#din covered in blood and dirt: here is what you requested i tore it off the back of a bantha

[djarindykes]

[sydawnstrike]

Well, Fuck...

"Right this way, miss.  M'Lady will be with you shortly."

Syreletha gave a curt nod as she was shown into the guest parlor by what must have been a seasoned butler, given the way his eyes remained perfectly and professionally upon her face.  Considering just how little of her was covered by the armor she'd chosen this morning, she briefly toyed with the idea of being offended.  Until she remembered just whose staff she was dealing with.  Inappropriate glances were probably punished with castrations.

She snorted to herself as she made her way to the desk where she knew she was going to be forced to have this conversation, the heavy wooden chair creaking as she took a seat.  She shifted, thoughts racing a mile a minute as she tried to convince herself that she had no reason to be nervous.  She took a job.  She failed.  She'd pay back the money.  Done and done.

"All this fuckin' money and they can't be bothered with comfortable chairs," she grumbled, the edge of the seat digging painfully into her thighs, the scrolling spindles that lined the back, while beautiful to look at, doing very little for her spine.

"I'm sorry you disapprove, my dear," a cool, stern voice intoned from the direction of the door.

Sy shot to her feet without thinking.  Normally she wouldn't give a fuck about maintaining civility with this old hag, but if she was going to wiggle out of their little contract, she'd need to be on her best behavior.

"I wasn't trying to--"

Lady Velana Highgaze waved an imperious hand at the attempted apology, the lace at her wrists flopping limply.  As always, she was dressed to the nines; with her high collared satin gown, petticoats, heels, veritable pounds of jewelry, and finely coiffed mane, she seemed better dressed for a ball than a business meeting.

"I didn't choose the chair myself, darling.  You've only insulted me marginally," she replied airily as she made her way to the high backed chair behind the desk, gesturing for Sy to return to her own.

Too much makeup, Sy decided when they were face to face.  Powder had gathered in the fine creases near the woman's eyes, several stray black specks of liner peppering the woman's right eyelid...

Focus up, Sy.  Gods.

"I can only assume that your sudden, unannounced visit means that you have the information I've requested?"

Sy bit back the immediate, flippant reply that danced on the tip of her tongue, instead folding her hands against the smooth bronzed skin of her thighs.  "Unfortunately, no."

"Unfortunate indeed," Lady Highgaze replied, her tone sliding from merely cool to arctic.

"I apologize.  I know that I said I would be able to get it.  But Lord Bloodblossom is a highly guarded man.  It took far more effort to get close to him than I had anticipated.  And quite frankly, he's lost interest."

"Is that so?" Velana replied quietly, pushing to her feet suddenly and moving to stand near one of the spotless, crystalline windows.  "I have heard rumors that he is out and about, carousing and doing what he will."  The faded glow of her felbright gaze peered over one shoulder, fixed on Sy's face.

She carefully maintained a neutral expression, though something in her stomach gave an unpleasant twist at the words.

"So you see?  I'm afraid the task is simply beyond my capability, loathe as I am to admit it.  I would be happy to repay the funds you provided me in advance."

A heavy silence followed, laden with words neither woman was willing to give voice.  Finally, Lady Highgaze sighed, returning to her seat.

"Do you have children, Miss Dawnstrike?"

"You know that I don't," Sy retorted a touch impudently.  The noble bitch could write the book on Sy, she'd dug up so much information.  Most of it dirt.

"Of course.  All that cavorting..."

Sy barely resisted the overwhelming urge to roll her eyes.

"I realize you cannot possibly understand, then, my desire to find my sweet Caedra a match.  Without it, she will become a spinster.  A mockery of venerated customs that we strive to uphold, amidst the chaos of this world."

"Archaic customs," Sy intoned, mentally kicking herself as she did so.

The disapproving glare she received could have frozen every fountain in Silvermoon solid.  

"I would not expect you to understand, Miss Dawnstrike.  You are not of the nobility.  You will never be."

"As you are so fond of reminding me..."

"Is it Caedra's fault that illness as a child took her ability to bear children?  Should that be reason enough to wed her to no one but the most wretched class of merchant?"

Syreletha stared evenly back at the irate woman.  "You could simply let her meet someone she enjoys the company of, and marry for love?"

"It's like you don't hear any of the words that come out of my mouth.  I’m speaking Thalassian, am I not?  There are traditions to be maintained--" 

Sy sighed and held up a hand, warding off the words.  "I don't need another lesson on noble customs.  Let's just settle our business, hm?"

It had been a stupid, ill-fated venture from the beginning.  Dig up a bit of dirt on what had, at the time, been a stranger, a young noble lord who resisted marriage offers.  Provide it to Lady Highgaze.  Take the pile of gold she'd be rewarded and sprinkle it on the bed to roll around in.  As a plus, the old noble bitch wouldn't go to the magistrate with the information she had on Sy's past exploits.  

It had seemed too easy.

Probably because it had been.

Because that idiot, Lord Rahlaven Bloodblossom, was...  Charming.  And handsome.  And cared about her.  He could make her forget her own name when he touched her.  And he'd big fat gone and fallen in love with her, despite her warnings not to.  And even worse?!  He'd made her fall in love with him!  The absolute disregard for her current lifestyle... Disgusting.

The sound of hands smoothing over full skirts brought her back to herself.

"Yes.  Our business.  Let's see..."

Lady Highgaze opened the largest desk drawer and began to rifle through the sheafs of parchment within.  "Ah yes, here we are."  She retrieved several pages and laid them on the polished wood.  "The signed herein... et cetera, et cetera...  Will find information of use for blackmailing Lord Bloodblossom into accepting a marriage proposal... et cetera et cetera...  Ah!  Should Party B find the task set forth impossible to complete, it will return all funds paid, with thirty-seven percent interest, per month to Party A, and turn themselves in to the city guard for past misdeeds."

Syreletha felt her blood freeze solid in her veins, a high pitched sound ringing in her ears.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I can read it again if you need, dear, but I think it was quite clear."

Sy tore the parchment out of the other woman's grasp, wide eyes scanning its contents.  

Why the fuck hadn't she read this thing more closely before she'd signed it?!

"So, if you will return my gold, plus the interest laid out, that would be close to twenty thousand, I believe.  And I can have Ineris fetch the guards--"

"Wait," Sy ground out from between clenched teeth.  She reminded herself, repeatedly, that it would cause a lot more trouble for her if she just killed the bitch, much as it would be satisfying in the moment.

She took a deep breath, willing herself to a state of semi-calm.  "What am I supposed to do?  He doesn't want me anymore."

"At first glance, it would seem that way, wouldn't it?  Yet one of my little birds delivered quite the interesting report after the Hallow's End party that Lord Bloodblossom threw.  Perhaps you remember?"

The raucous din of party-goers laughing and drinking... The auspicious pairing of their costumes, a succubus and a demon hunter...  A familiar hand creeping up her thigh, making her forget that they were surrounded by hundreds of other people...

"I remember," Sy replied quietly.

"It seems that our Lord caught sight of you and couldn't keep his hands to himself."  Lady Highgaze sounded appropriately appalled by the thought.  "He even committed the absolutely unforgivable faux pas of leaving his own gala early, not to be seen or heard from again for the entire evening.  Well, aside from some interesting, albeit scandalous, sounds coming from one of the guest bed--"

"I said I remember," Sy interrupted.

"Would you like to know what I think is happening here?" Lady Highgaze asked, just a touch too sweetly.

"No, but I imagine you're going to tell me anyway."

"Indeed, I am.  You see.  I believe that you have forgotten that the boy is nothing more than a job.  I believe that, despite your assurances to me that you never develop feelings for your marks, that you have done that very thing."

Sy cringed internally.

"Of course, the boy must feel the same; you said yourself that no man could resist your charms.  So, in an ill-guided attempt to save him from my clutches, you have withdrawn from his presence, leading him to believe that you no longer desire him; hence all of the extracuricular activity he's enjoying.  How am I doing?" 

Was smug one of the fucking Shas?  Because it had pretty much infested Lady Highgaze at this point.

Sy remained pointedly silent.

"Now.  Here's what's going to happen.  You are going to forget whatever little notions have entered your pretty, but foolish, head about you and Lord Bloodblossom and the happily ever after you have certainly envisioned.  You are going to get up.  You are going to find out when the next ball will be held that he will be attending.  You will reuinte with him--"

"I'm telling you, he doesn't--"

"You will reunite with him," Velana interjected firmly.  "You will get me the information I need.  And this matter will be settled.  Do you understand?"

Well, this had gone sideways pretty fucking quickly.  

"Do. You. Understand?"

"Yes," Sy replied stiffly.

"Good.  Ineris will show you out."

Before she could rise, a firm hand had wrapped about her bicep and the butler, whose exercise regime must have been amazing, was bodily removing her from the Highgaze estate.

"Wait--"  She dug her heels in just as they would have left the parlor. Turning to glance back at Lady Highgaze.

"Yes, my dear?"

"What if I fail?"

The smile that graced Velana's face was a terrible combination of pleasant and cruel.

"You know, I've wondered how well you would fare in the Silvermoon dungeons, with that pretty face.  Either very well, or very awfully.  Let's hope we don't have to find out, hm?"

@knightofthehawks