this was a small village known for its thieves.

Erwin slowed his horse as he neared Mae'leena and the sign. His brow furrowed at the sight of it, when the lettering became clear in the light.

"How appropriate," he said quietly and dryly to her as he looked past the thief and into the village. He knew about Deventir. In fact, his list of things to do included cleaning up this town for the sake of the farmers nearby. And with the winter coming? Surely the ruffians would grow bolder and more desperate.

"Keep silent as to who I am," he warned her before gesturing to enter the town.

She placed a hand to her hip and studied Erwin's look.
"By your tone, this ain't one of your favored towns I take it?" she asked with a quirked brow.

"Something like that," he answered. "But it's late, and we need shelter. We'll take what we can get."

"That's the spirit!" she told him, flashing him a smile. "But what should I call you?" she said, now leading her horse after dismounting it as they stepped towards the Inn door. "Since my duke, I suppose is out of the question." And the last part was whispered in playful jest.

The Duke dismounted his horse as well, handing the reins to a young boy who rushed out of the stables next to the inn the greet them. He looked disheveled enough to pass as just another commoner, though if one looked carefully one might have noticed that his mud-stained clothes were too fine to be anything but noble. And the horse... no ordinary man had a horse that fine.

The boy didn't notice though, and as soon as he was out of earshot, the Duke looked to Mae'leena with a frown. "Erwin will do," he said. "And what do I call you? You have an uncommon name."

He hadn't been Duke long. Hopefully the people in this town didn't recognize him.

Or if they did, they weren't opposed to him.

"And what's wrong with my name?" she asked, lifting a brow. "In case you haven't noticed," she went on, shifting her weight and planting her hands to her hips. "I don't look common, either."

He looked her up and down. She made a good point. Her skin color, her hair and eyes, even the way she spoke and carried herself...

Finding that his eyes lingered too long, he looked back up into her eyes. "Mae'leena it is then."

"Unless you want to be called something else," he added.

Playfully, she hugged onto his arm.
"You could call me yours," she teased, leaning in almost close enough to kiss his cheek. "Though I bet most men would think I'm your whore anyway. I'm presuming we're sharing a room?" she asked, and gestured for them both to approach the inn's door.

"I suppose it would make more sense to share a room," he agreed, though the thought did cross his mind to just get her a separate chamber and be done with it. But that would've looked strange. Aside from the fact that it already was strange enough for the Duke to be traveling alone without his retinue.

"Let them think what they want. At the end of the day, we're just two more customers."

Taking a hold of the wet door handle, he threw it open and was greeted by the warmth of a common room hearth crackling brightly. After hours spent out in the cold damp, it immediately felt refreshing.

A few pairs of beady eyes looked their way before an older man, gruff but buff, having to be well into his fifties, approached the pair with a warm welcoming smile.
"Welcome to the Juniper," and he looked the pair over. "Come in for warmth, a cup a soup and bed?"

The warmth made Erwin conscious of just how much rain had fallen on the pair of them. Already a small puddle of water was forming around his feet as it dripped off of his clothing. He ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair and answered, "We'll take all three."

His eyes met those that stared their way, but as usual his face was all but expressionless. Perhaps the rest of the patrons in here would soon go back to their own devices.

Except he had Mae'leena at her side. Even with the ill-fitting male riding clothes that she had draped over her, she still attracted plenty of second and third looks.

And she'd attract more than that as she made a big fuss about removing her riding cloak after she moved with Erwin to take a seat by the fire. She hung the cloak on an antler hook nearby to let it dry some before sitting down, but her clothes were uncomfortable and sticky as they clung to and hugged her form.  It was hard not to notice, and the owner of hte place approached htem with another polished smile.

"Ale?" he asked.

Mae'leena smiled up at him, not seeming to care or notice he had been staring at her chest.
"Two for me," she answered with a smirk and looked over to Erwin. "What about you, love? Think you can pound down a few buckets of ale with me?"

"Tea, if you have it," he said, his blue eyes staring right at Mae'leena, as if shooting her down silently. Perhaps she would be disappointed to drink alone -- but then again, when had she ever been disappointed about anything?

"Bread and meat as well. And a room with a bath." And he produced a single gold coin that more than covered everything they asked for, and perhaps more.

The look on Mae'leena's face displayed clearly how she felt about his order of tea.
"Tea?" she asked, blinking at him before nodding as she lifted up her ale. "You that cold you think tea will do you any good? Ale'll burn into your belly and veins. Why don't you have some? It'll help loosen you up."

As the innkeeper scurried off to fill the order, Erwin leaned back in his chair and casually rested his elbows on the armrests. He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt to air it out, and to allow the heat of the hearth to warm him.

"You can drink for the both of us. I'll pass," he answered with a shrug, giving her that same serious look he always did. "Besides, I don't need it to warm me up. The fire does the job nicely."

"Aww, come on! Not even one cup?"

"Not even one."

At that same moment, the innkeeper brought back a tray laden with a plate of bread, some cold-cut meat, two mugs of ale -- and a cup of tea.

"See? It all works out."

Mae'leena snorted and picked up the ale.
"I'd like to see you drunk,"s he pouted, sipping at her drink while leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs. "How are we supposed to have any fun if you won't indulge a little? I mean, we're half way across the duchy by now, maybe even farther, let's just do something wild before we go back."

"You mean this isn't wild enough? The fact that we're in the middle of nowhere?" he asked as he picked up his cup of tea. It wasn't what he was used to, and probably on the cheap side, but this late into the evening it was fine by him.

"I haven't had a drink in ten years or more, and I don't intend on starting now. Not even for fun."

"Awww, don't be such a dull dog, Erwin. Lighten up. What bad things could come from alcohol? Think of all the kinky fun it might get us," she told him with a leer.

Erwin let out a soft chuckle before taking another sip of his tea. He leaned forward and took up a piece of bread and some of the meet, but his eyes did not stray from her. "I don't need a muddled mind to have fun. You already know this. We get by just fine."

She gave him a smirk for that and raised her glass.
"I suppose that's right to some degree, but you gotta loosen up. All of this seriousness is gonna be the death of you. Say, I know- what if I put some of my ale into your tea?" she said, and threatened to do so when a familiar voice called from across the room.

"Mae'leena?"

She tensed before craning her neck towards the direction of the voice.

"I thought that was you. Who'd ever thought you'd find yourself in Connlaoth!" the man said with a laugh and approached the pairs table. But Mae'leena hardly seemed pleased.

"Don't come any further, Jarod, or I'll cut your throat and watch you bleed."

The man, evidently named Jarod, put both of his hands up.
"I'm not here to quarrel with you, Mae'leena. I don't work for Kahna-mu anymore and I-"

ANd before he could go on, she had a knife to his throat and baring her teeth like a rabid dog.
"I said don't come any fucking closer to me! We ain't friends, acquaintances or nothin' no more."

Jarod's eyes wavered a moment, curious if she'd actually slit his throat.

And that's when she spat on him, right into his eye and kicked him away.

"You can keep your throat intact, just let Kahna-mu know if he sends you again, I'll send back your head."

And the man only stared at Mae'leena before smiling and lifting a kerchief from his pocket and wiped off his face. He bowed to Mae'leena politely.
"I.. hadn't meant to offend. I just thought... after our last time together.."

"Keep talking and I might not send you back with your tongue," she warned, and with a nervous smile, the man nodded, begged his forgiveness before returning to his table int he back. Mae'leena's eyes remained upon him as she brewed over her drink, thinking savage thoughts towards the man and growing pensive.

"We can't stay here," she said over her drink. "If we do, they'll likely kill us."

And it didn't sit well with her he trie dto lie about not working for Kahna-mu. As if that lie would work on her! She knew well what happened the last time she and Jarod were together. They shared some booze, a bed, and then she was nearly hung. What sort of response did he expect?

Erwin had nearly jumped from his seat the moment Mae'leena brandished the dagger at this stranger's throat. He kept his composure enough to remain sitting, though his hand did go to the sword buckled at his side. They appeared to have their own issues, but Erwin kept his blue eyes on the man long after he'd retreated back to his table.

"Old friends, or old enemies?" he mumbled under his breath, turning his gaze back to Mae'leena.

"We have no place else to go."

Mae'leena's glare was vicious.
"The ass tricked me once, he's thinking he can do it again. But no," she sat back in her chair, ruffled and angry as she gripped on tightly to her drink. "I wouldn't say we're friends." After a moment of silence, she informed Erwin, "If we're to stay here, I don't expect to be getting much sleep. Not with a man like that so near to our room. He's the sort that would slit through throat after buying you a diamond."
And she'd know from experience- since their last little rendez-vous sort of went down like that.

Erwin let out a low breath of irritation at that news; even now, so far away from his castle, he still didn't get the chance to sleep well. A thought did cross his mind that this man -- if he did try anything funny, it would be to get to her, and not him. But when did that ever matter to someone out looking for blood? More likely than not, he would end up as collateral damage, and they didn't even know he was the Duke.

He frowned though, and set the tea cup down on the table. "Let him come, then. What's one more man out for blood? If he wants to disturb us, then he can face the consequences."

"Don't sound so cocky. You ever fight a wolf? They're mean and cunning and prefer to hunt at night," she went on, glaring over at Jarod, even as he spared a glance her way. Though the only glint evident in his eyes was one of remorse it might have seemed- not that Mae'leena was going to buy THAT look from a man like him.

"I think he's done soured my drinking mood." She sighed and pushed her drink away. "Do you know where our rooms are? I might head up to scope the place out before we call it a night."

Erwin waved the innkeeper over.

"Your rooms are ready, sir," he man said with a large smile on his face. Evidently that gold coin meant a lot to him, especially since the incoming winter meant business would slow to a halt. "The top level, with a view of the fields beyond. And a bath is ready, as requested."

"If you'll lead the way," Erwin replied after climbing to his feet.

Mae'leena didn't argue when they were both lead to the room, but her skin was crawling knowing that rat of a man was so near. Once the pair were alone,s he found herself pacing back and forth, unable to get any rest, even as she was peeling off her clothing in attempts to offer herself up the bath, first.

For his part, Erwin seemed a bit calmer than her, though that wasn't exactly fair considering how he never looked like he felt anything anyway. He didn't argue when she made a beeline for the steaming bath, and instead sat down in one of the chairs.

It felt strangely satisfying to be at a desk with no paperwork stacked in front of him. Instead, he placed his sword upon the table and removed his muddy shirt from his back.

She was still pacing. "There are two ways into this room," he said. "The window, and the door. Neither of them are near you."

"Yeah, for right bloody now, but that don't mean that ass won't find a means to try."
Growling, she threw off her shirt and bent over to begin unlacing her tall riding boots. She was naked, despite this and her pants she tucked into said boots, and her skin was still caked in mud, but pieces of it were crumbling off and onto the floor.

Erwin glanced down at his own torso, to where his bandages clung uselessly to his side. They were all brown and muddy, and desperately needed replacing. With a frown, he stood and headed for the door, though he stopped halfway there to regard her up and down.

"You'll feel better after getting cleaned off."

She raked a hand through her hair, freeing it from it's bindings before giving Erwin a look.
"Yeah, I probably will." And she noted his form heading towards the door. "You ain't gonna bathe?"

"That bathtub can barely fit one, let alone two," Erwin answered flatly. A moment later, he added, "Besides, we don't need to make a mess for the poor innkeeper by splashing water all over his floor."

Mae'leena gave a sneer. "I ain't in the mood for more sex. But I guess I'll be washing my own back." And she moved to step into the bath, and sighed contentedly after she sunk down into the steaming waters.

"Gods.. who needs sex when you can have a clean bath?" she sighed again, eyes closed and toes curling as they wiggled just outside of the tub's rim.

Erwin could only shake his head before stepping out and closing the door behind him. She was such a handful that he inwardly couldn't believe he still put up with her.

The innkeeper did indeed have some spare linen bandages saved for emergencies, and gladly accepted another small coin in exchange for it -- and for the man's daughter to bring up another tray of hot tea and some more food. After all, they'd left the common room in such a hurry that the Duke hadn't had the opportunity to sate his hunger.

He slipped back inside almost silently and placed the tray down upon the desk, before shooting her a sidelong glance. By the time she was finished, the water would likely be too foul and muddy to clean himself off.

Mae'leena was still soaking in the bath when he returned. She was thoroughly enjoying herself, even as her mind festered over Jarod's sudden presence in her life. After a time, she sighed and stood up suddenly in the bath, waters gushign down her form as she stepped out and began to dry herself off, not seeming to care if she made a mess about the floor. Once she was dry enough, she walked over to Erwin, still naked, as she used the towel to pat dry her long, dark, dual colored hair.

"I got so mad I almost forgot we hadn't eaten. That stuff smells heavenly."

Erwin frowned slightly as water sloshed out of the tub and onto the floor. Why was she so damned difficult?

"Eat up, then. Let's not waste the innkeeper's food," he said as he stood from the table, brushing past her nude form toward the tub. The water was a bit cloudy from her mud and dirt, but was clean enough for him to clean himself. Gingerly he removed the dirty bandages from around his torso, and then his riding pants and boots, before slowly climbing into the warm water.

It felt incredibly soothing, and he did not hesitate to splash some of the water on his face to clean the grime from underneath his eyes.

 "Waste? The hell I'd waste any of this! If anything, I might order more!"

"Suit yourself," Erwin replied quietly as he closed his eyes and tried to relax in the tub. It was a good time to reflect on the occurrences of the last few days -- and try to put them behind him.

Mae'leena moaned as she went on to indulge herself, licking her fingers clean when she was done before sighing and melting back into her chair. She was still basically naked, but then again, she basically didn't care, and with a casual sigh she turned to where her clothes were discarded in a lumpy pile and grew quiet and contemplative. They'd need some sort of cleaning, since they were muddy as well. But it was nice to feel this clean. And she wasn't going to miss an opportunity to indulge in such a feeling.

Erwin didn't know how long he sat in the tub with his eyes closed, but eventually he grew conscious of the fact the water was getting cold. Finally he climbed out, careful not to drip much of it onto the floor. Snatching up a towel, he quickly dried himself off and wrapped it around his waist before sitting on the edge of the bed. Slowly and gently he began wrapping them around his torso, around the healing wound in his side. He'd bear a nice-looking scar there for the rest of his life, but for now it was still a work in progress.

"I'll have the innkeeper's wife wash these clothes for us," he said to nobody in particular, though apparently he had the same idea as her.

"That would be nice. I'm pretty sure ours are all dirty." Then she peered over towards him, and the scar on his side.
"You need any help with that?" she supposed it was the least she could offer.

Erwin stopped, a look of surprise on his face. He did not expect an offer of help from her.

After a moment of silence though, he nodded. "If you could."

"What's with that look? You look tired is all. And it's hard to wrap those things around your own torso." And she moved to take the bindings. "I know." And she brushed some hair from her face. "I've had to do it a lot of times alone to myself."
Moving to sit beside him, she turned to face his back and examined his wound with a cringe.

"That looks nasty. But it'll heal. And you'll get quite the scar for it."

Erwin allowed himself a small smirk there. "To go along with all the other scars I already have."

To be fair, he didn't have that many. This one in his side, once healed, would likely be one of the more noticeable ones.

"What other ones, love?" she asked and smirked. "These little old knicks you got here?" And she gave one a light flick of her finger that was cut into his shoulder. "You need some more sexy ones. Maybe the next one you could get could be cut right here.." she went on, marking across the top of her chest. "And all the ladies could see it just out from the collar of your shirt." Her eyes glittered at that. "I'd bet it'd make them all wet just thinking about what the whole thing would look like if you took your shirt off."

Erwin turned to her. "That would require an especially grievous injury, and I'm not sure if I can handle any more of those. Though I suppose the Duke should always be prepared for that sort of thing."

He glanced down at his torso now, to the few nicks scarring his chest. Nothing too major stood out. "I'll look less like a Duke and more like a pirate."

"Well, at least you'd be a handsome pirate," she cooed, eyes sparkling before she diverted her eyes and went back to tending to his wound. "You want something to put on this? More salve or somethin'? I mean, once I bind this, you won't be getting out of 'em for a while."

Erwin shook his head. "I've had enough salves on this wound to last me a lifetime. No, let's just wrap it up and be done with it. Then maybe we can finally get a good night's rest."

She gave a nod and tended to his wound, wrapping him with care. It was almost as if she had done this before, and at the end, she tucked away the last piece so it was securely hidden away, then lightly patted his shoulder.
"There, right as rain."

Erwin stood and turned his torso a few times to feel the restriction of bandages against his skin. It felt good.

"Thank you," he said, this time with the slightest of smiles to her before slipping past to gather up all their filthy clothes.

"I suppose it'll take the innkeeper's wife some time to fully clean these," he said as he went about his work. They really had worn a lot of clothes on their journey, and somehow everything was dirty.
"In the meantime, go get some rest."

She threw herself down, still naked, upon the bed and gave a sigh.
"If you so command it, my duke," she said with a light salute in his direction. She smirked over at him from where she lay. "Though if I start snoring, you can just prod me awake. After all... we're to share one bed. I'd hate to make you uncomfortable by any means." And the last bits she seemed to purr out as she sunk the side of her face into a pillow. Ah, this felt heavenly.

"I've slept through worse," he repeated curtly before popping out the door with the dirty clothing, reappearing a moment later with a small paper receipt which he tossed to the table.

He poured himself another small cup of tea and took up his sword before taking a seat at the edge of the bed nearer the window, blue eyes peering outside contemplatively. He wouldn't sleep well tonight anyway, and it certainly wasn't her fault.

Mae'leena had all but fallen asleep, but the fact Erwin was still awake made her unable to slip back into slumber. She peered at him for a while in silence before murmuring, "Can't sleep?"

When she stirred awake, Erwin realized that his tea had gone cold. He set the cup down on the ground and turned to her.

"Exhaustion will take over eventually. But for now... no," he replied. The room itself had gotten significantly colder, perhaps a product of the building's age. As a draft swept over his bare skin and chilled him, he grimaced and turned back toward the window.

"You're worried about your friend downstairs. Since I'm awake, I might as well keep vigilance."

Mae'leena went quiet a moment before sitting up, the blankets nearly spilling off her form.
"I was hoping to forget that bastard." And she peered down at the blanket and shivered before pulling it around her nude form. "Ain't you cold? It's freezing in here."

"Like I said, I've slept through worse," he repeated once again. He touched his hand to her arm and found that her skin was cold against his. With a small smirk, he pulled the blanket tighter around her curvy form.

"If it does get unbearable, rest assured I'll be under that blanket soon enough."

She smirked at him, a hair a mess about her face.
"What about now? I'm sure there's enough room for two."

Erwin arched a brow at her.

"You know, I never took you for the 'come to bed' type."

His sword still lay across his lap. That, too, found its way to the floor.

"Yeah, but I'm cold." And then a small grin flashed across her lips as she added, "And horny. I'm sure we can think of some... clever ways to keep warm."

His brow furrowed slightly.

"Just a short while ago, you didn't want sex. You really do change your mind quickly."

He didn't know if he was in the mood either, to be honest, but somehow he was already leaning his bearded face closer to her. The damp towel around his waist also found its way to the floor as he plucked up a corner of the quilt and slid underneath it.

"What?" she stared at him accusingly. "When I get upset, I get finicky. And most of the time, horny. And despite the bath, I'm pretty wet right now so if you'd want to indulge with me..." she went on, taking his hand and guiding it between her legs, just to let the tips of his fingers have a taste of the truth in her words. Yep. She was wet. Soaking wet.

"Maybe you need to control your emotions better," Erwin countered, even as his fingers indulged her every whim as they slipped up and down her womanhood, teasing.

Was he satisfying her needs, or his own?

"Emotions? What for?" And she squirmed a bit as his fingers tasted her, her teeth sinking into her lower lip.

"Then you won't get upset so easily."
His fingers moved deftly around her womanhood before abruptly slipping inside of her, probing deep within and toying with her wetness. All the while his face inched closer to hers, blazing blue eyes gazing intently into hers.

As his fingers moved deeper, her eye lids hung lower, mouth opening and breathing coming slow. At a moment, she was at a loss of words, before she murmured, "Yeah, but there's nothing wrong with emotions." And as he moved nearer to her, her eyes studied his, almost as if reading a book before she reached a hand up to gently cup his cheek. "It helps you show power... weakness, vulnerability..." and her sex clamped down around his fingers as if to demonstrate. "And honesty, showcasing exactly how you feel." And as she leaned forward, she found her lips very dangerously close to his. Her hips were rocking lightly now, but a moment later, she paused and continued to stare into his eyes.
"Why don't you show me some of your vulnerability? Get upset easy with me. Be happy..." And she leaned forward, eye lids almost closed as she dared him to finish the kiss.

Erwin's brows deepened even as his fingers danced and probed more vigorously than before beneath the covers, feeling the tensing walls of her womanhood. Those lips were too inviting for him to not press his mouth down upon hers, his tongue seeking out hers.

That kiss lasted but a brief moment as he pulled away, exhaling heavily from his nose. "I have no time to be vulnerable," he muttered.

Once their kiss was secured, he'd be able to feel her heat rising as the walls of her sex continued to move against his fingers. But when he pulled away and made his claim, she gave him a half-lidded smirk.
"I don't know... seems to me you're becoming vulnerable.." and she moved a hand to smooth down his thigh, before stroking over the bulge in his pants.

"Vulnerable?" Erwin repeated with a hard look, his ministrations speeding up and intensifying as she placed a hand over his nether regions. His breath quickened slightly as he leaned forward again, digging into the wetness between her legs.

"I am not becoming vulnerable, no, this is me satisfying my needs." It just so happened that it satisfied hers too.

She moaned but it was broken by a breathy laugh as she rocked her hips while he finger fucked her.
"If you weren't vulnerable, we wouldn't be like this at all," she seemed to coo, teeth now being taken to his ear as her fingers worked blindly at undoing his pants.

OOC: I forget if he hqd clothes on >_> if not, I guess she's just removing his towel? XD

OOC: It all works out in the end

---

Her hot breath and whispers into Erwin's ear brought a slight grunt to the Duke. His fingers continued to work her, up until the point where he too was undressed underneath the quilt. And still, he made no move to take her.

"Perhaps it's your turn to do the work," he mumbled, pulling away slightly even as his hand worked feverishly between her thighs.

Laughing breathily, she kissed at his cheek before a hand snaked down to his member, and her fingers brushed past it to where his balls dangled between his leg, and there- her hand smoothed between his legs and moved to cup them, to gently massage them before raising her other hand up to grip his rock hard cock.

Her eyes shined as she peered down at it, and how the tip was already dribbling some precum.
"My, my... you feel so eager and tense," she purred, her hand slowly, gently beginning to work the length of it.

The corner of Erwin's eye twitched a fraction as she wrapped her sure grip around his manhood, letting out a low exhale as she began stroking him. His fingers continued to work between her legs, but their frenetic pace slowed somewhat as she reciprocated on his throbbing loins.

"Let's see what you can do about that," he murmured as he sat back more relaxedly. Finally his slick fingers withdrew from her and he leaned heavily against his elbows, blue eyes watching her through half lids.

She pursed her lips when he exited her, her pussy pulsating at the 'after taste' that his fingers left, leaving her body still wanting. But she didn't let that deter her from her current job, her hand still working steady and slow along his member, until she saw enough precum that she leaned forward and licked it off.

But she didn't stop there, and as her head continued, dark hair tickling at his skin as she craned her neck to the side, she moved in to press her lips against his cock, kissing it, then kissing it again, right on it's sweet spot before the kissing began to turn into light sucking and licks, and on occasion,s he brought out just a little bit of teeth to drag along his sensitive skin. And as she did so,s he continued to massage his balls lightly as her lips smirked against his cock as she snuck a peek up at the duke.

The sensation of Mae'leena's tongue brought out a small exhale of pleasure from the Duke as he leaned back and let her work him over with her mouth. His breath quickened with every kiss and lick, and the sensation of her teeth against his manhood had his eyes half-closing.

When she peered up at him with that smoldering look, Erwin's intense blue gaze peered right back at her. Though his expression barely showed it, it was clear that he was enjoying every moment of it.

"By Ansgar, you're good..." he admitted softly as a calloused hand slid down to her face, caressing the contours of her jawline, fingers absently twirling in her dark hair.

Mae'leena smirked. She loved to be praised, and to see the duke melting beneath her.. err.. mouth? It had her ambitious to see just how much he could enjoy this. And that's when she took his cock, and swallowed all of it down into her mouth, having it reach to the back of her throat before swallowing around it again and then beginning to move her head, bobbing up and down the length of it as she listened intently for his moans.

When her mouth wrapped firmly around his cock and started sliding up and down its length, Erwin let out an audible exhale and leaned his head back, eyes closed. He was quiet at first, but after a little while his breaths turned into soft groans from the warmth and pleasure of her mouth and tongue.

"Wulfbauer needs more women like you," he uttered between quickened breaths as he opened his eyes only slightly again to regard her ministrations. It took a lot of willpower to relax and just let her gently suck him off, but after a while his hand snaked down to tangle itself into her hair, and he began guiding her along his shaft a little more forcefully, pushing and pulling on the top of her head a little faster.

When the duke began taking more of the lead, she knew he was now a prisoner to his needs. And she didn't mind his forcefulness, and it helped coaxed her to move her tongue more fervently, along with the bobbing of her head, as she felt his cock slam into the back of her throat over and over again, until she then moved to pull him in close, sucking in him as deep as she could and swallowing and sucked and rolling her tongue wildly all around him, hoping to coax out a taste of his cum.

He flung his head back and groaned even louder as her warm wet mouth wrapped tightly around his manhood and her tongue began exploring all around it. The Duke's grip about her hair tightened, and his arm continued to push her head up and down faster and faster.

Somewhere in the ecstasy of it, he came to the same realization that what he was doing now was exactly as she had described it: a revealing of his vulnerability, his need to sate his own lustful desires. He couldn't help it, and it brought about a bubbling of frustration in his gut. Was he really in control here?

When Mae'leena took him as deep as she could, he sat up and his other hand shot out to grasp at her head too. He grit his teeth together, on the verge of exploding, and pushed her down even further with an iron grip, until he could feel his cock slip into her throat and his balls press against her chin. With a loud roar and a shudder, he held her there as he climaxed.

Mae'leena swallowed down his hot seed in one deep swallow, and moved back to lick at her lips as she grinned down at the duke, who was red faced from the ordeal, and obviously a bit more than elated.

"Hmmm, tasted like you needed that," she teased.

Erwin breathed heavily, feeling the heat under his skin from the way she'd pleasured him. From the looks of it, she enjoyed some of it as well.

"Whether I needed it or not is up for debate," he said between breaths. "Either way... you did the job well enough."

"Well enough?" she laughed and shook her head at him. "And here you are a puddle on the floor and breathing heavy, and all you can say is 'you've done it well enough'?"

Erwin let out a small smirk even as his breath steadied.

"What would you like me to say?"

Mae'leena admired his smile a minute before curling up closely beside him.
"Maybe you could use one of your fancy duke words? I dunno. What do your types normally say? Though maybe I haveto fuck you proper to get a wow?" And at that, she grinned. "Though I suppose the horse is spent, eh?"

The Duke lay his head back down on the pillow, arm wrapping around her naked from when she cuddled up to him. He turned to give her a small sidelong glance, considering whether or not to give her that compliment she sought. He decided not to.

"It has been a long day," he admitted. "Perhaps just a little tired."

"From what I can see.." she went on, a hand smoothing down his front. "You've had it rough for a good long while." And she studied his face before releasing a sigh and closing her eyes, nestling in close. "And I don't think you're the only one that's tired," she murmured.

"Go to sleep then," he replied softly, though Erwin's eyes remained open and staring up at the ceiling beams above. He made a mental note of where his sword was on the ground beside the bed, but said no more. Perhaps she'd forgotten all about her run-in with her former associate and would drift off to sleep.

She didn't, however, forget at all, and as the night went on and she thought he had fallen asleep, she moved to sneak out of his bed and went for his sword. That man was dead!

Though resolute on not drifting off to sleep, Erwin had actually dozed off. He'd always been a light sleeper though, and as she crawled out of the best, his eyes wafted open slightly.

"If you're looking for a fight," he mumbled under his breath, watching her shadow in the darkness, "you should probably put some clothes on first."

She gave a smirk.
"What? And ruin the element of surprise?"

Erwin sat up in the bed.

"With all the noise you're making, there won't be any surprise left by the time you find your friend."

"I don't know... me coming at him naked with a knife sounds like a big enough surprise to me."
Though before she could even go about slipping into her clothing, she heard some noise down the hall and tensed. She strained her ears to listen, and swore beneath her breath.

It was him. She knew that voice from anywhere, and by the looks of things, she appeared ready to make good on her naked attack.

It was hard to see in the darkness, but when he heard her curse softly under her breath, Erwin let out a slight groan. Would he see even a single day without trouble?

Without a word he flung the sheets off his body and climbed out of the bed. She'd already snatched up his sword, so he was relegated to the small dagger lying on the nightstand.

"Get away from the door," he muttered, grasping at her elbow and pulling her back into the center of the room, "when it opens, the light will blind you."

Mae'leena swore through her teeth.
"I knew I shoulda killed him the last time we met. Bet he's got a whole gang of men ready to bag me up."
But as the foot falls grew closer, she tensed and held.her breath.

But what happened next surprised her, when there was a soft knock at the door.

"Mae'leena?" He spoke gently. "It's me, Jarod. Can we talk?"

As the two of them exchanged glances, Erwin frowned and shrugged. He still held her firmly by the arm, and his dagger was still ready to go.

Another soft knock echoed at the door.

Erwin peered at her cautiously. "What's the move? He's your friend, not mine."

"Watch your tongue!" Mae'leena hissed through her teeth, eyes like daggers before they cut to the door. She shifted her grip on her blade, and peered at the door for a while before she heard Jarod's voice again-

But she didn't know what he said, and rather, she threw the door open - and he stood there all alone, eyes going wide as he had a blade at his throat.

"Where do you want the knife first, Jarod? Throat, belly, or your dick?"

As he had predicted, the burst of light from outside their dark room temporarily blinded the Duke. He recovered quickly enough to be faced with exactly what he expected: Jarod standing in the doorway, eyes wide and alert as a blade pressed against his bearded neck.

The two of them must've made for a funny sight, both stark naked and both holding blades. Erwin's dagger was held up as well, but his face was blank.

"Don't look at me. You're her problem," he said to the man with a shrug. Although preferably he wouldn't be an accomplice to a murder in his own Duchy.

It was only then Jarrod really began to sweat, and he nearly dropped the satchel in his hand.

"Mae'leena, I..." But before he could explain himself, her eyes cut down to what he held.

"Drop it. Now."

Doing as he was told, he dropped the bag, and when commanded, he took a step back. It was then Mae'leena glanced down to get a look at it-
and recalled the emblem embroidered across it-

The emblem her mother had embroidered across it.

"I... you left it on my ship. The last time we met I...... I just thought you'd want it back."

Mae'leena felt her hand twitch. But her eyes never lifted once from the bag. It was then she lifted her dagger again.

"Open it. I want to be sure you didn't fill it full of black powder, or some sort of poison."

The man's face showed that of surprise, but then it quickly fell as he sighed and moved to do as he was told. And upon seeing that the bag was as in tact and virtually the same as she had left it, she glanced back up at him. But as soon as he began to speak again, she cracked him across the back of the head and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

As soon as the man went down in a heap, Erwin leaped to action. He grabbed the unconscious Jarod by his boots and dragged him into the room, before closing the door behind him.

"I hope you're happy now," he said to Mae'leena with a frown before proceeding to strip the man of any weapons he might have on him. "You have your bag, and your friend's unconscious. Let's leave it at that. I will not have murder committed in front of me."

Once they were back inside, Mae'leena spat on the body and gave it a good kick.
"You think my reunion with an friend would be so easy? And if I were to slit his throat- would you stop me?"

"Yes," he said flatly. "Yes I would."

He tossed his dagger onto the table and went off to find something -- a towel, a sheet -- to wrap around his waist, returning only when he was sufficiently covered up.

"So now what do you suppose we do about this mess, your highness?"

She gave a snort.
"I'd say slit his throat, but it seems like you wish to complicate matters." And she crossed her arms across her naked chest, and gave him a rather stubborn glare.

Erwin arched a brow at her.

"Me, complicate things? I'm running a Duchy, not a circus. We have laws here, and they are not to be broken. Now, if you want to tie him up, ask him questions, whatever... do it. But you spill his blood and then we have problems."

Her stubborn glare was met by his own steely gaze. It really was hard to tell what he was thinking.

"Do we understand each other?"

She leaned her body and head the other one and kept her gaze locked to his.
"If I tie him up, it'll be as a corpse. It'd be easier that way, you know. Laws are meant for keeping citizens in check, and I'm no citizen. Neither is he. And he deserves to be dropped to the bottom of the sea."

"Laws are for anybody who steps into my Duchy. That's final."

He folded his arms across his chest. "I don't understand your relationship with this man, and I don't care. If you want to kill him, load him on a wagon and ride elsewhere."

For a second, she kept her glare, then gave a short, sputtered laugh through a dark smirk.
"Don't tempt me, Duke," and she poked him in the chest, before pushing her shoulder angrily against his as she walked past. "Besides, I think you're forgetting something. You're on the road with a thief. Who says I care for laws, yours or not?" And she began to go through her things she had discarded by the bed.

Erwin let out a soft sigh as she forcefully brushed past him.

"I should've just left you out on the ledge," he muttered under his breath. Poor Hilda. Her compassion had cost her life.

"Tch, you're the one responsible for me being there to begin with," she growled, then lifted up a blade swiftly and pointed it directly at him.
"And here I thought we had an alliance... well, at least an understanding," she said with a dark grin. "After all, you chose to ride off with me. What were you expecting to achieve with that?"

Erwin barely even glanced down at the blade, instead choosing to focus on the angry gleam in her eyes. His exhales became longer as he fought to control his own bubbling anger.

"Threatening a Duke is a crime, but I'll choose to forget it this time. As for our understanding, it goes a little like this. Have all the little tantrums you want, but my word is final. I will not hesitate to have you sent back to the jailer."

With a wave of his hand at Jarod, he added "If you dislike this man so much, then we can leave him here, be gone and be done with it."

She gave an exasperated laugh and lowered her blade.
"You know what. Neither is worth the hassle. Why don't you keep him." And her eyes continued to be fiery as they bore into him. "Consider it my payment to you... Your highness." And she moved to get redressed.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's just another man. Your issue, not mine." Albeit an unconscious man who probably wouldn't wake up very happy. But then again, the hatred was between him and Mae'leena, not the Duke. To be honest, he didn't even really care if she slit the man's throat. Sure, he'd have to send the guards after her, and her fate would be sealed. But that wasn't his problem either.

"At least you have your bag back," he muttered as he too went to put his clothes back on.

She gave a laugh. She couldn't believe.
"What the hell do I care about a bag? It was a waste of him time, really, and a hell of a bad lie to try to get close to me." And here, she peered down at Jarod with a frown before kicking his body and turning away.
"Bastard."
She wish she could kick Erwin, too.

His clothes back on, Erwin sat down on the edge of the bed to lace up his boots. "You actually think he came all the way up here to kill you? Maybe you're just overreacting."

"Tch, over reacting?" She glared over at him. "That's what any man would say."

Erwin shrugged.

"He sounded genuine to me. But I'm no expert in thieving and lying."

"No, you're just an expert at uncaring," she spat. "Oh so selflessly giving yourself away for your duchy." Ha! As if the man never lied in his life! Oh Duke Erwin, the saint!
"I owe this man nothing. Except maybe to dig his eyes out with my blade." And that was her being generous. She still wanted to slit his throat.

That comment made Erwin bristle, and he stood up so fast that he winced from the pain in his side. He pointed an accusing finger at Mae'leena.

"You think I asked for my position? That I wished for the Carwicks to die, and then for my own father to die? No, I had the unfortunate luck to be thrust into this role, but I'll be damned if I don't put forth my best effort and see this Duchy run properly. But you wouldn't understand that. You don't know the first thing about duty and loyalty. It's people like you who make my job harder, who make everyone's lives more difficult."

With a scowl he stomped over to where Jarod lay, dragged him up and dropped him, still unconscious, into a chair. By the time he was done, the anger had disappeared from his face, leaving just that icy stare once more.

"I'm going to wait for him to wake up, and hear what his story is. It's probably more compelling than the bullshit you spew."

"That just depends on what sort of bullshit you buy. You get what you pay for." And she moved to gather up her things as she headed for the door. She wasn't going to stick around for this. She was no fool.

Erwin remained sitting on the bed, though completely dressed by now. He watched her stomp toward the door and muttered under his breath, "Good riddance..."

Maybe finally she'd stop giving him such an incredible headache. He'd rather deal with Jarod than her.

As if on cue, the man stirred slightly in his chair, with a small groan.

She stiffened in her rage, one hand grasping the handle of the door. But it was brief, and she didn't bother to look over her shoulder as she threw the door open, then slammed it shut.
And it was then the man coming to muttered the words weakly...
"Mae'leena..... please.... I didn't know." But he was still delusional, as he groaned again.

"Don't bother, she's gone." Erwin said quietly to the still-recovering man. His eyes glanced over to the now-shut door, then back to Jarod. The dagger sat on his lap, his hand hovering over it just in case.

"And I think it'd be best if you were gone soon."

Jarrod blinked and peered up questionably at Erwin. It took him a moment to realize what he said before he frowned. Rubbing his head, for it was pounding, he looked towards the door with a sigh.
"I suppose I'm lucky she did not kill me."

"There was no luck involved," Erwin said in a stern tone. "She would have cut you to shreds if I wasn't here. Not that I care. My only interest in seeing no bloodshed this evening."

Sighing, Jarrod gave a nod.
"Then thank you. Even though I do not know you..." and now, he got a better look at the man, he offered him a partial smile. But it was evidently forced. "So you're... her new lover?"
An awkward question to ask, but what he saw earlier...
"You don't have to explain." He shook his head. "Everything with Mae'leena is... complicated. In fact, I'd be surprised if she allowed you to even call yourself that."

Erwin' eyes narrowed slightly even as he pierced the man with his gaze. "Good, because I'm not. We are barely acquaintances."

Sure, they'd fucked a couple times, but to call the two of them lovers? Even the most lovelorn person in Wulfbauer would have found that concept ridiculous.

Jarrod winced and scratched at the back of his neck. Guess he hit a sore spot. Mae'leena really knew how to pick her men.
"Well I suppose she told you enough about me. Or perhaps not. If you were to believe what she said, you'd probably want me dead, too."

Erwin sighed. "I'm not in the mood to be believing either of you right now, to be honest. And I don't want anybody dead, I just want a little peace and quiet. So if you have a message to leave, then leave it and be on your way."

Jarrod sighed and gave a feeble nod.
"Y-yes, I suppose I took up more than enough of your time. I'm sorry." He rose from the chair and gave a grateful nod in his direction.
"I won't leave a note, or anything like that. This is a message I have to tell her... in person."

"I think she'd rather cut you down than listen, but suit yourself," Erwin replied, a bit coldly. Evidently just thinking about her was still making him bristle.

Jarrod sighed and gave a small smile.
"I can see that. I don't blame her.. but she deserves to hear this in person." He gave another bow in Erwin's direction. "Thanks for uh... saving my neck, I guess. I suppose I should leave you then. I've already been quite a burden."

But when he went to open the door-
It was locked.
"Er..." he glanced over at Erwin. "Got the key?"


Ironically, this wasn't the sort of door that locked from the outside....

Erwin frowned then. "It locks from this side," he said, repeating what the man was thinking. Maybe she was on the other side, blocking the door.

"Just push your way through."

Realizing it could be Mae'leena, he was taken a back, then turned to the door.
"Mae'leena?"


No reply. He licked his lips and said it again.
"Mae'leena?" He knocked on the door and tried the handle again. "Mae'leena, please! I just want to talk!"

Erwin stood and moved over to the window, glancing out and to the small town. It was the dead of night, and few people were out and about.

"I don't think begging and pleading will work with her," he commented. "She's stubborn as a mule."

Jarrod kept knocking before stopping as he released a sigh. Turning back to Erwin, he gave a helpless shrug.
"So I take it you know her well enough then?"

"I barely know her. Not as much as you seem to know her. You from the same place?"

"Why? You accusing me of being Saranthian?" But seeing how Erwin was not a man to joke, he awkwardly cleared his throat and looked away. "No, I am not. We did share a lot of things... The same employer being how we met." He looked pitifully at the door then back to Erwin. "You sure she' s still out there?"

Erwin shrugged and turned back around. "You must've done something wrong to get on her bad side, though obviously it doesn't take too much."

With a frown, he brushed past the man and to the door, pulling at the door handle. It didn't budge much. "Enough is enough. Open the door."

Unfortunately for them both, Mae'leena was no longer there. She no longer had the patience to deal with either of those men, so it perhaps, would be no surprise that they'd hear a horse gallop down cobblestone streets below the window- and a familiar figure on the saddle taking off into the night.

Though Jarrod hadn't noticed, and was examining the door at a closer look as he frowned.
"It looks like... she jammed something... into the key hole."

The rider, bathed in the soft moonlight, caught Erwin's eye from out the window. He let out a small breath and turned away. He'd expected her to bolt. Perhaps it was for the best.

"Just kick it open and be done with it," he said softly, sitting back down on the edge of the bed. "She's gone."

"What?" Jarrod blinked as he turned back to Erwin. "How do you know?" He had no idea the duke had seen her leave.

Erwin sighed and massaged his temples with his hands. She was out of his hair now, so why was he getting a headache thinking about it? Must be the lack of sleep.

"I caught a glimpse of her just now, she rode off on a horse, dappled grey." His father's horse. That thought really jolted him back to reality.

What the hell was he doing here?

Sighing, Jarrod wilted a little and shook his head.
"Perhaps it is not meant to be. But I still... I wish she would have at least listened to me. Then, if she wanted to storm off or cut off my head or balls, I'd feel at least a bit better about it. But here I am rambling. Let's find a way to get this door open so I can get out of your hair too."
And as he turned to look at the door, he stopped to look back at Erwin.
"And thanks again... you know , for not letting Mae'leena kill me." And he offered the man an apologetic smile.

Erwin nodded in acknowledgement of the man's thanks. "Good luck to you, if you find her. She might do it anyway."

Jarrod tried for the door, then looked back to Erwin.
"Er.. would you mind help me with this? It seems she's got it shut rather good."

Erwin glanced up at the man with a slight frown. Was it prudent to disclose the fact that his side was still healing?

Wait, the man had seen him naked. There was no hiding the bandages.

"We'll be compensating the innkeeper for his door," he warned even as he stood to help.

Even having seen the man nude, Jarrod's mind was elsewhere. And if he was bedding Mae'leena... he couldn't have been too bad off, right? It wasn't like Mae'leena liked quiet sex. With her, it was a full body work out!

With a nod, he thanked Erwin, and when the pair had gotten the door open- by then, the inn keeper was up the stairs- and boy did he look pissed!

It took a while to calm the innkeeper down, especially since anyone would have been supremely irate at having their livelihood taken apart one hinge at a time. Luckily, a gold coin shut the man up quite quickly; it would replace the door, compensate for his room and board, and much more. The innkeeper regarded Erwin with quiet suspicion at first (what was a man doing in his inn with this much money?) but said nothing. After all, his fine clothing, though muddied as they had been, belied his noble birth.

Nobody else questioned him, not the innkeeper nor the stableboy who fetched his horse. A frown crossed his face again as he pondered just how much monetary and sentimental value he'd lost when Mae'leena stole his father's horse and rode off into the night. But there was no use thinking about her. In their short weeks together, she'd caused him enough trouble. Best that they went their separate ways and left it at that.

He'd escaped from Jarrod easily enough. Even at this hour, there was enough of a small crowd to lose the man. Now, in the dead of night, with soft snow falling all around them, Erwin saddled his horse and started the long ride back to Wulfbauer.