10. Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten
S eated at a small table outside a bustling cafe, Colette watched in irritation as yet another noble estate opened its unassuming servants’ entrance for two city guards to slip in.
This particular table afforded her a perfect view across the street, and she took advantage of it often.
She blended in here, hiding in plain sight.
She took a sip of her chilled tea, the bitter tang mirroring her annoyance.
Mav was ready to end this little game they’d been playing, and Colette couldn’t really blame her.
Colette had been rotating through her favorite lookout spots along the main boulevard, watching to see if any of her potential targets would be left unguarded.
It seemed, however, that Mav had really gone for quantity, trusting that a few of her guards could handle the arrest if needed.
Colette likely wouldn’t win a fight with brute strength, but she was extremely handy with her daggers; she was a bit offended at how much Mav had underestimated her.
One mansion, the city home of one of the provincial nobles, was the only one that didn’t seem to have a pair of city guards stationed inside.
Since it wasn’t the lord’s primary residence, there likely wouldn’t be as many valuables inside, but her last target had been so lucrative that she supposed she could take the risk this time.
She returned to her apartment to dress in her black gear, and waited until nightfall to make her way back through the city to begin her work.
She used the bustle of the early night to cover her progress across the city, but waited until a blanket of sleep settled before she left her hiding spot to slip onto the grounds of the mansion she had chosen for tonight.
The windows of the house remained mostly dark, save for the servants’ quarters, as expected. The lord of this house preferred his ancestral seat in his own southern province. That would make Colette’s task a bit less daunting—the staff tended to be less on-edge when their lord was away.
Moving evenly so as not to make a sound, Colette slipped through the ornate gardens, making her way toward a vine-covered lattice that leaned against the back of the house.
All of the servants’ quarters were on one side of the ground level, so if she could get up to a second floor window, she was much less likely to run into anyone.
She began to gingerly climb up the wooden lattice, hoping beyond hope that it would support her weight.
The cool leaves of the vines tickled her hands as she made her way up the side of the white stone facade of the house.
After what felt like an eternity, she reached the top, and paused outside the window to listen for any activity inside the house—not a sound beyond the regular symphony of Zhava City at night.
Reaching toward the window ledge, she let herself take a split second to savor the feeling of the stretch in her torso. Despite the desperation that had driven her to take up this line of work, she did genuinely enjoy the ways it challenged her to move.
Her fingers found purchase on the smooth stone of the window, and she carefully pulled herself up to sit on it. She looked inside to find only a dark dining room kissed by moonlight.
Unlike some of the more ostentatious nobles that resided in Zhava City year round, this lord kept his valuables in a locked safe.
While at the tavern one night, she had overheard one of this house’s guards loudly complaining about being asked to move the safe from the library of the manor over to the lord’s own bedchamber.
Colette had not thought she would wind up at this estate so soon, but she was glad now that she had been listening in to that particular conversation.
Because of Sartya’s desert climate—and the nobility’s general arrogance—the estates of Zhava City rarely had glass sealing their windows.
Rooms that were intended for entertaining, such as this dining room she now found herself peering into, almost never had windows that closed.
They were designed to catch whatever hint of a breeze was available on the hottest days of the Sartyian summers.
Thefts were rare, and the nobles’ private guards had scared off any would-be intruders. Until Colette.
She swung her legs into the room and paused again to listen and survey her surroundings as her eyes adjusted. She wasn’t in a rush. Smooth and careful, and no one would even know she had been here. Well, until someone found the next note she intended to leave her majestic Captain.
Images of their night together filled Collete’s mind suddenly, and she wished more than anything that they could be together again.
The beauty of Mav’s surrender had been incredibly satisfying, but Colette wondered more at the trust that had been required to do what they had done.
She felt a connection to Mav, like she wanted to know everything about her, wanted to pull Mav’s soul into her own and never let it go.
Dangerous thoughts for a thief to have about her hunter.
Colette took pains to shove her sentimental, sensitive heart into a box.
There was no room for it when others depended on her to get this job done.
She had a responsibility to take care of her grandmother, and a mission to take care of the less fortunate people of this city.
She couldn’t let herself get swept up in her feelings.
Her focus snapped back to the present at the sound of a floorboard creak. She froze, breath held, waiting. Minutes passed, Colette’s breathing shallow, until she was certain it had just been the house settling.
Colette slipped through the dining room out into the dark hallway and began methodically moving past each door, always checking, always listening.
She deduced the large double doors at the northern end of the home were her destination the moment she saw them.
Ornate, carved solid wood flaunted the lord’s wealth.
She pulled the large metal ring that served as a doorknob as gently as she could, using all her strength to control the movement. A deep wooden snick , and the door opened a fraction.. Darkness greeted her.
Colette slipped in, adrenaline now pumping through her veins in earnest. The room smelled of sandalwood, and something else that immediately had her thoughts flicking back to Mav.
She blinked, forcing herself to stay in this moment.
This theft was not the most difficult she had attempted, but it would be foolish not to be fully on her guard.
In the split second that she did battle with herself internally, she heard movement off to her right.
Air moved across her cheek before she could even turn fully to look.
A massive body slammed into her, and she found herself pinned against the solid wood of the door.
The warmth of the body was the first thing she noticed as her mind caught up with what had just happened.
After a heartbeat, she looked up into her assailant’s face—and found Mav’s amber eyes staring down at her.