Simone looked up at him and smirked a bit, “Oh, just looking to see what adorableness my ex-fiance has gotten himself into.” Her eyes snaked up to Lewis’s. “You know they have a weapons’ cache they don’t really talk about at all. Close family and friends know but no one discloses the information outside of that. He bragged about it to me.”

A little leak of information here or there didn’t hurt. Eventually, someone was going to find out about it considering what she was reading in Jerome’s file. Simone would come in and out of his office at random. Though she did like the gardens as well though she chose weird times to go visit them, mostly at night.

On the fourth day, Llywellyn came to get her and looked exhausted. “Looks like I’m out of your hair Lord Lewis,” Simone curtsied as she saw Llywellyn.

“My coronation is tomorrow. Mone, let’s get you home.” Simone was freed of the collar and hoisted up onto Llywellyn’s horse.

“I can ride by myself,” Simone was complaining.

“I’m not letting you out of my sight until we’re back in Auclair,” the king wasn’t putting up with it and Simone clamped her mouth shut. She wasn’t winning this one.

It was the end of the week as Llywellyn was escorting Simone to the small kingdom of Greath. She was riding in the carriage and looking out of it. “And all I have to do is get them to sign this with you?”

“Yes,” Llywellyn nodded. “They are even more hesitant now that I’m king.”

“Sounds easy enough.” Simone did the negotiations well but on the last day of the meeting Simone had sneaked down outside to the gardens in the middle of the night.

She enjoyed the moonlight flowers the most. However, bad luck struck again as she felt someone hit her making her pass out. When she woke up again they had taken the cloak off of her and she was staring at Lewis. “What are you… In love with me?” She tilted her head before sending a foot right into one of the assassin’s crotch. “And for the love of god stop pulling my hair! You did it again!”

In the few days that it took Llywellyn to commit too his promise, Lewis learned a small deal of ‘dark secrets’ about a few of the families. While the leverage was good in a pinch, it wasn’t anything that would change the course of history. Whether or not Simone was aware of that fact or not, Lewis could not ascertain, but she was careful not to let anything serious slip.

Not that it really mattered. Lewis was fully aware that there were things even his organization didn’t know. It didn’t bother him that his information network couldn’t find a weapons cache. All that mattered was the fact that her ex-fiance, Jerome, had a dirty affair with coin slipping hands to the wrong people. Knowing this put them in a compromising position. All that was needed was to let it slip that the coins as passed to a rather well known slave trader, and it was ‘off with his head’.

Well, maybe not Jerome’s, but certainly an excuse to slip into the country for some talks.

In the end, Simone left without a fuss. The moment she and Llywellyn left, Lewis went on about his day without a second thought to the woman, instead pouring his focus into another matter entirely.

“The next target is the daughter of a nobleman, Lucian of Greath…”

—

“The operation went smooth,” Jack said as he brought the woman before Lewis. “White Raven, meet Milly Greath, daughter of-”

“That’s…not Milly,” Lewis stated with a glare. “Though I will give you some credit…” It was once again Lady Auclair, though this time she was sporting bright red hair. “You had the right hair color this time. Completely reasonable to mistake from behind…” The King of Assassins took a deep breath.

“So, Lady Auclair…is there any reason you decided to masquerade as Lady Greath?”

Simone sighed a bit and then came the look of shock, “What do you mean red hair?” It was clear that she had no idea what the hell he was talking about as Lewis got a mirror and showed her. “I’m going to kill him. I told him not to use magic on me this time!” She was yelling. “When the hell did he even use magic on me?!” She was holding the mirror and in utter shock. “My clothes don’t match this shade of red. Is he out of his mind?!”

Taking a few deep breaths she looked up at Lewis, “No idea why Llywellyn was trying to hide what I actually look like. It’s not often I go out for social gatherings.” She waved her hand. “He might have wanted to hide what the daughter of Auclair looks like.” Though she couldn’t be certain. “Passing me off as a relative maybe.”

There was disappointment in her eyes. “I will need to be released, please. I have work I have to do back in the duchy and I’m of no use for whatever you need for Greath. Milly wasn’t even at the party according to the rumors she has decided to elope. I’m not sure if her father knows but she most definitely wasn’t at the greeting on the first day.”

Lewis looked at Simone with disappointed eyes, mirroring her own. She wasn’t the bargaining chip he needed, and moreso, she stated that Milly had eloped. It must have been very recent, given the fact that the most recent information he had on her little love affair was only four days old.

Young adults could be very stupid with their life decisions.

The backup plan in case Milly couldn’t be used was the expose Lord Greath’s investments in the military to other countries. It may have been a small kingdom, but the amount of silver that had been poured into magical weapons was nearly double that of Sulwal. Part of the reason that Llywellyn had gone to sign a treaty with them was for trade to be reopened between the two kingdoms. A temporary peace to amass enough supplies to feed an army.

Greath wanted an expansion. And that just wasn’t in the stars. At least, not for the grand plan that the White Raven’s client had in mind.

“No. You’ll be staying here for the time being. I have no time to meet with the King of Sulwal. An emissary will be sent to explain the situation, but for the time being you’ll be staying here. Since you have a knack of getting in the way of my jobs…” She had no way of knowing that she had been responsible for another issue years ago…a plan for an assassination of Jerome’s fiance to coerce the man into doing what was required of him.

“You will be in the same room, though…” He sighed. “Hardly any reason for a collar this time…but just to be sure, we’ll have you wear it.” Lewis snapped his fingers, and Sylva was once again at his side. “I do believe Llywellyn will find the time to beg for your release in the next week or so…Being he is a busy man, I’ll expect that he can only manage it for an hour at most.”

“I would recommend that you get comfortable…the next job I have will take a month. You can be released after that…”

Simone sighed a bit and waved her hand, “I need my paperwork and a runner. A duchy doesn’t run itself.” The fact she would be gone for so long… Well, that messed up plans entirely. “And my books under my bed. Llywellyn can send Avery.” Avery was a dumb king from a very large mage society. He also had been one of Simone’s suitors but because their engagement never went through he had settled with a trade route with Auclair instead.

She was surrounded by powerful people and she used them to her advantage. It only took until the next morning for the mages to teleport in and Avery had a box full of papers and her books in a suitcase. “This is everything?” Avery looked like a puppy looking to be told he was doing a good job.

“You even grabbed me the maps for the trade routes… Good job,” she reached up and pet his hair. “I’ll make good use out of this. While I’m here… Do you think you can spare mages to protect Auclair?”

“Yes, I figured you were going to ask already. Do you want me to guard the thing?”

“Personally?”

“Yes.”

“Of course,” Simone nodded. “It would be beneficial to me if no one found out…” It was hushed down and Avery nodded.

“When are you going to tell Llywellyn?”

“I’m not. If he found out he would never leave me alone.” Simone held an ashamed look on her face but looked at her extra suitcase. “This is?”

“Dresses, nightgowns, undergarments… I had my maid do it. You would have punched me otherwise.”

“Thank you,” Simone seemed pleased. She had her things moved upstairs and hid away in Lewis’s office to do paperwork. Silva began to realize that when she hid that meant she was busy and didn’t want to be disturbed. The amount of work she was doing was piled quite a bit. Paperwork that no one like her should have had to do in her position.

For Lewis, the next phase of the plan meant doing a lot of legwork. For the most part, he could trust that his assassins could get the job done, but there were a few things that needed a much more personal touch. He didn’t mind much that Simone was using his office while he was away, which was perfect for her.

It was a week before Simone saw Lewis again. The assassin king waltzed into his office, walking past Simone, and opened a drawer looking for a document he had left there. “Why are you leaving books in my desk,” he said, pulling it out. He paused, though, at the title. “A Thrust in the Dark?” He looked at the title, and then to Simone, and back to the title. “I won’t judge you, but do please keep in mind you’re in someone else’s office space…” He put the book down, and procured the document.

“I see you have made yourself quite at home. I assume running an entire dutchy by yourself is no easy feat…”

Simone had a blush across her face the moment he saw the book and she peeked up at him from a document she was writing. “I… put it in there to hide it from Silva. She gets super invested in it and it scares me so I’ve hidden my books in your office.”

She went back to writing before Lewis made the comment on running her duchy. There was a hesitation at first before she looked up. “Who else knows?” This was a bad thing if anyone else found out she would be fighting for her right to her duchy.

“Just me.”

“So four people then,” Simone closed her eyes for a moment as she looked away. “It’s been six years. You get used to it. Jerome got my father killed. I’ve been doing everything ever since. The story everyone else knows is that he’s sick on holiday at a Mirdai estate. Mirdai is owned by Avery’s folks so they have an illusion set up of my father. I need to get married before I come clean but… I need to be very careful about to who. Anyone can take over the duchy of Auclair if they force me out. So I need to be able to trust my partner.”

She grumbled a bit and looked back down at the paperwork. “It’s why I withdrew from society when everything happened with Jerome. I wasn’t ashamed that he broke off our engagement because I was plain and useless. I’m far from those things. I know my own self-worth. But because of the circumstance, I cannot afford to have anyone else help me keep the duchy afloat so I must be on my toes at all times. Which has led to the current issue… I don’t have time to find a husband I can trust so I’ve been pushing for laws regarding such things. So I don’t need to worry so much.”

Lewis walked over to the sofa and sat down, thumbing through the documents. “My benefactor has a long term goal. Right now, we’re int he process of steering the world in the direction that they have chosen. The first step is easy…weaken those who lust for power, and strengthen those whose ideals best suit our interest. The next step, is pushing reforms in all the kingdoms. Much like your idea… where one can’t be forced out of their role merely through marriage…or even lack thereof.”

The assassin smirked. “There’s no way it’ll happen in our lifetime…but the steps that we’re taking will be felt throughout the ages.” Lewis stood up. “The next thing that we need to do is to keep the demon clan from expanding. Their leader is an idiot, to put it lightly. His people want to pillage the lands for all they’re worth…the only thing that’s keeping him from following that urge is his mate. Crazy woman…but even she has her base desires. Demons by nature want to destroy…but those two are fighting against it tooth and nail. Those two are doing what we are…on a much smaller scale. And without help…they’re going to fail…”

Lewis walked back over to the desk, and looked for another file. A second book was in his way, “How to Tame Your Dragon,’ which he pushed aside. “Just…how many books are in my desk?”

“Aye, which is why I need to find a partner… I don’t have time for dates though.” She chuckled. “Makes things a little rough and Llywellyn keeps suggesting people.” She dug through her box and threw out a few files. “All of them are gross when you dig in. He probably doesn’t even realize it.”

She looked at Lewis and thought about it. “Have you thought about addressing love letters to him and having his wife accidentally find them? It could keep them in check for a bit until they put two and two together that someone is setting them up.”

Once the subject of just how many books she had hidden away came up she got real shy, “A few.” She wasn’t about to put a number on it. “Can you look at this real quick? I’m not very good at ancient texts.” Only it was immaculate. Not very good? She was a damn professional at it. Once Lewis looked it over she seemed pleased.

“There, a month’s paperwork caught up on.” She sighed a bit.

Silva began to notice about three weeks in that besides little chats here or there that her lord and the Lady Auclair were solitary creatures who worked in the same space. She got together with Henry and began to whisper things to him. It started out as small things, Simone walking in on Lewis in the bath. Lewis walking in on her in the bath.

Then for dinner Simone was walking past Lewis and Henry backed up into her and she fell onto Lewis knocking him out of his chair. “I’m so sorry Lady Auclair!”

Simone was blushing at Lewis as she was pinning him under her. “I’m so sorry…”

The bath situation had been marked down as a simple mistake: Sylva was not used to having guests for extended periods of time. That seemed to placate Lewis for the time, though the second time it happened, it was far worse of a reaction from both of them.

Even Simone with all of her cool headed, calm nature, could barely contain her shock and surprise when lewis walked in on her as bathing.That earned Lewis, unrightfully, a slap on the face. Of course, Simone apologized later, but Sylva knew better than to push her luck with a third encounter.

It was the dinner later evening that things took a different turn. A mistake on Henry’s part pushed Simone into Lewis, knocking the two of them to the floor. Out of instinct, Lewis landed on his back for a quick recovery, but he couldn’t move. He was staring up at Simone, into her stormy grey eyes as she stared back at him.

“It’s…fine,” Lewis said with a distracted tone, glancing away. “Just…make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Simone recovered, and Lewis was up in a flash. Almost immediately, unplanned by anyone, another of the waitstaff lost control of his cart. Lewis quickly pushed Simone up against a wall to avoid it. For the second time that day, Lewis and Simone were close, staring at each other.

“Sorry…are you okay?” he asked, dropping his haughty tone. She seemed, for the most part, unharmed.