Chapter 10: Complications

"Oooo. And who is this fine man?" Augustus asked Jessamine as he pushed her out of the way, and walked forward to grab me in an over enthusiastic hug. I stood frozen as he held me in his arms and rested his chin on top of my head.

"That's my bodyguard, Lord Corvo Attano." She replied before giggling, and I managed to glare at her out of the corner of my eye.

"A Lord? How lovely. We're going to get so close in these next few days." Augustus purred as he kissed me on the cheek before taking my hand in his, and pulling me towards his carriage with him, seeming to forget all about Jessamine. I groaned inwardly as I realized I'd been right when I'd thought he looked homosexual; most men I'd met who were like that had been much more subtle, however his position of power probably granted him the ability to be a bit more open than others. I helped Jessamine into the carriage before closing the door behind her.

"So tell me all about yourself Lord bodyguard." Augustus ordered as he pulled me down next to him, and Jessamine chuckled as she sat on the other side of the carriage.

"I'm not exactly interesting…however, Jessamine just happens to be a book bursting with pages." I replied as I tried to ignore the hand Augustus rested on my thigh.

"Corvo isn't a very talkative person." Jessamine chimed in, as she seemed to realize that I was incredibly uncomfortable in my current situation.

"Oh that's fine…I love the strong silent type." he admonished as he squeezed my bicep causing another bought of uncomfortable feelings swirling inside me. "Oh…he's really strong isn't he?"

"You should see him shirtless. Just all skin and muscles." Jessamine whispered before winking at him. Jessamine…don't encourage him. I growled inwardly.

"Oh girl…we're gonna be best friends." Augustus laughed as he playfully slapped her knee, "And you mister…well it's a good thing that Lords have to obey orders from Chancellors…" he whispered as he dragged a finger down the side of my face and jawline and I couldn't help but swallow nervously.

"Umm…Augustus. I'm sorry, but he's mine." Jessamine jumped in seeming to sense how truly unbearable this was becoming for me.

"Oh…Oh no! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to steal your man from you. Silly me." He chuckled as he pulled his hands away from me and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Go on. Go kiss your lovely lady! I'm such a sucker for romance." Augustus prompted as he smacked my arm lightly, and I looked from him to Jessamine slightly stunned, but she just sat there with a triumphant smile on her face. And that's when I realized that I had the choice of either ruining the professional relationship I'd just gotten set up between us, or being sexualized by the chancellor for the next three days.

I growled under my breath as I stood, hunched in the carriage as I moved to the other side to sit next to Jessamine, I looked down at her hesitantly but she just looked back up at me expectantly. As I sat next to her I looked over at Augustus as I wondered if he was seriously wanting me to kiss her.

"Well go on. I'm waiting." He urged as he rested his chin in his hands and leaned forward to watch us keenly. I'd wanted free reign to do exactly what he wanted for the longest time, but I knew doing so would just make her more reluctant to be alone with the Duke and that it would risk clouding my currently work oriented mind. I groaned inwardly as I leaned over and looked her in the eyes for a moment before running a hand up under her jaw, scissoring my fingers around her ear before burying them partially in her hair. Half of my hand rested on her neck and the other half on her cheek, her skin was incredibly smooth under mine and I could feel her pule with ease…the pulse that I should have stopped once already.

I wrapped my free arm around her shoulders before leaning down slowly, and tilting my head just a bit before letting my lips land on hers gently. The second our lips touched she grabbed the lapels of my coat and pulled herself closer to me. I forced myself not to moan as she ran a hand under my coat and armor, and up my neck and across the stubble on my jaw; I never let anyone touch me there on account that it was easily the most vulnerable spot on anyone, however even the slightest touch of her hand in that vulnerable place was more erotic than having sex with half the whores I'd slept with. I pulled away from the kiss just long enough to catch my breath before pressing our lips together once again, part of me was begging for her to touch me like that again; it was strangely erotic and liberating to want to trust her with my life enough to let her touch me in all my most vulnerable spots. The other part was trying to remind myself what a bad idea this was. I pulled away slowly, looking into her eyes to see her staring back up at me with lust and need that she'd literally just made me feel.

"Oh you two are too precious! You make a beautiful couple. You're one lucky lady." Augustus spoke up and I tensed immediately. I had forgotten he was in the carriage with me and I hadn't even realized how much I'd relaxed during the kiss until his voice made me tense again. Jessamine didn't reply, instead she just kept staring into my eyes as her hand remained on my jaw.

"You two aren't going to go at each other right now are you?" Augustus asked sounding more curious that anything, and I forced myself to push Jessamine away even though everything inside of me just wanted more of her.

"No. We aren't." I replied gruffly as I looked back over at the taller yet much more twigish man.

"So how did you manage to win this pretty little things heart?" Augustus asked as he slapped my knee.

"I have no clue…I'm more of an asshole than anything else." I admitted as I looked over at Jessamine to see that she was still just as flustered as I was from the kiss. Augustus laughed as the carriage stopped and he got out with ease, as Jessamine stood up I stopped her by grabbing a hold of her hand. "What just happened in no way negates the fact that we both agreed to hold up our ends of the agreement." I said more breathless than I realized I still was.

"Oh I'll hold up my end just fine."

FOUR DAYS LATER

The last few days had passed terribly slow and I was so relieved to set foot on the ship once again. On the bright side Augustus had his medic remove the stitches in my leg and I was pretty well back at one hundred percent, on the downside…even after Jessamine told him I was hers he still had a problem with touching me, and flirting with me and trying his hardest to get me undressed. I rememberedly sourly when he'd tried to convince Jessamine that I wouldn't be having an affair unless I was sleeping with a different woman, and that she should consider letting him borrow me.

"You be safe! And feel free to come visit anytime! Oh but if you do, make sure you bring him along with you." I heard Augustus tell Jessamine as I glanced behind me to see him hugging her tightly.

"Alright. I'll keep that in mind." Jessamine chuckled as he released her and she started to walk up onto the dock with me. She stood next to me as we held onto the rail and the ship began to pull away from the dock.

"Oh and Corvo! If it doesn't work out between you two…I call dibs!" Augustus yelled and I forced myself to wave and try to smile but it turned out as more of a grimace. I tried to ignore Jessamines melodic laugh as the ship drifted away and Augustus got inside his carriage.

"He has dibs." Jessamine joked as she nudged my arm playfully.

"I have never been so relieved to get away from another man before." I grumbled as I buried my face in my hands before looking over at her.

"I think you two would be cute together." She taunted with a wink before she turned to walk away.

"I hate to break it to you, but as long as I'm still kicking that will never happen." I objected as I followed her to the ladder she was descending, into the hull of the ship.

"Oh but he's so fond of you!" she exclaimed as I climbed down the ladder after her, the slight pain in my leg only a reminder of what had happened back on Tyvia more than anything. "And just imagine, you could adopt some children since you wouldn't be able to have some of your own." She continued as she made her way to the small cabin we'd spent so much time in over the last few weeks.

"That's a lovely thought and all, maybe I'll consider it when you marry young chancellor Edgar." I replied snarkily as I followed her into the small cabin closing the door behind us.

"I don't think that's going to happen." She retorted as she turned to face me.

"But why not? He seems like a nice enough kid." I joked as she stood there clearly eyeing me up.

"Exactly, a kid." She sneered as she looked me in the eye once again.

"He'll grow up eventually." I defended as she took a step towards me, and I took a step back until I was pressed against the closed door.

"Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe Augustus isn't the only one who likes the strong silent type?" she asked sexily as she closed the distance between us and ran a hand down the length my arm. I stood there for a moment as I remembered all the times Augustus basically ordered us to kiss, the feeling of her lips on mine was definitely going to be forever burned into my mind until the day I died.

"Jessamine. You still have one suitor left, I'm not eligible until we get back to Dunwall." I replied gruffly as I told myself to push her away from me, but for some reason I couldn't seem to follow through even when she dipped her hands under my coat and started to push it off my shoulders.

"I know. But I'm not worried, I doubt this last suitor will be the life changing man I need to help me run my empire." she informed me softly as she continued to push my coat from my shoulders until it fell in a heap on the floor, "Besides…we have five days on this ship until we reach Serkonos. I think that will give you plenty of time to reconsider wether or not you actually want our agreement to stand." she finished before leaning in and planting a quick kiss on my cheek before walking off to lay on her bed, digging through her bag until she pulled out a book.

I stood there speechless for a few moments as I realized that I couldn't even tell myself I didn't love her anymore, I knew I loved her but I knew regardless of my feelings I had to do the job I'd come to do in the first place. I picked my coat up and shrugged it back on before leaving the small room, I needed some space. I made my way to the deck of the ship as I thought about what a mess I was…I was an assassin who was in love with his target. You couldn't get much sloppier than that.

"You're not already tired of the ship are you?" I looked over to see the captain walking over to me.

"Oh, no sir. Just incredibly confused with how complex simple things seem to be lately." I replied somewhat cryptically as he stood next to me.

"Well that tends to happen whenever royals are added to any affair." the captain said and I chuckled softly, "It's Corvo right?" the captain asked as he held out his hand for me to shake, and that's when I realized we'd never been formally introduced to each other.

"Yes sir." I replied as I gave his hand a quick shake before looking back out at the ocean.

"Name's Farley." he introduced himself as he turned to stare out at the ocean with me.

"Well then Farley, it's a pleasure to finally be properly introduced to you."

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, I'm just trying to fill in the gaps until they get to Serkonos basically (Which should be the chapter after the next one). Also, the only reason I made Augustus so stereotypical was because I was thinking he might be able to provide a sliver of comic relief. And for anyone who didn't pick it up from the game, Farley is Admiral Havelock's first name; I know they technically meet for the first time in the game but this is an AU anyways, so why not shake things up!