Avery looked up at Lewis and smirked, “Her issue isn’t with you. It’s with the whores. They always make fun of her and her smal–” Simone took her slipper off and smacked Avery with it.

“DON’T YOU DARE,” Simone yelled at him. “Those lousy whores will flirt with him in front of me.”

“…Yeah… They will,” Avery smirked a bit. “She just doesn’t want to hear it.”

Simone nodded and smiled at Lewis, “You still have to heal me with the salve. A bath does sound good.” She sighed a bit and put her hair over her shoulder. “We move in three days. Together. We should take horses and leave the estate at night. Avery can provide us with cover. My people are tight-lipped and they won’t speak of my return for right now. That will give us some room to wiggle. Avery can create illusions that are almost life-like.”

Simone was visibly tired and Avery sighed, “She’s going to run herself into the ground Lewis. I’ll take care of the travel details. You take care of your wife like a good husband and teach me how!”

Simone made a face, “Please take care of your poor ailing wife.” The duchess wrapped her arms around Lewis’s waist. “Bath, sleep… Ah… There’s a note too…” She pulled it out and showed Lewis. “Your pervert goddess… left this in my nightgown.”

It was a list of acceptable sex positions while Simone was recovering. “It makes me embarrassed to know she thought this far ahead…”

“What is she going to do…watch?” Lewis asked. As if on cue, there was a gust of wind indoors that caught the paper, throwing it into Lewis’ face. “Point taken…fucking perverted Goddess…”

—

The days passed with little excitement, other than a few semi-loud nights. Taking care of Simone was like second nature to Lewis. What surprised him, though, was the fact that she noticed his exhaustion and forced him to slow down and rest. Was this what couples were really like? Constantly taking care of each other?

The three days came to an end, and as the sun started to set, Lewis and Simone set off into the night. The moon started to rise, illuminating their path as they rode their horses. “Lead the way!” Lewis called out as he fell back, letting Simone take the lead. It would be a long night, and he hoped that she had enough time to recover.

The few days of rest allowed her to catch up on the work for the duchy as well as distribute tasks to the help now that they knew it was just her. Lewis was no slouch either as he helped her handle the day-to-day business. It was smooth and there wasn’t any stress. Their partnership was inspiring viewing it from the outside in.

The passion that followed during the night even had the maids blushing towards her and it made Simone a bit self-conscious, which only encouraged Lewis even more.

Pulling up her hood she nodded to Lewis, “Alright, stay close and watch the road.” Simone looked rather plain wearing her commoner’s outfit. They first made their way into the city of Tipal. It was a bustling little city but they were heading for the darker side of it. There were magic lights, catcalls everywhere, and even drunks.

It was certainly something to see and Simone wasn’t scared as she tied her horse off in a stable attached to a small house not too far. “They should be fine here. You’ll watch them right Velvet?” A girl exited the house and came over.

“Hey, I’ll do whatever as long as you pay me.” Simone threw a sack of money and shrugged. “You were never here as always.”

“Thanks, we might be a bit so if anyone comes asking about the horses… make something up.” Simone waved her hand and took Lewis’s. “We’re going to the Silver Chalice. It’s a high-end brothel that the lords like to use. We’re meeting with three of the hostesses there. The lords’ favorites if you will.” And boy would they love Lewis.

They came up to a large manor of sorts and Simone went around back and knocked on the door. “Who is it?” The voice was feminine and young.

“Men are nothing but pigs and the world is ours for the taking,” Simone said up close to the doors.

“Fuck their wives,” the woman opened it and looked at Lewis. “I knew you got married… but.”

“Better not be cursing me,” Simone grit her teeth a little, and the busty blonde hugged her tightly and Simone squirmed. “LET ME GO! You stink of layers of fucking perfume Calypse.”

Calypse started to laugh, “Your husband is so fucking adorable. Let me take him for a ride.”

“OVER MY GOD DAMN BODY,” Simone hissed but it was very clear they were playing.

“Welcome to my Silver Chalice. All of my ladies are the best,” Calypse spoke to Lewis with a purr and then looked down to Simone’s glare. “Though for their safety you are outlawed from ordering.”

“Thanks for respecting me,” Simone grit her teeth.

“I say mine but Simone owns it,” Calypse led the two through the back door where the kitchen was busy at work. “It’s safe to freely speak in this room.”

“I found Calypse almost dead and decided to help her. Paid her owner and let her set up the Silver Chalice. It has two functions.”

“Three if you count the number of nobles you’ve had us slip poison.”

“Okay. Four functions. Some of that wasn’t poison,” Simone made a face. “It was to sterilize them.”

“My vicious little duchessss~” Calpyse was hugging her again. “She’s just so fucking cute. I’m glad you are alright though.”

“Don’t worry if I die I’ve left a will,” Simone sighed a bit. “You would be well taken care of.”

“Not what I’m worried about. A girl your age… You are way too young to be doing shit like this. I told you that six years ago and I’m telling you again.”

“Don’t worry about me Calypse. I want to introduce my husband to you. This is Lewis Terrowin.”

Calpyse took a look at him and then at Simone, “Is he related to that man you wanted advice on… What was it… The White–” Simone dove and covered her mouth. “IT IS!” Calypse pushed her hand away. “Simone had such a crush on you! She didn’t know how to handle herself the first time she met you!”

Lewis, for the most part, kept to himself when they entered the Silver Chalice. Even when he was spoken to directly by Calpyse, he tried to shrug off her statements as nothing. He could almost feel the writhing jealousy pouring off of Simone, and he was aware that any move he made could stoke those flames.

Of course, he had no desire for any of the women here. From the few that Lewis could see from the door, they were all beautiful in their own ways. And just one of the few movements alone that he caught, they were all trained in more than just service…

“It’s a pleasure,” he said as he took a bow. “I…wasn’t aware that Simone had such a crush.” He gave her a sly look with a smirk. “We have much to learn about each other…and hopefully plenty of time to do so.” He took a moment to take in his surroundings again…a bad habit of being an assassin.

“There is a chance that, if things go well, we can g et out of the dangerous side of this business,” Lewis said. He puled out a few parchments and handed them to Calpyse. “This man is dead. But my sources say that he’s associated with this one here.” He pointed to the second parchment. “Five days ago, these two were seen exchanging money with the third…” He pointed again. “That man is a noble. But I’ve never seen him before, so not one of the big players…”

Simone was bright red as Lewis spoke. “CALYPSEEEEEE,” Simone squealed as she pulled the madam to her. “You are going to get me fucked to death,” Simone was whispering angrily at her.

“Oh my~” Calypse was giggling at the young woman. “He is just what you needed. I can see why you were so taken in.” Calypse let Simone go so she could take the papers. “Let me ask my girls. They all are loyal to Simone since she keeps our lives in a good light.”

“Loyalty sometimes has a price,” Simone chuckled a bit and they waited. She looked up at Lewis and smiled, “I trust you, by the way. I’m just scared you’ll find me boring after seeing so many good-looking bodies.” She was self-conscious.

Simone paused as she saw three girls running over to her, “SIMONEE!” They were hugging her and almost went to the floor with her. “We heard you were hurt. What jackass would take a hit on you! We’d tear his hair out.” They were checking her over and then they noticed her husband. “Look what you landed! He is so much better than that pig Jerome. He can’t even slap my ass right.”

“Please don’t say you want to test Lewis…” Simone looked self conscious again.

“And ruin your self esteem anymore than it is? Never,” the red head spoke up. “Jerome did enough to you on that end. Fuck that guy. Hey husband guy, you should take Jerome out with a letter opener. He’s so cruel to our Simone. Parading sluts in front of her in and out of his bedroom when she was visiting.”

Simone withdrew a bit and gave a smile, “We’ll take care of it. I appreciate your concern…” The number he did on her was visible even now. “So… Do you lot know anything about what Calypse showed you?”

“The man who’s dead is named Ethan. He’s a good fuck from up north but he does a lot of jobs here in this area. He’s part of a group but he never gave me a name. He did, however, receive letters from them on occasion with a sigil.”

“Can you draw this sigil?”

“I sure as fuck can! He was a solid fuck so I tend to remember my boys a bit more. Shame he was such a cunt though,” the brunette was speaking now as she sighed. “Let me get some paper.” He ran off.

“Oh… Hey Mary… We know this one,” the red hair pointed at the other with blonde hair. They looked at it together. “Oh, he’s a dirty fucker. He likes two bitches sometimes three. He really likes Jessica but since she’s popular he tends to take us both. If he can get her he has threesomes,” the redhead nodded and the blonde had a look on her face.

“Fucking asshole owes us money…” Mary sighed. “He’ll probably pay up in a month or so. He’s the son of some count not that far from the duchy. He isn’t under your justification though if I’m remembering the map right. His name is Raphael Valentine… That third man though… Oi Trish.” A fourth woman came in. “Isn’t this your whacko boy?”

“Oh yeahhhh. He punched Peter in the face and got banned here for a while,” Trish nodded. “His name is Lyon. Don’t have a last name though. He is savvy and always pays upfront.”

“A first name is great… Thanks…” Simone gathered the names up and the sigil. “It looks like it’s a tree with a wolf?” She tilted her head. “I’m not too good with sigils I’m afraid.”

They left out the backdoor and Simone sighed, “Lyon is probably a fake name. We can try to follow up on it but… I doubt we’ll get anything good out of it.”

“I could never think of you as boring,” he said as the women came up.

Talking with the working girls revealed a lot of information, but only some of it was useful at first glance. Lewis wrote down all of the pertinent information, and thanked the women for their time as they dispersed. He looked over the names and the sigil again, and nodded. “Okay, so we have some decent leads at least.”

“The names. We have Ethan, Raphael Valentine, and Lyon.” Lewis nodded in agreement at the possibility that Lyon was a false name. “But we can use all of this to our advantage. We just need to find the taverns that the guilds use, and shake up a few fools.” He looked at Simone. “Do you trust me, little rabbit?”

—

A garbed Lewis and Simone barreled into the tavern. “For fuck’s sake,” he said with a foreign accent. “I can’t believe that dumbass went and got himself killed.” He wandered over to the bar, and slammed his fist down. “I need a stiff drunk. Top shelf. And pour one out for dear Ethan…” He tossed a small bag of coins onto the bar. “Hell, rounds on the house…”

“For Ethan!” One man said, and a few others nodded.

Lewis smirked underneath the robe. Jackpot.

He took his drink, and motioned Simone to take the corner with a shady man. There was an air about the shady man. He was the one who handed out the jobs. Lewis sat down with Simone, and took a large gulp of his frothing ale. “I need to speak to Lyon. That asshole owes me money for the job that Ethan failed to do…”

Simone learned something new about Lewis in that tavern, his acting was good. She was keeping herself hidden but compared to how she looked at the duchy she wasn’t really all that concerned about being noticed.

“What proof you got?” The man asked as he took a look at the two.

Reaching into her pocket she tossed two rings on the table. They were bloodied. “We got the duchess through the heart but… Wouldn’t you know it? That asshole actually loved her. Bled all over the place. Real fucking mess.”

The man inspected the rings, “This is gold from a Monte mine alright and her sigil is in it.” It was a good thing that Simone had a second set of rings made just in case. They were coming in mighty handy right about now. “If you need to speak with Lyon… he’s upstairs right now with a whore. He doesn’t like being interrupted though.”

Simone rolled her eyes. “Men and their fucking whores. That’s why shit doesn’t get done right,” pushing herself up she sighed a bit. “If you won’t go get the bastard we will.”

The woman was ballsy and the shady man was staring at her, “Not many woman folk like you willing to put a knife in something.”

“I’m not looking for anyone to put anything in me,” Simone leaned down as she caught what he was going to say. “The key for the room now.”

“He’ll kill ya,” the man slid the key across the table and Simone put some coins in his hand.

“He can try,” Simone gave a smirk. “Highly doubt he’ll be able to do anything if he’s balls deep.” The duchess spun the key on her finger. “Come on partner let’s go get our fucking payment. If we’re lucky we’ll get dinner and a show.”

It was incredible the way that Simone was acting. If he didn’t know any better, he would think that this version of Simone was a completely different person. But, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to Lewis; she had plenty of years to perfect her Lady Azure, and she likely took other lessons in acting to help supplement it.

“Right,” he said as they both made their way up to the room. It wasn’t difficult figuring out which room they wanted. The door flew open, and Lewis and Simone walked in.

Surely enough, ‘Lyon’ was caught mid act, and the look on his face was pure rage.

“Who the fuck do you thi-”

Lewis took a step forward, dropping his persona. “Leave.” His eyes went to the woman on top of him. The cold gaze that the assassin had was more than enough to strike terror into the woman, and she left, running away without even taking her clothes. Simone slammed the door behind, letting the click resound.

“Mr. Lyon,” Lewis said as he took another step forward. “We have some…business with you….”

Simone’s face would have flushed under any other circumstance but she wanted to get to the bottom of who paid for the attack. She took off her cloak and threw it. “Lyon, that’s what they call you right?”

“What the fuck about it bitch?” Simone smacked him across the face after he spoke.

“You’ll talk to me with more respect than that. After all… You have no upper hand here… Hell, you don’t even have any pants.”

–

They were in the room for a bit with Lewis showing Simone some techniques to get information out of people. She got sick at first but she got more comfortable with it. They made Lyon squeal, the information he had was enough for them to put another part of the puzzle together.

“So… They’re called The Shades. Not a very impressive name I’ll admit but…” She sighed a bit. “We have our name. This is the organization that was paid for my hit so… I guess we should… Get who paid the hit for me?”

She looked up at him. “Do we do it now or do we take a break?”

Lyon was tied to a chair and he was trembling. They hadn’t killed him but Lewis had gotten very close. “I don’t know much about assassins to be honest. That is more your thing.”

“Mr. Lyons here is a liability. He dies now,” Lewis said as he put a dagger through the man’s neck. “Sometimes we leave them alive to send a message. But in this case, we want to strike first.” He cleaned off the dagger, and walked over to the mirror. “No time for breaks. The Shades should be close by. We have the sigil, and…” He walked over and pulled a pin with the sigil on it. “We have a way in…”

“We’ll want to go as quietly as possible. In and out, only taking what we need. Two people aren’t enough to take down an organization. At best, we can relay everything to Llywelyn and have him deal with it.”

The two made their way to the location that ‘Lyon’ had said their base of operations was. It wasn’t too difficult for Lewis to sneak the two of them in, and it wasn’t long before they found themselves in a large room with thousands of files. “Any organization like this takes particular care in knowing their clients…” He walked over to a cabinet, and thumbed through it.

“Since we already suspect Jerome…” He pulled out the file and smirked. “Bingo.” He opened it. “All of the transactions. Here’s the hit he paid out for you and I on the very top.” He handed the file over. “And of course a lot of other juicy bits…”