A snake in the grass
1272 Words
Anderson woke up with a jolt, accidentally straining his side too much that he immediately hunched over and winced in pain.
Memories from the previous night came rushing back to him – taking a stroll, being followed, the fight, him getting stabbed and then running when he knew he wouldn’t win in his condition, the party, and the courtesan whom he’d kissed over her mask.
He looked around and found himself in a closet. He concluded he’d hid in there to avoid getting found by those assassins after the courtesan named Rae left.
Rae
He wished he’d gotten a clear look of her face. Something about her was surely familiar, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
He wished he’d put much more effort into studying her last night rather than on survival and eventually on the pain in his side.
He slowly pushed open the door of the closet he’d hid in and peeked outside. He stilled and strained his ears to listen for any movement. When he didn’t hear any, he fully opened the door and stepped out. He quickly swapped out his clothes for simple servant clothing and grabbed a floor-length hooded cloak and draped it over himself with the hood covering half his face.
He then snuck out of the room he’d been in using the window. He fell to the floor with a thud, the jolt to his body sending vibrations that disturbed his stab wound – causing him to hiss in pain.
Once he had composed himself enough, he looked around the compound. It was just before daybreak and the servants were milling about preparing for the day and cleaning up the mess yesterday’s party left behind.
Anderson snuck around, until he came to the wall surrounding the compound.
He took a breath, bracing himself and his core, before he ran full speed towards the wall. He parkoured up the wall and threw himself to the ground once he reached the top of it before anyone from the manor could spot him.
He lay there on the ground, catching his breath as his wound throbbed from the exertion.
Once he was ready, he stood up and made his way to the edge of the forest where his men are supposed to exit the forest from. When he arrived there and saw no sign of his men, he found a boulder and sat on it – panting heavily as sweat beaded his forehead and trailed down his neck.
Soon enough, he heard a commotion heading towards where he was resting, and he stood.
The soldiers spotted him immediately and pulled out their weapons to point at him. He raised his hands in surrender, “Easy, men. It’s me,” he said.
He then slowly pulled his hood off his face and the men relaxed upon seeing his face, “Admiral,” the men bowed in respect.
“You look like s**t,” Malik said, a playful smirk on his face.
“I feel like s**t,” Anderson said.
“Seriously though, what happened to you? We woke up and you were gone.”
Anderson pulled Malik to the side to talk privately. “I fear we may have a mole in our midst. I was attacked by assassins last night. I held my own but then I got injured and I had to flee because coming back to the campsite would’ve put you all in danger.”
“A mole? Everyone here is so loyal to you. I’m certain we’d all lay our lives down for you,” Malik replied, eyes wide in surprise.
“Well, not everyone wears their hearts on their sleeves. I need you to investigate this discreetly, we don’t want to spook whoever it is.”
“You can rest assured that I will find out who the mole is,” Malik said.
“Good. Another thing, I need medical attention before we get moving,” Anderson said the last statement with a grunt.
“Roger that. I’ll get Yvette on it immediately,” Malik said before joining the rest of the soldiers.
---
“Rae! Where the hell did you disappear to last night?” Stella shrieked over Esmerelda.
“She disappeared?” Madam Lee asked as she walked into the room, causing both girls to tense up at her sudden appearance.
“I didn’t. I-,” Esmerelda started to say, when Stella interrupted her, “If you didn’t disappear, then how come young master Kensington came looking for you? I told you had a private audience with a client, and you never went to his suite. He came to ask me for a refund because he thought he had been dupped!”
“I got caught up in a situation! I will make up for the loss,” Esmerelda said.
“With what money?” Madam Lee calmly asked, stunning Esmerelda.
“With the money I will make dancing every night,” she offered.
“No, Rae. See, the money you make dancing, covers those nights that you dance. Which means that you won’t be able to fill the gap, even if you did start taking private clients more seriously instead of disappearing every night. So, I ask again – with what money?”
Esmerelda was a loss for words. She thought for a minute while Madam Lee and Stella quietly waited for her to say something. Nothing came to her mind.
“How much did he pay for my time?” Esmerelda finally managed to ask.
“8 grand,” Stella said.
Esmerelda inhaled sharply at the amount, “That’s over double what I make dancing in a single night, why would he pay that much?”
“Because it’s for private time in a suite and he wanted to make sure that he secured you,” Stella said matter of factly.
“Well now he’s got me into some shit.”
“No, Rae. You got yourself into some s**t. Don’t you realize that you’re giving the Midnight Muse a bad rep? My courtesans are known for being the best. Duping a client is not something we do here, and you know this!” Madam Lee said, exasperated.
“I’m sorry. What can I do to fix this?” Esmerelda asked.
“Why don’t you start with telling us where you’d been?” Stella interjected.
“I was taken hostage by a man, and he promised to reward me for my help,” Esmerelda shrugged.
“WHAT!?” Madam Lee and Stella both shrieked in unison.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Stella questioned.
“Because nothing happened and I’m fine. He didn’t harm me in anyway, just used me to escape some men. He was injured too.”
“Did you get his name? If he is to compensate you, you should know who he is,” Madam Lee said this time.
Esmerelda gave a sheepish grin, earning dissatisfied grunts from both Madam Lee and Stella.
“I gave him my name though. Surely, he will come, right?” Esmerelda asked no one in particular.
“This girl will be the death of me, I swear,” Madam Lee said as she turned on her heels and left the room, Stella following her out.
After they were gone, Esmerelda plopped on the bed, releasing a deep sigh. She thought about the man from last night. He didn’t seem like a bad guy. He also looked decent enough. She just wondered why it never occurred to her to ask for his name.
With those thoughts, she drifted off to sleep after the long night she’d had.
- Writer
