by Logan Jacobs
“We’ve done this too long to know otherwise,” Penny sighed as she turned her eyes away from me. “We are humans, and you know how it’s going to end up for us.”
“Not all of us,” I said. “We need to get this whiskey business going. That’s our way to the top, and maybe out of this city.”
“All the cities are the same,” Dar sighed.
“Then at least we’ll be rich for the ride,” I commented as I turned to walk down the street to complete our original mission.
Then the sun suddenly began to sink in the sky like an autumn leaf, and the three of us let out a loud groan.
“Fucking night elves,” Dar exclaimed as he looked up at the darkened sky. “The apothecary is going to be closed by the time we make it there.”
“Guess we might as well head back to the Thief’s Guild then,” Penny sighed as she gestured down the street toward our home. “No use in wasting our time casing a joint that won’t even be open until morning.”
“Not to mention Hagan’s wrath if we don’t get his coin purse back to him soon,” I answered as Dar nodded his head in agreement. “We’ll find a way to get the copper pipes another day.”
Then Penny, Dar, and I weaved through the city streets back toward the Thief’s Guild with our bag filled with riches and Hagan’s oh-so-valuable coin purse.
I entered the courtyard last, and Penny shoved the cloth bag into my hands.
“You noticed Hagan’s coin purse was missing, so you should be the one to do the honor,” she explained. “He will be screaming hallelujahs when he sees what we stole for him.”
“Thanks, but you did most of the legwork,” I responded.
Dar shrugged his shoulders as he placed a hand on mine. “Maybe and maybe not, but either way we know it was your idea and your quick thinking that saved us from his wrath.”
The halfling and pixie thieves entered the Guild ahead of me as I held the bag of coins and jewels in my hand. One day, I would have my own bag of riches. A collection I wouldn’t have to share with anyone. I felt the truth of it in the depths of my soul.
But today was not that day.
I walked through the creaky door and into the hall where Hagan was waiting for me. He swirled his glass of fruity elven wine, and his mouth was set in a grim line.
“So boy, what did ya bring me? Me coin purse and a few scraps?” Hagan asked bitterly.
I took the cloth bag and tossed it at his feet, where it landed with a thud.
“I think that should be enough to cover our weight for the next week,” I smugly responded.
Hagan inspected the contents of the bag, and then he looked back up at me with disbelief written clearly on his face.
“How in the ancients did ya manage to swing this here bag?” Hagan questioned as he studied me.
“We retrieved your coin purse and then relieved them of their coin as well,” I explained as I leaned against the decayed wall. “I do believe you were the one who said there were riches to be had by thieving in the Entertainment District.”
He paused as he bit the inside of his cheek with a perplexed look on his face.
“Well it hurts me to admit it,” he groaned, “but ya did good Wade. Me didn’t think ya had it in ya.”
“That was good, but next time you should try a little harder to make it look like it didn’t kill you to say those words,” I said with a wink as I started up the stairs.
Hagan grunted behind me as he continued to nurse his bottle for the rest of the evening.
Chapter 10 - Cimarra
I watered the horses and helped Count Kieran add up the coins we’d brought in the night before as well as any other odds and ends he requested of me. My list of chores was almost endless, but it was how I spent my days and mornings when I wasn’t performing, and how I moved up the ranks to earn the Count’s trust.
Still, the list might have been endless, but I was efficient and hardworking, so eventually I was finished and alone in the room I shared with the other dancers. They were like my sisters, but we still partitioned off our own sections with scraps of cloth we’d found in storage. It was all we had.
I laid upon my pile of soft beaded pillows that represented every color of the rainbow and more, and I had my sketchpad out as I drew a picture of the frisky horse that tried to bite me this morning. Of course, that wasn’t what was really on my mind.
I wanted to draw an image of Wade, but I couldn’t risk it.
The girls around here were nosy little gnats, and they didn’t need to find out about his business or my involvement.
Suddenly, Mira’s stringy blonde head popped into my room. She had a mischievous smile on her face, and her eyes glowed in a way that concerned me.
She might have been my dance sister, but she was also a schemer.
“Guess who just walked through the back entrance and asked for you?” Mira crooned.
“Is it that crazy man again who claims I was his wife in a past lifetime?” I groaned. “If so, throw him out because I don’t care to deal with him today.”
“No,” Mira giggled, “just the dashing young man you spent the other night with. What was his name? Wade? But if you want me to, I can send him away--”
Wade.
“No, no,” I cut Mira off, “I’m coming. Just go out there and make sure Cleo keeps her hands off him. I’ve got plans with him today.”
“Ohhhh, secret plans?” Mira asked as she raised an eyebrow. “Do tell.”
“Mira, please,” I begged her.
“Alright, I’ll stop pestering you.” My sister walked out of the room, and her laughter echoed down the hall.
Then I tried to keep my heart from racing out of my ribcage as I ran a brush through my dark curls and double checked my makeup in the dressing room mirror before I headed out to meet the man in the hall.
I tried not to run out there, but I also didn’t want to walk, so I decided on a quick sashay that could have been interpreted as me practicing my dance moves. As soon as I reached the main hall, I spotted Wade against a pillar looking dark, dashing, and sexy. My mouth went dry and then wet as soon as I saw him, but then I felt annoyance grab my stomach when I saw my other sisters flirting around him like butterflies vying for the attention of a single desert flower.
“Wade, if you ever get bored of Cimarra, we could get into trouble together,” Loki crooned as she laid a hand on his arm.
“Oh, don’t be silly, he’d rather hop into my bed than sleep with you. Isn’t that right?” Cleo proclaimed as she sidled up beside him and ran her fingers down his muscular chest.
“Pfffffffffttt,” Tia scoffed as she hooked her fingers into his belt. “I can take care of you much better than my sisters. Just look at my lips, and imagine them wrapped around your manhood like--”
“No thanks, ladies.” Wade rubbed the back of his neck with a calloused hand. “As great as the offers are, I have already made plans with Cimarra.”
I made my way through the pack of hungry dancers and up to the thief with a sexy smile.
“I’m sorry sisters, but I think this one’s taken,” I purred at him.
“Awwww,” Cleo groaned. “We just wanted to have a little fun with him.”
“Maybe you can when I’m done,” I said as I giggled at her, but that was all part of the game. I loved my sisters, even though we weren’t blood, but at the moment, I kind of wanted to claw Cleo’s pretty blue eyes out. They all knew I’d laid claim to Wade, but they were smart enough to know I’d never laid claim to a man, so there must have been something special about him.
And there most certainly was.
“We’ll see him later then,” Loki sighed and then waved at Wade before the girls all shuffled off to their respective quarters.
“I would say ‘you’re welcome,’ but I don’t think you minded having a group of dancers fawn over you and offer to pleasure you,” I laughed as I took his arm in my fingers. His muscles were firm and coiled under my touch, and I felt a shiver run down my spine when I rem
embered how he’d wrapped those arms around me a few nights ago.
“Some of their offers were tempting, but not as tempting as you are,” the thief assured me with a grin.
“Oh?” I shot him a wink as I pulled him toward the door leading out of the back of the theater and toward the light of day.
“You ask as if you don’t know how incredibly beautiful you are,” he snickered.
“What did you have planned for us today?” I purred as I ran a lone finger down his arm. “Or was it all a part of your scheme to bed me again?”
“As much as I would like to, this is time sensitive, and I wouldn’t want to leave until we had both been thoroughly satisfied,” Wade responded.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to bed me?” I said playfully.
By the elves, he was handsome. The darkness in his eyes was perfectly countered by the kindness of his mouth and the sweetness he had shown me when he made love to me. I knew I was playing a bit aloof with him, but if he knew how my body trembled when he looked at me, or how wet I got when he touched me, I’d lose whatever leverage I was going to have in our future relationship.
And I wanted a future with him. I knew that much for sure.
“I think this venture will be almost as satisfying,” the dark-haired man flirted as I unlocked the door to the elephant stables and stepped inside.
“I’m intrigued,” I said, “by the whiskey, but also by your definition of satisfaction.”
Wade laughed, and then his dark eyes held mine as he pulled the door closed behind him.
“So how does one make whiskey?” I pressed. Yes, I was curious how he planned to turn the dump into a place of business, but I also wanted to keep him talking or I wouldn’t be able to keep from kissing him.
Damn, I was like a lovestruck kid. Part of me felt like such an idiot, and I feared he would break my heart, but the other part didn’t care. This was a man who had a plan, and he’d shown he could take risks.
He was my fortune, and I wasn’t going to let him slip through my fingers.
“It’s a complicated process,” Wade said as he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. “But I’ll try to explain. First, I have to make the still.”
He handed to me a crude drawing of various squares connected by smaller rectangles, and I quickly realized they were the water tanks attached to the wall.
“I plan to use those elephant water tanks as a mash boiler as well as for grain storage,” he continued. “They are already suspended on those four legs, so all I have to do is add a fuel source beneath them. Then I take copper pipes and run them from the boiler into another keg filled with cold water. This will cool the mixture and create whiskey.”
“How do you plan to get the rest of the materials?” I questioned as I studied his drawing. What he had sketched quickly made sense, but I didn’t know if Wade wanted an intelligent business partner, or a brainless idiot as his wife, so I decided to play it safe and not let him know I already understood the basics of his process.
“Penny and Dar are handling the kegs and the fuel, and I have an idea on how to get the copper piping,” Wade admitted. “The only missing ingredient is the grain, but as I explained to you a few days ago, I don’t know anything about grain deliveries.”
This was my chance to prove my usefulness to him, but I again weighed the benefits of appearing too smart before I opened my mouth. “I might have a solution for you.”
“Really?” he asked, and I felt a warm sensation spread through my stomach when he opened his dark eyes wide.
Damn. I was so smitten.
“I asked around,” I began. “Cautiously, of course, since I didn’t want to hint at anything.”
“I know I can trust you,” he said, and it took everything in me not to giggle with delight.
“Yes, you can,” I scoffed as if he had offended me. “The grain carts come from the outer edge of the Falrion Forest most days around midday. They come from the human farms on its outer edge. I’m not sure what you could do with that information, but that’s where most of the realm’s grain enters our districts.”
“So the next one will be here in a few hours?” he mused, more to himself than me, before he rubbed his chin with his hand and paced the floor for a dozen seconds.
Then suddenly, he froze.
“Do you have any farmer’s costumes and saw dust?” he asked. “I have an idea that might just work.”
“Yes, I think I can find what you need,” I said, but then I realized I needed to ask him more to see if there was anything else I could do to prove my worth. “May I ask what the plan is?”
“We go to the forest, and then we wait for a delivery driver to head up the path,” Wade explained. “We will pose as a young married couple whose farm was just destroyed by the orcs. Then, we will lure him to the Entertainment District and convince him to enjoy the theater. While he’s being entertained, we will take half of the grain from each bag and mix the remainder with sawdust. A buyer will never know the difference until they go to make their bread.”
I couldn’t help but be awed by his plan. It would be almost impossible to trace it back to us, and I felt delighted he wanted me to act as his wife.
That could lead to it not becoming an “act” after a while. I just needed to play my cards correctly. Yes, he’d already admitted he loved me, but men were creatures that tended to confuse lust with love at the most inopportune moments, and I’d lost track of the countless men who’d seen me once and told me they loved me with every fiber of their being.
But Wade was different.
I knew he was going places. It wasn’t only his good looks, since that tended to help both men and women in life. No, he had a set of skills and motivation that would take him to the top. He also had magic. I’d never told anyone I could sense it, but the power radiated off him like the scent of a rose in the heat of spring.
He just needed the right woman to guide him there. The right woman to pick him up and tend to his wounds when life tried to stop him from succeeding. The right woman to celebrate his victories with him when he finally vanquished his obstacles. The right woman to ensure he didn’t get distracted by the great wealth he would accumulate. The right woman to help him navigate the magic I sensed in him.
And that right woman was going to be me, not that pretty redhead who was obviously head-over-heels in love with him.
“There is always spare sawdust in the horse’s stable on the backside of the theater where the carts are parked,” I informed him. “I should be able to find us costumes in the storage closet.”
“Excellent,” he said with a broad grin.
“I will be right back with the disguises,” I said. “That is, if you want to take me now?” I let a smirk play across my lips, and his eyes focused there.
“Maybe I can take you after we get the grain,” he growled, and goosebumps cascaded down my back.
“I’d better hurry then. Wait here.” I rushed outside and headed back into the theater. I had remembered seeing some simpletons’ clothes here once, but it was a few years back, and who knew where they might have gone.
I opened the closet door and began to dig through the piles of musty clothing. I prayed to the ancients no one came in and saw me, but my prayers went unanswered.
The door creaked open on rusty hinges, and Mira stopped on the threshold.
“Cimarra, what are you doing?” the other dancer questioned with a surprised gasp.
I racked my brain for an excuse as I panicked. I was supposed to be out with Wade, but now I was back at the theater digging through musty old clothes.
“Wade wanted to take me to the countryside, but he said we would both need something for us to blend in,” I lied smoothly as I gestured to my silk costume. “I can’t exactly go out looking like this. I’ll have the attention of every yokel in the universe.”
Mira raised her pale brows, but I relaxed as she shrugged her shoulders.
“All you had to do was ask,” Mira sigh
ed as she pulled two dusty outfits from the closet. “Here, take these. I saw them the other day when the Count sent me in here to search for one of his ridiculous costumes. I thought it was odd we’d kept them, but we never throw anything out, so I don’t know why I was surprised.”
I took them from her hands, shocked she knew where something was in this eternal mess. Then Mira opened the trunk we had filled with hats, and the dancer pulled out a frayed straw ensemble that was perfect for what I needed.
“Here, that should complete the look for you, darlin’,” Mira said with a wink. “Let me know how it is and what the country folks are like. Keep an eye out for any hunky farm boys, older or younger.”
“I doubt they could handle your big-city personality,” I laughed, and she rolled her eyes and let me exit.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” the dancer yelled after me.
“You’d do everything!” I laughed over my shoulder.
“True!”
I hurried back to the stables where Wade was still waiting. Then I handed him the simple garments that should have passed for a poor farmer.
“These are perfect,” Wade said as he took the clothes from my hands.
“I thought you might say that, but we have to hurry if we want to be there before our window closes,” I explained.
He quickly changed into his outfit, while I donned mine. I removed the iron chastity belt and left it in the corner with the rest of my clothes as I put on the drab dirt-brown gown and apron. Surprisingly, it hugged my waist and showed off my curves quite well, and I felt my heart race a bit when I noticed Wade’s eyes drift down to my hips.
The thief’s outfit was a simple shirt and cuffed trousers in varying shades of beige that had been stained by the passage of time. The hat suited him perfectly and really sold our poor farmer backstory. It was filled with miscellaneous holes, probably caused by mice in our costume room, but it only furthered our mirage.
“What am I to call you?” I asked him.
“We will be Mr. and Mrs. Clayton,” he replied with a smirk. “You can call me Wesley, and I’ll call you Leia. Unless, of course, you would prefer a different name?”