A Shadow in the Night

Garret nodded, "okay, if you wish," he said lightly thanking him before leaving. He found Destry, "how are you feeling?" he asked lightly.

@ Jinxling

@ A Drop On the Window

Destry looked at him. "Worried." she said after a long pause. To be honest she was more pissed then anything. She shook her head. "You do know if this does not work he will kill you." Destry said. Destry was silenced as he mother walked in and then encased each other in hugs. "How are you?" her mother asked and Destry smiled leaning her head into her mother's hand as it held her cheeks.

Garret looked at her stepping back as her mother approached. "He's dangerous, we need to know what he plans, so a meeting is essential, isn't it best to have a plan to kill him, in case he plans to harm us?" he asked

@ Jinxling

@ A Drop On the Window
The queen pulled back from her daughter and smiled then looked at Garret. "Are we talking about the thief?" she asked and Destry nodded. The queen nodded. She hugged her daughter once more. "What do you think of him?" she asked. Destry smiled. "I think he is a desperate man that is looking for someone to believe him." she said simply. She didn't think it was complicated at all and she didn't know why Garret made it that way.

Garret smiled, "that he is, it's just best to be safe," he said lightly. He smiled softly, "I must be going soon, farewell both of you," he said walking off

@ Jinxling
[skip to somewhere where something happens?]

@ A Drop On the Window
Destry nodded and went to walk with her mother. Her mother understood her more then anyone else.

Destry was back at her cousins and laying in the garden twirling the ring. He had already given back the other... or so it seemed but she still wanted to meet with him again. It had only been a day she had been worried about him. She had called her maid in waiting to her. The woman walked toward her and sat beside her as Destry confessed. "He will find you. I have already had the town looking for him to give him this message. You are to tell him of the danger." she said and sighed. "You must wear my cloak." she said and handed it over. The woman nodded and stood leaving. She hurried into the town staying in the quiet spots like she had been told.
The town was buzzing with the secret talk of the princess wanting to warn the thief. They spread word around until it finally got to Bren.

Bren was weary of this supposed warning. He went into the city looking for her, he spotted her cloak but her figure wasn't right. He walked up behind the maid, and pressed an arrow into her back, "why is Destry not here?" he whispered quietly

@ Jinxling

@ A Drop On the Window
The maid gasped softly. "Her cousin is watching her and she thought it best to keep you safe if she was not around. They would follow her. She sends a warning for you. I wish to tell you." The maid looked back at him and frowned. "Please she said as long as I do as you say and do not raise alarm you wouldn't harm me."

Bren pulled the arrow back, "what did want you to say?" he asked gruffly stepping back. He was still measuring the maid up, deciding whether he trusted her. He looked out at the crowd, and beckoned for her to follow him, he led her across the courtyard and down an alley.

@ Jinxling

@ A Drop On the Window
The maid followed and bit her lip stopping when he did. "She said you will receive a message is you have already not that will come from a man of power whom she wishes you not to harm. She said the messenger comes as an assassin but if you do not show no one needs to die. She sends this message in hopes you are well and that a war does not pelage her people. She awaits your reply the maid spoke and then fell silent looking from him and down not nearly as comfortable as Destry was in her own skin.

Bren sighed, "interesting, tell her there are three boxes for two bodies, she'll know what I mean," he said. He was of course referring to the two dead guards, and the ring box. He was going to visit her that night, and hoped she was smart enough not to have guards watching her.

@ Jinxling

@ A Drop On the Window
The maid nodded and trembled slightly. "Two bodies and three boxes." she nodded. The maid looked about ready to faint like the more she stood there with him the more scared she got. She had heard things about him in the castle and it made her scared but Destry wouldn't have sent her if there had been danger.
The maid returned to Destry and she frowned at what the maid said. "Three boxes for two bodies." she repeated thinking as she sat on her bed looking out the window. "And he said I would know what it meant?" she asked. The maid nodded and she took her cloak back gently nodding. "Thank you go ahead and take the rest of the night off." The maid nodded and left as Destry tried to figure it out with all she knew about him and then tried to figure out what they had in common. When she figured it out she was getting ready for bed and gasped. She pulled on her robe and opened her camber doors. "It is surely to hot of a night to be standing guard." she said to the guards and one looked at her worriedly. "Are you sure princess, since the thief..." She cut him off with a wave of her hand. "You would honorably save me but he came for what he was after and wont be back, Go bed your wife and rest." she said and closed the doors. She pulled out the box and pulled the ring on the simple chain out placing it around her neck hanging low between her breasts. She pulled off her robe and moved into her bed and blew out the light. She bit her lip and sat there in her long nightgown the sheets around her as she waited in the dark for a man she wasn't sure she could fully trust.

Bren remained low as he used the shadows to once again break into the castle. He paused outside her door noticing that it wasn't guarded, he hoped he could trust her, he had an arrow half drawn as he moved up the hall slowly. He pushed open the door and moved into the room. He dropped his bow when he saw the room was empty, "I see you got my message," he said breaking the silence.

@ Jinxling

@ A Drop On the Window
"I figured it out just in time." she whispered in the dark able to see his outline. "Close the door." she said and pulled the blankets close. "And put that away, there is no need for it." she said softly. She could see him there but just hardly. She watched as he closed the door and slowly leaned over and lite her candle. She turned to look at him her candle illuminating her just enough to show how vulnerable and beautiful she was. "Have you been harmed?" she asked wondering if she had gotten to him in time.

Bren looked at her, "it was a foolhardy plan sending a messenger that can't handle the tiniest amount of pain to set a meeting with a man you plan to kill," he said lightly. He put his bow away, and moved across the room, "I want to be honest, you seem trusting enough to hear me out," he said lightly. He looked at her his eye settling on the ring swinging between her breasts.

@ Jinxling

@ A Drop On the Window
"What do you mean?" Destry asked confused on whether he meant her messenger or the messenger Garret had sent. She sure hoped he hadn't killed the man Garret had sent. It would do no good and only make Garret work harder instead of listening to her like she wished. "I am trustworthy. But before you explain I rather we formally be introduced because thief is not a name." Destry could feel his eyes on her like hands and it made her slightly light headed but she didn't move to cover up. It would do no good for her cause. "I am Destry princess of Galaway." she said and held out her hand forcing him to put his bow down and take her hand if he had any gentleman code left in him he would. Destry was cautious but at the same time bold and daring. She had just the right balance to be a queen that needed no king.

Bren stepped forward and took a knee, "I'm Bren, former royal protector of Maldurian" he said with a long pause, obviously upset about having to use the word former. He looked up, "don't worry your fiance's man is fine, just a broken finger," he said. He stepped back letting the cloak fall from his head, one of his chest scars visible above the neck line of the cloak. His hand remained on the hilt of a blade, partly due to training.

@ Jinxling

@ A Drop On the Window
Destry smiled when he took the knee. He was very proper indeed even risking the vulnerability to be down in front of her. She smiled as he stood and felt his hand leave to watch the hood fall. Destry smiled more as he explained. "Thank you." she said. To her a life was saved because of her actions and she hopped that Garret saw that only what she proposed would work. "You are well trained I see but you should try to relax you must be tired." Destry said and pulled her knees to her chest. "Sit." she motioned to the edge of her bed. Destry ran a hand through her long dark hair and moved it to the side so it tumbled down her chest cupping her cheek as a lovers hand would. "You have my people's heart and I wish to earn it as you have. But I must also protect my family." she said knowing of all things he would understand her dedication to honor. It was what he longed for, what he fought for. It was why he was here. "Please let me know more so that I may understand how you have captured their hearts and who you are." Destry pleaded softly her golden eyes looking into his brilliant ones.

Bren looked at her, "the life I now lead mean I can never relax," he said blankly. He moved sitting on her bed carefully, his shoulder was still hurting him from the fall the night of the robbery. "I understand that your family's safety is important, so was mine, a time ago, the people are now my family," he said calmly. "we help each other, when I showed up in your city, tired and thirsty from the road, I met an old women, she offered me a drink and place to lay my head, as we talked she mentioned how she struggled to keep food on her table, and the roof over her head, between the different taxes and bribes she had to pay. That night a debt collector came around, and she couldn't pay him because she'd paid for some medicine to help me strengthen up, so he beat her to death, I didn't hear about that until the morning when I woke," he said grimacing at violent nature of his story

@ Jinxling

@ A Drop On the Window
Destry nodded and watched as he sat anyways. She listened to his story and tears filled her eyes. She looked away and wiped one away as it fell then looked up blinking. "That's not okay." she said angry with her cousin for not paying more attention. "The people should be as well off as a noble not broken and beaten into obedience." she said and shook her head looking back at him obviously angry and hurt by the story. Destry knew by how worn he looked that the stories of such nature did not stop. "Tell me of your parents." she requested wanting to know his origins. Did he come from a well off family where becoming a soldier was second nature or did he work from the ground up to show his skill and work to get out of the misery of his childhood? Such questions would tell her more about the man in front of her. She knew since he had been framed, as he put it, that he had been working hard ever since but just how tired was he? All those questions she had would lead to the answers she needed to resolve the situation and gain her people's love. He people did not know her and since her father's ailment they had been forgetting his goodness thinking he had turned his back on them. Destry wanted to reign as her parents in their prime. In times of peace all was well and they prospered in many areas and in hard times they banded together to overcome the task, or foe. She wished for such unity in the kingdom again. Destry wondered what Bren saw in her.