Chapter 1

The sun was setting on Persephone. The sky was a beautiful blue; and turned purple and pink where sky met horizon. Because it was dusk, the market was filled with people, all bustling to get to one place or other. Shopkeepers were closing their shops, counting their money, checking their wares. Mothers called after rambunctious children who zigzagged through the crowds, usually getting cursed at when passersby were jostled. Dust was kicked up by so many feet, getting in eyes and noses, and generally being a nuisance.

Dani took all of this in, but ignored it, because she had bigger issues. The men following her, for one. She glanced backwards and caught sight of them in the crowd easily. Len certainly hadn't been thinking when he sent out two of his biggest, toughest men looking for her. It was purely a show of force, to get her to step smartly for fear of what these brutes might do to her.

And they were brutish. One of them stood a full foot taller than anyone else in the crowd, while the other was short, around Dani's own five-four. But the short one made up for his lack of height in pure muscle. In fact, they were both well muscled, bald, with hard faces. Not exactly hard to pick out in a crowd. Which was about the only thing going for Dani at the moment.

She was incredibly hard to pick out in a crowd. And not just because she only stood at five-four and had a lean figure. There was almost nothing about her to catch your eye. She was pretty in a very average way, with brown, shoulder-length hair and amber eyes, nothing about her to make you remember her, and that was just the way she liked it. Thieves didn't last long if people could remember them.

She was also at an advantage because there were so many people out. As she padded quickly and silently through the crowd she picked pockets with ease, forming herself a new disguise even as she walked. A long, well-worn brown duster, slightly too big for her, slid over her shoulders with ease as she picked the items out of the jacket she currently wore quickly, depositing them into the pockets of this new coat, and then she tossed the old jacket in a bin. She snatched a large pair of sunglasses, big enough to almost cover her face, and she looped her hair into a messy side-braid.

When she had finally gone all the way through the crowd she was standing outside a tavern door, a quick glance told her the men were still wandering through the crowds, looking for her, and she slipped inside.

It was dark and smelled musty and smoky, exactly how a tavern should be. She pulled the sunglasses off her face so she could see and placed them absently on a table, kept walking. It was pretty crowded, which was normal for this time of day, and suited Dani's needs perfectly.

She picked a spot on the bar, away from the door but close enough to see who came in, and waited. And watched. Dani was exceptional at watching people, probably because she was so easy to look over, people didn't even notice she was there, watching them. Most people, if they met her eyes, skimmed over them.

Which was why she was startled when her eyes met blue-grey ones across the room, in a gaze that stuck. A gaze that said, I see you watching, and I'm watching you. A gaze that, if it were possible, was purely electric. A gaze that intrigued her. But one that also scared the shit out of her.

Dani regarded the man to whom the blue-grey eyes belonged carefully, as if she were picking out a mark, knowing that he was doing the same to her. He was tall, she could tell that even though he was leaning against the wall, wore a long brown coat, not totally unlike the one she now wore. Underneath the coat she saw a reddish-brown button down shirt, and pair of tan trousers, that she could tell showed off his legs. Probably his backside too. She also noticed his gun holster, slung across his hips.

She couldn't tell much about his features from where she sat, although she got the impression of rugged-yet-boyish features, and a strong jaw. She then decided she wanted a closer look at this man who could see her, when so many never did.

She slid from her stool and moved farther into the tavern, away from the intriguing man so he would lose sight of her. Once she reached the very depths of the tavern, she slowly made her way closer, until she was just off to his right side, watching carefully. The man didn't seem to know where she had gone, and was scanning the room intently. She wondered if he was looking for her, or if he just did that all the time. She kind of got the impression that it was something he did.

He was with a small group, and they were drinking pretty heavily. The kind of drinking you do to forget something. Among the group there was him; a taller, more rugged man who she immediately categorized as mercenary; a younger, well-dressed man who seemed to not quite fit into this group; a woman with curly brown hair who she pegged as a warrior – or a soldier; another female, who was adorable in a messy kind of way; a young girl who looked quite mad; and a woman who was most certainly a Companion. They all stood along the wall, kind of blending into the room, except that Dani could certainly tell something about them was...off.

A few more moments of watching, and she could tell they were grieving. It was nothing that they really said or did; it was just something in the way they all held themselves, as if afraid to move too much for fear of shattering into pieces. Immediately Dani felt as if she were intruding, an outsider looking in on something she had no business knowing about. The feeling sat hard and uncomfortable in the pit of her stomach.

Just as she was about to turn to leave, she heard a commotion at the front door. Sure enough, Len's men came through the tavern door, still looking for her. Her heart fell. Most of the patrons took little notice of the two men who had barged in, though they did shrink away from them in something like fear when they passed by. She recognized the tall one as Hugo, and she was pretty sure the shorter one's name was Jacko. "Ai-ya tyen-ya," she murmured to herself quietly.

Interestingly, this group didn't look at the two men in fear like the other patrons did. Instead, they looked upon them with a kind of...boredom. As if whatever they had dealt with, or were still dealing with, was so much more profound and important than two street thugs.

The two men started prowling through the tavern, clearly looking for something. If she stayed where she was, they would find her, and if she tried to leave, they would find her. But, she could always hide. In a decision made in a split-second she lightly stepped closer to the man with the blue-grey eyes. Intuitively she placed herself somewhat behind him, so that he obstructed anyone else's view of her, and cleared her throat.

He didn't jump at her sudden presence next to him, though he did turn his head in her direction. She was, once again, captured by his gaze; her breath caught in her throat and her stomach did a flip-flop. His movement was noted by the others and suddenly, Dani felt seven pairs of eyes on her all at once, truly an uncomfortable feeling.

"Can you all look away please?" she asked, peering beyond them to see what the two thugs were doing. "You'll bring attention here if you act like that." They all looked at her with a look of disbelief, and then he shrugged in what must have been acquiescence, because the rest of them looked away. She could still feel their attention on her, but at least they weren't openly staring. "Can you move...this way please?" she asked, placing her hands on the man's shoulders and moving him so that he now faced her fully, completely blocking her from view. At her touch, he tensed slightly, and she felt muscles roll under her fingers. He, for his part, actually moved as she wanted him to, with only a small look of confusion. Mostly though, he looked interested in what she was doing. Once he was in a better position, Dani found herself reluctant to remove her hands, but did anyway.

"Got a little favour to ask you," she said to him, looking past him again.

"Is that right?" he asked her, and all seven pairs of eyes focused on her again.

Dani looked at the soldier-woman who stood next to him. "Is he yours?" she asked her quickly, nodding her head towards him.

The woman let out a huff of air, Dani wasn't sure if it was laughter or something else, but simply said, "No." Dani glanced over at the thugs again, calculating their movements, and spoke again.

"You belong to anyone else?" Dani turned her gaze back to the man, who was now looking at her with a somewhat amused, and maybe exasperated, look.

"No, can't say as I belong to anyone but myself," he replied in his easy drawl. "What, exactly, is this favour?"

Dani glanced beyond him again, to see the thugs approaching them. Fear and adrenaline kicked through her system, making her stomach feel as if it were turning in knots.

"I need you to make this look real," Dani replied, and with one last look at the thugs, she stepped close, way closer to someone than she was comfortable being, to the man, grabbed him around the collar with both hands, closed her eyes, and pulled him in for a kiss.

Their lips met haphazardly, because he wasn't ready for it, and she was tense. The impact hurt her teeth, and probably his. Her eye flew open; it was stupid for her to have shut them anyway, to find herself pierced by his gaze again. Dani thought for a moment that he was going to pull away and demand what the hell she was thinking, but instead, he surprised her. He angled his head a bit differently, wrapped his arms around her back to pull her in closer, and kissed her again. It was a demanding kiss, full of the electricity from their earlier gaze, and she struggled not to give in, to match him. They struggled for dominance, and she found herself wrapping her arms around his neck tightly, to bring herself in closer. She finally submitted to him when his tongue traced along her lips, and she opened them to allow him in; her eyes fluttered closed. They tried to pull each other in closer; and she wished they weren't in a crowded tavern, but alone. Her thoughts disturbed her and her actions frightened her. It was so out of character for her to act like this.

She finally stopped the kiss, but didn't break contact, and her eyes flew open. But only because something inside her told her that the immediate danger was passed; that, and she could feel six sets of eyes on the two of them. She pulled away just enough to look over his shoulder to see that the thugs had left the tavern. She breathed a sigh of relief. Regretting the motion, she tried to pull away completely, but his arms were still around her, holding her tightly to him, and he was regarding her with a gaze she couldn't decipher. She cleared her throat, "Erm, do you think you could let go now?" she asked.

"When I'm good and ready to I'm sure I will," he answered, not loosening his grip. Strangely enough, Dani didn't exactly mind, which was yet another frightening thing. She generally didn't enjoy being held for long, especially not by strangers, because she suffered by a touch of claustrophobia. She also didn't enjoy being in spaces that were wide open, because she suffered from agoraphobia too. Probably because there was nowhere to hide in a wide open space. But being held by this man was...nice. It was a bit disconcerting, but nice. She felt warm and supported, also protected. This was weird in all sorts of ways, like the fact that she didn't even know his name. These thoughts ran through her head a mile a minute, tripping over each other.

"Do you reckon you could tell me exactly what the purpose of that kiss was?" he finally asked her, interrupting her stream of thoughts. "Not that I mind, terribly, being kissed by a pretty girl, but I'm awfully curious."

Dani opened her mouth to speak, but it was dry, so she closed it and swallowed before trying again. "Distraction," was all she could come out with. Possibly because, did she just hear him right, or did he just refer to her as a pretty girl? She shook her head to clear it. "Or, rather, a disguise is probably more accurate."

"Wow," he said, "good disguise. Am I to assume the disguise was to hide you from the two rather rough looking gents who came in and just left?" Dani nodded. "May I ask, then, why exactly you needed to hide from them?"

Dani almost told him, she opened her mouth to spew the whole story, but caught herself just in time. She was a thief, and it was generally not good practice to go about telling everyone you were. Nor was it good practice to tell people when you were on the wrong side of Len. So she gave a little laugh, and pushed herself against his arms to loosen them so he'd let go. "I'm afraid that's a bit of a long story, and I'm in a bit of a hurry. So I really should be getting along."

As she spoke, she continued to push against his arms until he let go. When he did she smiled, even though she would have happily stayed in his arms for a while longer. She reached into her pocket and grabbed a coin, took it out and flipped it to him. To her surprise, he caught it easily. "Thanks...for the help," she grinned at him ruefully, winked, then turned on her heel and made her way to the tavern door.