Lewis waited a moment before finally clearing his throat to answer Elrand’s question. “Lord Raith has been informed of this arrangement. It should not be much longer before…” He paused. Before what. She was finally killed? How else to explain it? “She is gone.” That was the best answer he could give without going into the complexities of the situation. She would be dead soon, and that was all that really mattered in the end. Still, it brought a brief pause to his thought process. The whole ordeal would soon be over.
Thank the Gods.
As expected, Elrand took Lewis’ threat in stride, which should have thrown Lewis off, but at this point he was beginning to understand that many of his acquaintances had a ‘dark’ sense of humor. Or whatever they called it. Of course, he winced when he was called out for his awkwardness. Wouldn’t be so awkward if I weren’t wearing these useless clothes. He had several other, more murderous thoughts, but those were easily tossed aside. He was among friends, so there was no need for them.
The assassin led Simone to the table, and eyed what they had so rightfully procured for the night. During his last encounter with alcohol, he tried a variety of different things, most of which the names he barely remembered due to the excessive amounts he had consumed that night. He grimaced at the memory of the morning after, and decided he would probably watch his consumption this time, less he made a fool of himself again.
“You mentioned wine?” Lewis knew two things about wine, that it was expensive, and that the older it was the better. He had always wondered why high society tended to gravitate towards it. “I would rather not sweet, but you called the other one dry.” A curious term. Was that supposed to be the opposite of sweet?
“I’ll try the red wine.” As it seemed like everything was up for offer, he went ahead and popped the cork of the red wine, and started to pour it into the available glass. As with every noble he had seen, he swirled it around in the glass, and took a whiff. The scent was not what he would have expected, but it was pleasant, with an earthy sort of smell that reminded him of the forest floor. He took a hesitant sip, and was surprised at the sudden bitter flavor. Still, he had consumed much worse, and he let it roll across his tongue.
The flavors seemed to evolve and change, but Lewis was far too inexperienced to understand what they were or how to describe them.
“I don’t…hate it,” he said finally. “It’s…complex. I don’t think I really…understand it…” He was struggling to find the words, and for once was being fairly genuine. “I still don’t understand why people would pay so much for this.”
Lewis took a second sip, and was once more confused at the complicated array of flavors, but immediately choked when he noticed the sudden shift in Simone’s existence. Fuck. At once he was tempted to kill her to keep her quiet. The fact that an alter took over was bad, and for a moment he had a flashback to Wrath. If she were here, he would have no choice.
But Wrath was dead, and this was merely an older, completed Simone. Still, the tension did not leave, and his eyes were wide with a manic desire to slit her throat.
“I’m well aware,” Lewis said finally as Simone spoke of their next target. “But now is not the time. “I would suggest you leave now.” He gripped the wine glass tightly. Simone spoke for a moment longer before reverting, and Lewis let the tension in his body go.
He glanced at Dae and Elrand, his eye twitching slightly. “I would rather not talk about what just happened, so if you would kindly each take a very large drink of your…beverage of choice, I would greatly appreciate it.” Likewise, he took a long sip of the wine, clearing half the glass. He hoped that they would drop it.
“Dae…why don’t you regale us with some of your more fascinating assassin stories,” Lewis said rather loudly. “Perhaps I can learn something.” Or at the very least, avoid having this conversation here.
