#Sam has long silky hair that def not going to get into his eyes during a fight because magic

[reinarandraw]

He never failed his mission until he was tasked to kill Duke Samuel Bellamy.

OFMD Rare Pair Week 2023 @ofmdrarepairweek

Day 05:   Paranormal / High Fantasy / Only One Bed [art & 1.8k oneshot]

The link to AO3 post for the oneshot - that kept getting longer - is [AO3 HERE]

You can click read more and read it here!

Izzy was a seasoned assassin, highly in demand for his service by various greedy nobles, jealous wives, or even insecure kings who just wanted to get rid of their competitor. His affinity to darkness manipulation enabled him to be one with shadows, making it easier to execute his targets. It also made him useful to The Kraken Company, a band of mercenaries under the leadership of the infamous Blackbeard. After some disagreement that involved one twat noble named Stede Bonnet, Izzy decided to go solo as a killer for hire. 

He never failed his mission until he was tasked to kill Duke Samuel Bellamy.

The one who hired him to kill Duke Bellamy was, of course, the king himself. It was a classic reason, Duke Bellamy became too popular so the king feared he would try to usurp him. The man was a war hero, known to be generous and fair to his subjects. There was a rumor that he wasn’t the biological son of the previous duke, but no one in the dukedom cared. When he went to court, he charmed everyone with his humor and easy smile. Of course it made the young king’s blood boil. Just a king being insecure and paranoid. So he hired him to do his dark deeds, promising him golds that could last Izzy a comfortable winter in his lonely cabin without needing to take any job. He hated going out during winter.

It was supposed to be an easy job; infiltrate his castle at night, find the duke, then kill him. Plenty of dark corners in a castle. The shadows of patrolling guards made it easier for him to hop his way to the duke’s bedchamber. It should be easy, really. He had done it a lot of times. Of course, it went wrong so quickly.

So here’s the thing, Izzy actually did a quick recon and tried to find information about his target. He knew Duke Bellamy’s schedule. He knew that his trusted advisor Paulsgrave usually left him alone after the dinner bell. He had planned a way in and a way out. He knew the duke was an exceptional strategist even though his swordsmanship was average. People said he was a good archer, but Izzy doubted Duke Bellamy stashed bow and arrows near his bed. There was no mention of Duke Bellamy having magic affinity. It should be easy.

Izzy wanted to murder whoever said Bellamy didn’t have magic affinity.

One moment Izzy was slipping through the gap below the door. Bellamy was hunched on his desk, probably working on something. Izzy hopped to his shadow with his dagger in his hand . Suddenly he heard a low hum followed by a rumble before he was forcefully shoved away from Bellamy’s shadow. He could feel the sigils he painted on his body an hour ago had ceased to function.

“I can’t have you hiding in there,” Bellamy said so casually. His eyes were still trained on the parchment on his desk. “Let’s just calm down and we can talk.”

Izzy felt himself relaxing after he heard that deep soothing voice. Something wasn’t right.

“I know you’re confused, but there’s no need to be hostile,” Bellamy continued, still with a calm, pleasant tone.

Izzy felt himself going even more relaxed. He lost the edge that kept him on guard. The grip on his dagger loosened a bit before his long year of training kicked in. “You’re using magic to charm me!”

“And you were using magic to kill me,” Bellamy argued. “I’d say we’re even. Don’t you agree, Mr. Assassin?”

While he didn’t feel the urge to compel, the relaxed and calm emotion that suddenly flooded him made it hard for him to disagree with Bellamy. What kind of magic did Bellamy possess?

Bellamy finally put the parchment down. He turned to meet Izzy face to face. Izzy had never seen the man up close, so he was struck by how good looking the man actually was. There was a healthy shine on his long black hair. And his eyes. By the gods, he had a set of dark kind eyes.

“Listen,” Bellamy said, “I know that you’re here to kill me. I’m going to guess it’s the king because my cousin won’t be able to afford your service.”

Izzy frowned. “You know me?”

“I have heard about an assassin that can travel from shadows to shadows,” Bellamy replied. “It’s actually an honor to have Israel Hands himself sent to kill me. I want to say it’s nice to see you, but you literally are here to kill me.”

A surge of pride washed over him before he clamped it down. Bellamy was affecting his emotion to make him more agreeable. “How the fuck did you do magic that without activating any sigils or doing gestures?”

Bellamy chuckled. “I’m not going to spill my secrets to my killer.”

Izzy thought hard to find a way out of this mess. First, he needed to guess what kind of magic Bellamy was using against him. It was clear Bellamy could disrupt his magic by some sort of vibration, but vibration magic required the caster to create vibration. He had seen casters punch the ground as they chanted the spell to triple the strength of the vibration. But Bellamy didn’t require any spells or sigils. He could also charm him without using any spells. So what did he actually do?

“Fuck,” Izzy mumbled as he realized what Bellamy was doing, “you have sound magic affinity. That’s why you don’t need sigils or hand gestures. Your voice is your magic.”

He had heard stories about earthquakes happening in the battle led by Bellamy. People assumed one of the war mages in his command was the one creating the earthquake with vibration manipulation. Who would have thought it was the duke himself who created the earthquake with his freaking voice.  

“Very good, Mr. Hands,” Bellamy said, smiling widely as if he was so impressed with Izzy’s guess. “Your ability to make a correct assessment under duress is remarkable.”

Fuck! He was fucked indeed. The fact that Bellamy could use his voice to disrupt his magic sigil was proof of how adept he was in using his magic. Sound magic combined with vibration manipulation could create a very volatile effect.  The only way to defeat him was by using a silencing spell, but Izzy couldn’t do that. If he knew Bellamy had sound affinity magic, he would have brought a silencing spell scroll.

“Do you like your job?” Bellamy asked.

The question caught him off guard. “The fuck?”

“I’m just curious,” Bellamy replied. “Do you like your job as an assassin?”

Izzy frowned, but he didn’t say anything. He was on guard, bracing for Bellamy’s charm again.

“Is it money or anything else?” Bellamy guessed. “Is it fulfilling?”

Izzy gritted his teeth. He wouldn’t say it was fulfilling. It was lonely. It paid well but he was so lonely. There was something missing in his life after he walked away from Edward’s life. Well, he was forced to walk away after he lost the duel to Bonnet on ‘technically’ that wasn’t even technical.

“Why do you kill people, Mr. Hands?” Bellamy took a decanter of wine and poured himself a glass of wine.

“It’s none of your fucking business,” Izzy hissed. Why didn’t Bellamy call for his guard? What was his game?

“Just trying to figure you out,” Bellamy replied. “Do you want wine?”

Izzy eyed the wine with skeptical eyes. “No.”

“Eh, more for me,” Bellamy said. He sat down on his desk. “Do you want to work for me?”

Izzy once again found himself perplexed. “What?”

“Do you want to work for me?” Bellamy repeated. “I keep getting death threats from my cousins, the king’s relatives, and now the king himself. Having a bodyguard that can hide in my shadow sounds great.”

That was probably the most idiotic thing he had ever heard. “You want an assassin who is hired to kill you to hide in your shadow all the time?”

“I could use the company,” Bellamy said. “I won’t say no to having a handsome man like you to accompany me wherever I go.”

Izzy’s mind stopped working. Did Bellamy flirt with him? Was this flirting?

“You’re very skillful and clearly knowledgeable,” Bellamy continued. “You can be like an anti-assassin. You know how an assassin works so you can anticipate how people are going to kill me.”

That was… not wrong. But still, employing an assassin as a bodyguard sounded dumb.

“Are you from this kingdom?” Bellamy asked.

“No.”

“Do you have any plan to pledge your loyalty to my king?” 

Izzy made a face. “No!”

“Oh, strong reaction. I like that,” Bellamy said. “Is it money? I can give you money. People say I’m fair with my payment so there’s that. You can also have some benefit if you work as my bodyguard. Access to my castle amenities. I have a healer on call, top notch potions.”

Was Bellamy being serious right now?

“And I’m not lying when I said I could use the company,” Bellamy admitted. “It’s a bit lonely here.”

Izzy could relate to that. He was lonely. He knew how it felt. He longed to have a connection with someone. Maybe working with Bellamy wasn’t that bad. Wait. Was it all him or did Bellamy affect his feelings?

“Before you ask, I don’t do anything to manipulate your emotion,” Bellamy told him. “My voice has a weird vibration when I use my magic. It’s noticeable if you focus on my voice.”

Bellamy was giving away his secret willingly. It was a sign of trust. Shit. Bellamy was serious about it.

“Can I think about it first?” Izzy asked.

“As long as you think about it here,” Bellamy replied.

Izzy snorted. “So it’s agreeing to work for you or getting executed for trying to kill a duke?”

“No. If you don’t want to work for me, I’ll  give you ten seconds to run before I alert my guards,” Bellamy said. “It seems like a fair trade considering you can jump between shadows.”

Well, he had tried to escape from worse situations than this. Izzy took another look at Bellamy. He wasn’t ready to be greeted by Bellamy’s hopeful smile. He tried to ignore how his heart started to beat faster. He wanted to pretend it was due to adrenaline, but he was aware his cheeks were starting to get warm.

“Ok,” Izzy finally agreed. “Yeah, I’ll work with you. Why not.”

Bellamy gave him a wide smile. “Excellent! Your service would help me tremendously.”

Izzy frowned. “I’m just going to be your bodyguard, right?”

“That’s true. And having an invisible bodyguard that can be with me all the time allows me to move with my plan.”

“Your plan?”

“I’m going to usurp the throne.”

It turned out the king was not just an insecure and paranoid man.