(closed fantasy AU starter for @ambimerc)
This room was not supposed to be occupied. Legault had done three surveys of the fortress -- one two days ago, one this morning, and one a scant two hours ago -- before he’d felt ready to slip in after the covenant bracelet. And now, for whatever reason, this usually-vacant corner of the fortress had a restive occupant.
He hung silently in the rafters, watching the movements of the woman below. She was restless and far too alert, not someone he could distract long enough with a thrown pebble at the far wall. He dismissed the idea of killing her outright, certain it could not be done quietly even if she somehow deserved it -- and he couldn’t say whether she did or did not.
That left him three options: wait until she got bored or sleepy, find another entrance, or take a more direct approach. Ordinarily he’d have chosen one of the first two, but the theft had a deadline, and it was approaching with the morning sun. That left only the last.
He let himself down with a whisper-soft landing, behind but not entirely out of her line of sight. “Milady, if you’ll forgive the intrusion. I’d no intention of keeping you up at this hour.”
