The Marquis had gone to the trouble of providing me with a glorious feast, a succulent array of meats and sweets laid before me.  

 After sustaining myself on whatever I could catch and kill for so long, the abundance of premier food overwhelmed my stomach.    

Every bite felt like bliss and before long I’d stuffed myself near to busting. Unsurprisingly, the Marquis was an immaculate conversationalist, though I knew he was tiptoeing around the primary reason for him seeking me out and sparing my life.

“You’ve surprised me, Marquis Redgrave,” I said, slurping down a glass of red wine.   

” Aren’t you a little young to drink?”

“I just tortured a man, and that’s what you're concerned about. Despite my youthful looks and smaller frame, I am in fact an adult,” I said with a sharp glare, an act that amused the Marquis a great deal.

“I appreciate your hospitality and you know… not strewing my innards all over the place, but I need to know why, so care to explain yourself?”

The Marquis rose from his seat at the end of the table and strolled towards the great stain glass window on the opposite of his chamber.   

 He seemed to collect his thoughts, really mulling over how to answer my question.

“Tell me, Bel, how familiar are you with the political machinations of the Grand Duchy?”   

” Familiar enough to know I want to stay the hell away from it”  

“Your older brother, Arch Duke Damian Redgrave, has ruled for the last twenty-odd years, after the passing of your Father Percival Redgrave. Despite his strictness and uncompromising nature, he has been an ideal leader and has crafted an age of order and stability for the Duchy and her citizens.”

 The Marquis seemed satisfied with my knowledge although all of that was gleamed from a Tisolia history book that I only read because I had nothing better to do while on an assignment in the Duchy.

 “Stability and Order are the two ideas that my brother prioritized above all else. He was a fine ruler and a great man. One I am proud to call blood kin.”  

“I feel like there’s a but coming,”  

“But unbeknownst to the public, he has been stricken with illness for some time now and will pass into the veil before year's end. Neither magic nor medicine has stayed the hand of this sorrowful sickness, he is little more than a withering husk,”

“It’s rich coming from me but you’re showing a severe lack of empathy, Marquis,”  

“I will shed tears and mourn for him once our Duchy is safe again,”

” It’s in danger? Nobody would be reckless enough to attack the Duchy if the Arch Duke perished.” I said with more than a tinge of confusion.   

The Marquis stared straight past me as if his mind was concerned with somewhere far away.

“The danger is poised not from an outside country but from within. It’s an internal issue, you see.”  

The Marquis explained just how delicate the political climate of the Duchy really was and how the demise of the Arch Duke would tear open the floodgates and throw the Duchy into disarray, with several parties baying for control.   

And without a will to complete the Arch Duke’s wishes, the gambit will be open to a battle royale. Blood would flow like a river and the civil war would surely follow.   

“With my sabbatical from killing, I cannot see what I can offer you Marquis, So what do you want from me exactly?”  

The Marquis walked towards me and produced a polaroid from his back pocket.  

The picture depicted a beautiful young woman with eyes like rubies and hair like a sparkling night sky.  

“What a cutie,” I said, taking in the finer details of her face. It didn’t take a genius to realize who the girl was. She bore an uncanny resemblance to the Marquis.

“She’s your daughter, I presume?”

“Correct, my sun, my Lydia.” The Marquis said, beaming.

I couldn’t explain it back then, but seeing my lady's smiling face and her long, perfect hair flowing in the summer wind, vivacious and without a care in the world, stirred something deep inside my guts.  

“I’m in dire need of an outsider with your particular set of skills,” The Marquis added while I parted with the photo.

“You want me to serve as her honor guard, I presume?”  

“Precisely, but more than that, I want you to be her attendant, her confidant, and perhaps, given time, something greater"

“Why me? Surely the Radiant Flame can hire someone more suited than myself,”  

The Marquis' expression soured and his muscles tensed, prompting any sense of frivolity to evaporate.  

And a sterile coldness washed over him.

it was challenging to tell which side of the Marquis was authentic the rascally and suave noble or the calculating and fierce warrior.  

“Once my brother dies civil war is all but inevitable and fighting that war will require my undivided attention, striking at my most cherished treasure will prove an effective way to divide my attention and make me careless, make me sloppy, make me dead.”  

I might be clueless about the natural of noble society and its politics, but I knew body language and people reading well enough to know he was speaking truth   

That aside, though, what reason would he have to lie to a lowly killer like myself?  

“Shit! Fine, Alright, I’ll do it. I’ll be a meat shield for your Daughter but I have a few caveats.”   

I said, trying urgently to not scratch the itch that was running up my inner thigh.  

“If it is within my power, I’ll gladly grant your requests. "

“I want a salary, a uniform, and non lethal weaponry.”

“That all? And here I thought you’d ask for something more exuberant,”

“Simple girl, Simple Mind, Simple Needs” I said, failing self control and going in for a nice long scratch.  

Today had gone so far off the rails I didn’t have the words to describe how I felt. I had steeled myself for an axe across the neck or for a short drop and a snapped neck. From cockroaches to fine dining.

 Even so,  I'll miss the crunch.