MM2 - CH2-

Dropping down from the roof Rene landed with a soft pat in front of Aurora’s kitchen window. Without even considering what he was doing, he sank down in a crouch. Becoming little more than a shadow upon her wall.

A forgotten patch of grass in her yard.

Sighing, he contemplated how he wanted to do this.

As far as he could figure, there was no easy way to go about this. There was the distinct possibility this would cost him Aurora. That she’d want absolutely nothing to do with him.

It’d be like telling my cop girlfriend I was a crime boss and hey, wanna get married down the road?

While having put her on a string then blackmailed her in the second verse.

We did indeed do such a terrible thing and then we went and made it all worse.

“Just tell her directly,” Irini said from beside him, she was hunched quite low and pressed to the wall. Where he could vanish, she couldn’t.

“Keep yourself low to the ground but not that low. Just focus completely on the idea of sneaking. Sneaking in a way where you blend into the shadows,” Rene instructed as he reached up for Aurora’s window shutter. Pulling out his shimming rod he started to reach for the locking latch.

Your skill in Instruction has increased (21)

Your skill in Lock Picking has increased (7) 

“I… I think it worked. I feel… very strange,” Irini said from beside him.

Glancing down he realized he actually couldn’t quite see her anymore with a casual look. When he looked at the spot for longer in a second he could finally see her. Though she was partially see-through.

“Good work,” Rene said pulling the shutter open. Grabbing the window-sill he hopped up through it.

Landing with a bump inside her kitchen he hit the ground and rolled forward. Ending up in the middle of it.

Standing up he looked around.

He stretched his senses out to the house. To listen and feel if there was anyone there.

It was indeed empty.

The tip of a blade slid up against his side. Just beneath his ribs.

“Ah… I have you. Your little trick let me get in close,” hissed the Alis assassin behind him.

I didn’t even sense our little cat-girl. It really is too strong.

Not even a whisper of air or a power swirl. I fear we’ve done wrong.

In the next moment it felt like Irini pressed her forehead to the middle of his back.

“This is how I’m expressing myself to you,” Irini proclaimed. “You’re very ugly to me. But you’re a handsome man in your strength. Your abilities are desirable, your sense of right and wrong mirror my own, and I find our sparring amazing. I’m your mistress by choice, Rene Anatolis.”

The knife in his side went away, only to be replaced by two hands resting on his hips that slowly slid around to his front. Where they moved up along his middle and to his chest.

“I expect to be treated well. And no more notches in my ears. I’m beautiful as I am with my two notches. And I know you lust for me as I am. My notches show me as a marked woman, not a punished one. The new earrings I get tonight will reinstate that. Do not mar your mistress further,” purred the Alis.

We should agree.

That was actually quite romantic for who and what she is.

Rene couldn’t disagree with that sentiment.

“No more notches. You are indeed beautiful. Especially to me,” Rene said, laying his hands over the top of her own. “Now get the shutter, my Alis mistress. I need to go prepare.”

Chuckling at that, Irini flexed her hands, the tips of her fingers digging into him lightly and then sliding over his middle without claws.

“Good that you understand and accept me, Rene. We’ll make good kits,” Irini said before stepping away from him.

Leaving the kitchen, Rene entered Aurora’s living room and wondered once more how to do this.

Then he decided Irini was right.

Going straight forward into it was the best answer.

Pulling his mask from his inventory he set it down on the table that sat between the seats. Then he laid down his very obvious weapon next to it.

Finally he put the black hood down on the table beside the mask as well.

I’ll come clean completely. Lay all the cards on the table for her.

“Can we spar later? And you can teach me as well?” Irini asked, walking into the room. “Oh. I see.”

Pulling her own mask from inside her tunic she set it down next to Rene’s.

“Yes, we can spar and… I’ll instruct you in all I can, Irini my mistress,” said Rene with some finality to his voice. Things in his life were rapidly becoming solid immovable things. Taking a seat in the recliner he sighed and settled in comfortably.

“I… yes. As your mistress, you must instruct me appropriately,” Irini agreed then sighed, putting her hands on her hips and looking to him. “I think I’m too young to be bound already but… I’m not against this.”

Nodding her head as if she decided on something Irini walked around behind Rene and put her hands on his shoulders.

“I’m your mistress, but also your protector, and partner. I go with you where others cannot,” Irini said. “We will wait for Aurora, together. When she arrives, I will step aside for a time. If she does something stupid, I will take her life for you.”

Irini grew still and began to lightly massage at his shoulders.

Half a bell later, the clatter of Aurora’s front door announced her return home.

Irini leaned down over him, kissed the top of his head, turned on her heel, and crouched down low. Vanishing from sight and moving off toward a corner.

The door popped open and Aurora trudged inside her home, looking every inch the six-foot she was and holding up considerable weight on her shoulders.

Dressed in her new uniform she looked well maintained, polished, and far more put together than when he’d first met her.

Aurora was a woman of athletics, fighting, and activity. She was very fit and very lean. Put together in a way that made her ideal for her job.

Her cute features and modest womanly figure added to her, but she certainly wasn’t Odelia’s equal. Few women likely could be in Rene’s eyes.

Aurora’s very short black hair was pulled back from her face with a handful of wooden clips that complimented her dark brown eyes. They had been like hard stones when he met her, now they seemed far more human and world weary.

As the door shut she noticed Rene, her eyes went to the table, stayed there for several seconds, before moving back to Rene.

A hard and angry frown appeared on her face and then she shook her head slowly.

“It isn’t like I didn’t suspect it,” Aurora muttered to herself, coming over to where Rene was. “It’s just… terribly disappointing that it’s real.”

“You suspected it? That I’m the Mask and the Hood?” Rene asked, feeling rather surprised.

“The Mask, yes, Black Hood, no,” Aurora admitted grimly as she stood at the table.

Picking up the mask she held it in her hands.

“You were too interested in me as the Mask. I was a nobody, regardless of what you said,” murmured the guard. Flipping the mask around she pressed it to her face and looked out at him from the inside. “The sociopathic Mask was an intellectual with me. He was never violent and actually playful. Flirty, even. Never once did he actually wrong me, though he did threaten it a few times.”

It was odd to hear Aurora’s voice coming from the Mask he wore.

Sighing, she set down the mask and picked up the Black Hood.

“And you defended me from others when you really had no reason to do so. Unless you were interested in me,” continued Aurora. By this point Rene was just rather impressed with how much she’d worked out. Between her and Odelia, Rene was likely in for a world of problems. “And the only person interested in me, was you, Rene. You courted me like a man possessed. Doesn’t hurt that you’re roughly the same size. Or that I saw you in one persona, immediately followed by the other.

“As I said… I suspected, but I hoped it wasn’t true. I find I can deal with it though. Doubly so now that I find you’re the Hood as well. Though… that leaves the question of the Dark Mask, open.”

Sitting down on her sofa, Aurora picked up Irini’s mask

“That’s… why I’m here, actually,” Rene said with a nod of his head.

“Ah… time to cut me loose now that Odelia Delacroix has formally accepted you,” muttered Aurora with a grimace. “I heard your father had come to town. That would make sense. Talk of the guard, in fact. Showed up with a great number of mercenary knights and a number of heavy wagons.”

She… knew about Odelia.

Am I that damn transparent? It isn’t as if we don’t change our disguise and put on the same clothes.

A separation of relations is now apparent. Rene cannot meet those who the Mask knows.

“Yes, I knew you were courting both myself and Odelia. She’s beautiful, much higher ranked in the noblesse strata, rich, and fits your social circle,” said Aurora with another heavy sigh and putting the Dark Mask back. Then she picked up Rene’s mask again and put it in her lap. Leaning back in her seat she looked to him directly. “I appreciate you admitting everything before you cut me loose. At least I won’t ever wonder where it went wrong. I was rather flattered to be so doggedly pursued at the same time as the beauty that Odelia is. I expected this to be honest. I felt it was worth the heart-ache to risk it though.”

Aurora gave him a tired and sad smile, her fingers idly stroking the mask.

“Actually,” Rene said after he cleared his thoughts. Irini had prowled her way back over to him and was now hovering over his shoulder. “I came to invite you over to meet my mother, father, Odelia, Alana, and Irini.

“Odelia feels that the five of us would be best to meet my parents given… given I’ve-well… given what I did. Which was courting two noble-women, accidentally inviting an Elven maiden into my household, and capturing a master-assassin and turning her into the Dark Mask.”

Irini stood up at that point, appearing next to him.

“This is Irini Dalca,” Rene said indicating her with a hand. “Or Dark Mask.”

Aurora’s eyes were wide as she stared at the Alis.

“Hello. I’m the mistress,” Irini said bowing her head to Aurora. “I thought you were rather brave dealing with him, by the way. I admire your courage.”

“The mistress,” Aurora repeated.

“Yes. I was given this position after meeting with Odelia. I’m the servant and mistress of Rene Anatolis with rights to kits at a later time,” Irini explained before Rene could jump in. “Alana was given the status of Elven-concubine and similar rights. You are to be Rene’s first wife. Odelia his second.”

Blinking slowly, Aurora looked like a woman who needed a lot more time to process what’d just happened.

“First wife,” she said finally.

“Yes. Odelia gave me some instructions just in case Rene couldn’t explain it very well,” said Irini. “You will be his first wife. His lead wife. You will be responsible for all things outwardly facing and publicly. Mrs. Anatolis. Odelia has forsworn this title to you as the lead wife unless you would allow her to wear it as well.”

I… what?

“Odelia would be his second wife,” Irini continued. “Though she will likely assume leadership behind the scenes and guide our household. You will be expected to help her lead our household and be the front facing lead. I am the mistress and common wife in the home while also providing protection. Alanna is the Elven-housewife, who will tend the home, hearth, and children for us.”

Unexpectedly Aurora started to laugh, only for it to get cut off abruptly.

“Lead wife,” she repeated. “To Rene Anatolis. The Mask. The Black Hood. Over Odelia Delacroix.”

Rene nodded his head at that and spread his hands out in front of himself sheepishly.

“If you’d have me as your husband, Aurora, I would love to have you as my wife. Lead wife. While I feel rather stupid for having gone after two women, and collecting two others, I… I do want you,” Rene murmured. “I care for you. You’re an incredible woman I admire. I just couldn’t look away from you after I met you. I wanted to get closer and I invented reasons to do it. Both as the Mask and myself.

“I feel a… my heart flutters when I’m around you. My stomach churns and turns over itself. I often find myself just thinking of being near you. And when I’m near you my tongue feels stiff and my mouth dry. My heart bounces around against my ribs like a bird. Flying about its cage in a panic.”

I think that’s the most honest we’ve ever been.

Let’s hope she says yes and we can take her to dinner, then.

Aurora had been watching him as he spoke. She had eyes only for him.

Taking in a slow deep breath she then laughed again and then leaned to one side in her recliner.

“You love me, huh?” she asked.

“I believe so. I’ve never been in love before so… I have no experience in this,” Rene admitted.

“And Odelia?” Aurora asked, watching him.

“I met her in a dark dungeon. We had both been kidnapped. The… missing Elven ambassador was running a kidnapping ring. I ended it,” Rene explained. “I… definitely care for Odelia in a similar way to how I care for you.”

Nodding her head slowly, Aurora turned her gaze to the table in front of her.

“What if I wanted to involve myself into your Mask business?” Aurora asked.

“I’d likely have to teach you quite a bit to help you survive but it wouldn’t be impossible,” said Rene.

“You wouldn’t tell me not to?” asked the guard.

“I’d tell you no till you were ready for it, but that’s about it. Why?”

“Just curious. You don’t seem the type to try and force me into anything if I didn’t want to. Like quitting my job as a guard,” Aurora said and looked back to him once more. “I accept, but you never got me a second courting gift.”

Rene had actually thought about that. Thought about it and come up with a gift that would appease her.

Amazingly, he’d even had the forethought to speak to Odelia about it before he left.

Reaching into his inventory screen, no longer caring what Aurora would know, he retrieved a jewelry box. A near mirror to the one he’d given Odelia.

She’d been so excited to see it that he had to wonder if there was something else behind it.

Odelia had demanded he present it to Aurora before he brought her back to meet his parents.

“I’m working for a god, by the way,” Rene explained as Aurora watched the item appear from thin air. “And his goal is for me to do right by the world.”

Reaching across the way Rene set the box down on Aurora’s knees.

After digging through everything he’d stolen from Junk, Rene had unbelievably found a near mirror necklace to the one he’d given Odelia. It just was done in white-gold, diamonds, and rubies, instead of yellow gold, diamonds, and sapphires.

Junk really spent far too much on jewelry.

It broke his bank account I imagine.

Doesn’t matter.

We get to benefit from it and he died screaming for what he did to the Moons.

“I want nothing like that. Train me, and I’ll be happy, my Rene,” Irini whispered in his ear, her brushing against it. “Train me till I’m your equal. We’ll train her at the same time. She can be Light Mask and handle administration and the guards.”

Yes! Of that suggestion I’m quite the fan.

Agreed, we’d be dullards not to utilize such a plan.

Reaching up he idly scratched at Irini’s ears, digging his fingers into the base of them. Which caused the Alis to press her head into his hand and begin to purr softly.

Aurora was sitting there with the box open, staring down at the massive and terrifying necklace.

“We’ll be meeting my parents in a few hours. Odelia suggested we take you to buy several new sets of clothes and dresses,” relayed Rene. “She offered to accompany you if you wanted her company, or to remain at my home, if you wished to do it by yourself. She of course has the twin to your necklace. Yellow gold and sapphires, rather than white gold and rubies.”

Blinking several times, Aurora shook her head and then gently fished out the necklace.

“I’ll attend my meeting with your parents in my uniform. Dresses and clothes can come after I retire. This however can go over my uniform and will suit it quite well,” said Aurora in a breathless voice. “You’ll help me into this and we’ll remain here and talk. I need some time to get used to the idea of wearing something like this. I wondered why Odelia hadn’t shown up with a courting gift considering the rumors… but now I understand why. Now… I understand.”

“And train you. Rene and I will train you,” Irini interjected. “You can be the Light Mask if you wish to work with our husband. He’ll need a left hand to his right hand.”

“Light Mask,” Aurora said, still looking at the monstrously expensive gift. “Yes. I’ll be your wife and Light Mask, Rene Anatolis.

“And this gift is… I can’t even begin to express how I feel, other than to say it’s beautiful. Beautiful and likely worth more than my family has accumulated across their entire lifetime. It sounds shameful to admit it but… I’m so very pleased to know I’m worth so much for you to spend on me for a mere courting gift. Damn me but I don’t feel like a prideful little magpie. I can’t… I can’t wait to wear this around the city.”

And done… now… we have to visit the guild tonight. The work is never done.

But that’s after we go to dinner and discuss our marital plight. That certainly won’t be fun.