Chapter 1 #3
My stomach growled more urgently in protest to that thought and instead of stealing away into the night, I turned from the door.
The count would be kept busy for a few minutes while he got over the shock of watching his high-born wife taking the dick of a commoner like a good whore, so I had time.
I glanced around then crossed the cavernous hallway and slipped into the kitchen.
People with this much wealth should really share it willingly if they don’t want to risk thieves getting in.
I smirked to myself as I started opening cupboards the moment I made it into the room, hunting for anything I could eat on the run. Or anything that I could easily carry and keep for later.
I drew open the pantry door and groaned beneath my breath at the hoard I found waiting for me.
I snatched a cloth bag from the back of the door and started throwing bread, cheese, biscuits and cakes inside.
I stuffed one of the little cakes into my mouth and moaned with pleasure at the sweet taste which overwhelmed my senses, closing my eyes and just enjoying it for a few blissful moments.
This was a whole lot better than rat broth.
A shout of alarm came from upstairs and I stilled as I listened to the sounds of Balthazar being hounded out of the countess’s bed by her husband.
Something smashed and the countess screamed in a high-pitched tone which made me wince, while the deep timbre of Balthazar’s voice carried to me and the count screamed furiously.
I couldn’t make out most of the words but there was something about his wife being defiled by the cock of a heathen and a whole lot of sobbing from the woman in question.
It had looked to me like she was plenty happy to be defiled at the time though.
I released a breath of laughter and threw the bag over my shoulder, saying a silent farewell to the food I couldn’t carry before elbowing the pantry door shut and spinning back to face the room.
I froze as I came face to face with a kitchen maid, blinking through the shock of someone managing to sneak up on me like that and briefly wondering what her Affinities must have been to make her so damn silent.
The maid’s lips parted with surprise, a scream not quite escaping her as she stared at me in alarm.
She had dark hair which hung to her waist and wide eyes which shone with fright at her discovery.
Pretty in an understated way with nice tits that were sadly mostly hidden beneath the frumpy maid uniform she wore.
“It’s alright,” I breathed, holding my hands wide so that she could see I didn’t mean her any harm, my sack of stolen food hanging from my fist.
She backed up a step and I could see that she really was about to scream.
I gave her my best smile and pushed my hair out of my eyes as I took a slow step into the moonlight which washed in through the window, letting her get a better look at my powerful frame and winning smile.
I saw the moment her hesitation was extended by the sight of my face and gave her a more appraising look as her gaze trailed down to the buttons which hung open on the front of my tunic, stealing a look at more of my body than it was entirely proper for me to be showing.
But I never had cared much for proper. And the way her eyes widened as she drank in the sight of the tattoos marking my deep bronze skin said she wasn’t complaining either.
“What’s your name?” I murmured, my voice low and soft, my skin tingling with the feeling of my Affinities coming into play.
“Perdu,” she replied, and I knew I had her as her eyes skimmed over the exposed muscles of my inked arms in an appreciative way.
“Well, Perdu. I’m not here to hurt anyone, I’m just a bit hungry and it seemed to me like there was more than enough food here to go around.
Can this be our little secret?” I asked as I took a step towards her, licking my bottom lip and getting a thrill as her gaze instantly fell to my mouth.
“When the guards ask, you never saw me?”
She backed up and bumped into the kitchen worktop as I moved into her personal space, her breaths growing shallow as my shadow ate her up.
“I never saw you,” she agreed on an exhale, part fear, part lust in her tone.
“And this never happened either.” I leaned forward and captured her lips with mine. She gasped in surprise as she turned to liquid beneath my touch, but I really didn’t have much time to waste, no matter how tempting she may have been.
I pressed forward all the same, tasting her tongue and hitching her long skirt up so that I could caress the outside of her thigh, enjoying the moment - no matter how brief it had to be and giving her plenty of reason to want to keep her word.
More yells drew my attention to the drama taking place upstairs and I broke our kiss, giving her a wide smile before turning and running from the room as she sagged back against the worktop.
I took the servants’ exit from the kitchen just as I heard the count screaming for the guards and the countess wailing apologies.
Balthazar should have been running down the street with his britches around his ankles right about now, and it was time I made my escape before anyone else realised there had been more than one lower Fae creeping around this place tonight.
Egos wouldn’t be happy that we’d had to abandon our raid before finding any coin, but hopefully the jewels would be enough to appease him.
Though I could admit that I was pretty pissed over my own cut being trimmed now too.
Once Egos took his share and split the remains between me and Balthazar, I doubted I’d have much beyond what I’d need to feed myself this week.
Especially with the price of wheat doubling again this quarter and bread being so damn expensive.
I swear those Fae with an Affinity for baking were exaggerating the problem to line their own pockets too like some kind of conspiracy against poor, hardworking folk like me who just needed to fill their bellies.
I ran until I found a large window, forced it open then leapt outside just as the bells started ringing in the city and the sound of marching footsteps announced the arrival of the guards.
They shouldn’t have been looking for me though. They were after a mean arsehole who had just dipped his cock in the wrong hole, not a thief too fucking cunning to even be noticed. I just had to skip away into the shadows and-
“My jewels!” the countess cried in horror, her voice reaching me from the open window above and pouring a heap of shit all over my plans to keep this thing low priority for the guards.
Fuck.
I raced across the stone courtyard to the back of the manor house and dove into a thin passage which ran between the stables and the kitchens.
A horse whinnied in protest to my arrival and I cursed again as another kicked the side of its stall.
Why couldn’t I have an Affinity with animals?
That would have been damn handy right about now.
But no. Of course I didn’t. In fact, animals seemed to hate me as a rule – probably because I wasn’t above stealing their food.
But sometimes beggars couldn’t be choosers, and the grain the wealthy motherfuckers around here fed their beasts beat the slop served up in The Den at least half of the time.
I forced my way around the back of the wooden structure and the wall which ringed the property, then started really moving.
The horses were making more noise as the sound of me struggling to fit my broad chest along the narrow gap upset them and I growled my irritation at the creatures.
They were going to give me away if I couldn’t get out of here quickly.
I looked at the gap above my head and leapt up, finding a hand hold in the rough wall so that I could heave myself higher.
The bag of food snagged beneath me, but I refused to release it.
I hadn’t eaten anything that good in over a week and I hadn’t come this far to go hungry again tonight.
We usually had enough food available in The Den, but I couldn’t eat rat stew now that I’d been this close to the fine cakes and pastries enjoyed by the upper Fae.
And though I’d have to give up the jewels I’d stolen to the boss, food was fair fucking game and this lot was all mine.
The rest of the thieves had long since fled, not one of them foolish enough to hang about when things went sideways and they’d all be well on their way back to the slums, outpacing the royal guards and getting out of my way too, so that was something.
I just had to get myself out of this mess and we could all celebrate our close call back at The Den.
Right after I demolished this food - I wasn’t sharing a scrap of that.
I might let Pip have a crumb or two, but that was it.
And only because he was pretty much the only fucker I even half liked around here.
Though in all likelihood, I probably didn’t like him enough to share my meal with him, so I was almost certain I was just going to hoard it alone and eat the lot until I wanted to throw up. Yeah. That was the dream.
I scrambled higher and a horse snorted angrily from within its stall, making my heart leap at the noise and curse the forgotten gods for abandoning us.
Damn these stupid beasts.
I managed to grab the roof of the stable and heaved myself over the edge just as the sound of the guards arriving in the courtyard reached me.
“Did you see anything, girl?” a man barked.