Beneath the Cloak and Dagger

[LeChatNoir]

A chuckle escaped Stapleton despite himself at the girl’s rather saucy response to Norfolk. Here he was trying to be serious and distract Norfolk from either raping the girl or being murdered, and she’s cracking jokes. Well, that spoke well of her calm under pressure – which could be a sign that she was an assassin! Jesus Christ. Stapleton shook his head. Really, Geoff? Calm down, take a look at the girl’s cunt, it’s not like it’ll be the first you’ve ever seen, and get this charade over with.

The baronet slapped Norfolk on the back with the ease of old camaraderie. “Ok, your Grace, I’ll take it from here. Why don’t you head back to the great hall? I hear that cook has a special pudding prepared for tonight, and I have a young lass in mind that might just suit your taste…”

The hook was swallowed completely, and Norfolk’s twin lusts for food and sex led him from the room. With that, Stapleton dusted off his hands and turned back to Maria. “Alright, lass. Sorry about this, but when the lord insists, the lord insists. Be a good girl and hike up your skirt, and let me take a look. Unlike his Grace, I promise not to be about anything else while I’m down there.” He strode over to where the girl waited, neither of them particularly looking forward to this. She was actually a rather attractive girl, but Stapleton preferred his lasses eager and willing, all things considered. Not that he hadn’t occasionally had one who was neither eager nor willing, war in the time being what it was. “The lad said that it was on your right thigh, just below your puss, so you know what it is I need to see. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we both get back to dinner, and the sooner Adam of Lambeth gets some justice for his lies.”

 

[NessaCary]

Veronica swallowed hard and pasted on a nervous smile. Shyly, she bunched her fingers midway down her skirt and gave a delicate shrug. After a moment, it became clear that he wasn't going to rip her skirt off and so she lifted it up, leaving the shift covered and allowed him to pull it up. Maria wouldn't feel comfortable lifting her skirt all the way up in front of a relatively strange man.

There was no time or opportunity to cover the mole again and she hoped that it was still well-covered. She flicked her eyes to Stapleton's as he pulled the shift up and handed it to her. While she was consciously holding her skirts loosely, there was nothing she could do to stop the sweating as he examined her. No way to hide it, if he was going to see it. Doubts and thoughts of what she could have done differently consumed her.

Unlike the women, he knelt before her and actually looked.

 

[LeChatNoir]

The girl seemed appropriately nervous as Stapleton approached her, but then, what the hell was the appropriate level of nervousness when she’d been accused of being an assassin and a man that she’d only met was about to conduct a close inspection of her most private area? Stapleton sighed. This was the part of court intrigue that he had not missed in the slightest – when innocents got caught up in the mess. It was all well and good to spill the blood or sully the reputation of people who had signed up to play the great game, but every so often, mistakes were made or lies bought or false trails laid and not discovered, and someone who had nothing to do with the game of houses got caught in the backlash. The question was, how to tell who was innocent and who was not?

Sir Geoff slowly sank to one knee in front of the girl, who had hiked up her skirt with a shy and somewhat frightened expression on her face. Was it fear of what else he might do, or was it fear of what he might find, or perhaps say that he found? Too many possibilities, and not enough answers. Time to actually find an answer. A strong hand gripped the girl’s shift and lifted it up, and Stapleton found himself looking directly at her sex. Having seen a few of them over the years, he adjudged this a particularly fine-looking member of the species, with a well-trimmed pelt and an overall pleasing aspect. However, as he looked closer, he saw just a hint of discoloration at the appointed spot. It did not look much like the mole that Adam of Lambeth had described, though, and he found himself coming to the conclusion that the young man must have either been embellishing his tale, or outright lying.

With a last wry glance at the girl’s body, he lowered her shift and rose to his feet. “Very well, Miss Maria, I pronounce you relatively unblemished. Perhaps you should be more careful, though – Lambeth told a fairly convincing tale, and I would hate to see you caught up in something like it again.”

 

[NessaCary]

She dropped her skirts with a disgruntled huff and purposely avoided Stapleton's eyes a moment.

"Your hospitality has been most generous, milord, however I would be very much obliged if I were not put in such a position again. Perhaps it would be best if I let a horse and continued my journey on the morrow."

Before he had time to object, she swept out the door and immediately retired to her quarters. The past had caught up to her too quickly already and her father would retire her from all covert operations in England as soon as she reported to him. It was regrettable but necessary. Suspicion would fall on her immediately after she killed Stapleton. Perhaps he'd consent to a long term post on the Continent.

After about an hour, she doused her lamp and feigned sleep. Around two or three, she rose. The house would be sleeping yet and she'd an hour at least until the staff began to their day. She carefully slid into soft kid leather pants, boots, and corset. Packing the essentials for her escape, she covered them with her cloak and ducked into the hallway. There would be no poison or slips off the parapet for Norwalk tonight.

Reaching Norfolks room was easy, not even the mousers heard her as she ghosted down the hallways and slid into his room. Moonlight conveniently bathed the room and she was not surprised that he was not alone. Regrettable, but not a real hindrance. His naked chest was white in the filtered light, blankets tossed haphazardly about the bed. Veronica covered his open mouth with her hand and slit his throat in one motion.

His eyes opened and met hers. Shock, hatred, fear... she counted the emotions as he twitched, and then was still. She wiped the blood off the blade and padded around to the other side of the bed. The coverlet obscured the girl's face and she pulled it back as she twisted the girls hair around her palm. The blade was on the young woman's throat when she recognized her.

"Molly?" she hissed.