"You're impressed. Aren't you?"

Daud lifted his eyes to Billie who'd perched on a beam high in the office. Her back was to the wall and she had one leg dangling off the side, kicking it in time with the grandfather clock in the room.

He didn't need to ask her what she was talking about. He knew. It always seemed to circle back to that damn kid. He grunted by way of an answer and motioned for Thomas to continue.

"...As I was saying…" Thomas gave her a pointed look as he drew out the word.

Earning him no other reply from her save the bird.

"Kent is alive. For now. But our sources say he won't last under much more interrogation. Daud, if he talks-"

"-He won't."

Thomas crossed his arms over his chest and said nothing but by his demeanor, it was clear he didn't agree with Daud.

"He won't talk because he won't be held for much longer." he elaborated. Thomas' arms dropped and Billie's foot stopped its swinging.

"I'll give the word to have him taken care of." Thomas said in a hollow voice.

"I didn't say we kill him, now did I?" Daud smirked. "We have a Master Thief who has already proven to be an asset-"

Billie scoffed but Daud continued over her. "-One who has proven stealing from under the Lord Protector is possible."

"I knew it." Billie sighed, "Tell me something, was Kent simply a test then? Send in a senior assassin to see if this kid is really as good as he claims he is?"

"And if he was? Would it make a difference?"

"You are impressed." she accused her arms folding over her chest and her eyes narrowing at him. He simply shrugged.

"Be that as it may," Thomas cut in again, "Stealing a trinket is leagues different than springing a prisoner. Especially one under the thumb of that Lord Protector."

"No it isn't. I have the utmost confidence that the boy can handle it." Daud chuckled, "And if he can't what have we really lost?" Daud jerked his chin at Thomas, "I want you to send in two Whalers disguised as prison guards, see how close they can get to Kent. They aren't to make a move on him until I give the word."

"Daud… that's going to be-"

"Done, Thomas. It's going to be done."

Thomas was quiet for a long moment until Daud pinned a glare on the man. He brought his hand to his chest in a weak salute and bowed slightly. "Yes sir. Consider it done."

XXX

Emily fluffed a blue pillow before plopping it on the ground alongside her porcelain doll, her stuffed raven, and—Corvo had to admit he was impressed she'd managed to wrangle him—one of Geoff Curnow's wolfhounds. The poor hound seemed immeasurably displeased to be stuck as a guest of this little spitfire and tried to sneak away every time Emily looked away.

"Wrath!" she gasped when she caught him for what had to be the fifth time. "You bad! Get back here! Now!"

The hound whined at Corvo, who stood leaning one shoulder against the door frame, "You got caught." he waved the hound back over to the girl. "Suffer the consequences."

He turned back to her, his tail tucked between his legs and settled next to her with a grumble and a heavy sigh. Emily giggled as she wrapped a bright pink bonnet over the hound's head and laboriously tied the ends under his chin. She patted the hound's bonnet-clad head with a pudgy hand while he whined softly at her.

"You so pwetty!" she chirped happily. "Good doggy!"

At the praise, Wrath thumped his tail against the floor. Once. All the while pleading with his long eyes over at Corvo.

Corvo stifled a laugh behind his short shot of coffee, the hound was one of Geoff's most favored. Pitch black and easily a head taller than the rest of them, this beast was a mutant among the ranks. He was the one Geoff frequently used to breed pups and was easily the best at remaining hidden under the cover of night and taking down foes. Though his tracking left something to be desired, his build and coat made him the best of the best. His fierce looking brawn was not very fitting amid the frilly pink and white tea set and stuffed animals and dollys.

But all the hounds of the guard were required to learn how to tolerate children, so that Emily remained safe, so they were acclimated to her as pups.

Emily didn't mind this.

And Wrath had been her plaything more often than he was a guard. So he allowed the tiny human to paint his nails or feed him bananas, though he obviously hated them. And he allowed her to dress him up on the rare occasion, such as today. Though, not without complaint.

Which she frequently ignored.

Jessamine's hand skimmed over Corvo's back, causing goosebumps to rise on his arms. "What is going on here?" she continued to stroke him as she spoke, knowing he both enjoyed the sensation and hated his body's response. He prided himself on not being ticklish. But of course she'd be the one to find his one spot.

He downed his little shot of coffee, set it aside, and rubbed at his arms. Marking the grin she sported at his reaction.

"Tea party!" Emily squeaked.

"Tea party." And Corvo answered at the same time.

"A tea party?" Jessamine giggled, eyeing the display, "Well, what a lovely party! It looks as though you have room, so is Corvo invited to your party?"

The smirk vanished from his face and he shook his head slowly as Emily jumped up and chirped, "Yes, please! Oh please, Corvo?"

Jessamine snickered as he gave her a droll look. "Please Corvo?"

"You are a devil woman." he muttered under his breath as the girl skipped over and tugged on his sleeve. He relented to her urging only because… well… he never could say no to her, no matter how much he tried.

He followed her over to her table and sighed as Jessamine stifled a chuckle behind her hand. Emily beamed up at Corvo and patted the blue pillow beside her. "Corvo!" She chirped with some amusement, "Sit!"

Jessamine snickered and pointed out his "seat". "It looks like she even went to a lot of trouble to get you a blue pillow. I say you take this invitation."

"I'm… flattered?" Corvo chuckled as he sat and motioned to the lounge it came off of with a lifted bow at her. The expression was plain enough, really?

"Corvo, you want tea?" Emily held up her pink teapot, on hand suspended underneath it as if showcasing the dang thing.

He scrunched his nose and shook his head, "do you have coffee by any chance?"

Jessamine scoffed, "like you need more coffee." Corvo ignored her and smiled at the girl.

Emily froze for a moment, stared at the teapot and sloshed the water around in the thing. "Why yes!" She quipped, less than enthused. "This a special teapot! It makes tea and coffee."

"How industrious." He chuckled. "How does it do that?"

Emily shrugged. "It magic."

"Of course, what was I thinking?" He picked up one of the tiny teacups, half-afraid he was going to snap the delicate little thing off.

"Coffee for-a you." she poured a small amount of water into the cup and moved to her stuffed raven. "Tea for-a you Mr. Fluffers." She leaned over to Corvo and stage whispered behind her hand, "He no 'apposta have coffee 'cause he crow all night."

"I see." he winked at her, "I promise not to tell." he gestured to the doll at his right with his cup, "What about her?"

"Mrs. Pilsen? She done. She have twee cups today."

"Scandalous."

She froze again and cocked her head to the side, "What that?"

"Scandalous?"

She nodded, her curls bouncing around her face.

He chuckled searching for a word she'd know so he could explain, "Um… Improper."

Her eyes lit up, "Ah! Yes. Quite."

Quite. He mouthed at Jessamine who shrugged, as though she wasn't the culprit of her daughter's speech. Or maybe she didn't care.

Emily attempted to fill Wrath's cup up but only a dribble leapt from the spout. "Oop! I get mor-a." She trotted off to the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.

Jessamine shook her head and called, "we do not slam doors!"

A muffled "Sowwy!" protruded from the room.

"Your delicate, delicate flower." Corvo smirked.

Jessamine snorted and her hand fluttered to her nose as she glanced down the hall, hoping no one heard that undignified sound.

"I did."

"Don't speak of it!" she hissed as Emily trotted back out and poured more "tea" into Wrath's cup.

Corvo swirled the "coffee" around in his little cup and then set it down without drinking any of it. "Emily?" He asked with a spark of suspicion.

"Yes?"

"Where did you get the water for your teapot?"

Emily glanced at the bathroom and Jessamine's eyes widened in horror. Her mind going to the same place Corvo's had. Their daughter was too short to reach the sink. "Emily…" she warned. "You didn't. Tell me you did not get the water from the chamber pot!"

Emily glanced at the teapot and a blush crept up her cheeks, "but… the sink too high…."

Corvo swiftly collected the dishes and upturned them into the plant beside him while Jessamine swiped the teapot from their daughter.

"Emily dear…." Jessamine struggled to keep herself calm, disgust weighing heavily on her voice. "You can't just… that is so icky! No ma'am! We do not get water from the chamber pot to…" a nervous giggle escaped her and she shook her head. "...to serve to people."

"But-"

"-'Yes ma'am'." Jessamine corrected quickly.

Emily's face and whole body wilted, "yes ma'am…" she parroted.

Corvo dipped into the bathroom and turned on the faucet. "Emily," he called as he set the temperature to warm. Emily shuffled in, her eyes on the floor.

He'd never usurp Jessamine's authority. But really, it hadn't been that big of a deal. He'd feel different, perhaps if he'd drank some of that "tea" but he recognised that she was still just a young child. She had a problem… and she'd solved it. Without the help of a grown up, no less. Was it gross? Yes. Very. Still he couldn't help but feel she was beating herself up a little too much.

He did enjoy being able to be her composed and soft father, even if it wasn't often that he could indulge himself.

"Come here, sweetie," he wrapped an arm about her tiny waist and hiked her up on his hip so she could reach the counter. "Wash your hands, kiddo."

"I really sowwy," she whispered as she stuck her hands under the spray and Corvo gave her the bar of soap.

"I know, baby."

He helped her down and toweled her hands off then tapped her nose with the cloth, making her mouth quirk up on one side, and her brown eyes zeroed in on him.

"It's not the end of the world." He brushed her nose with the cloth again, hoping to see a flash of amusement, and she batted at his hand.

"E'scuse you!" she quipped. "Dat's my nose!"

"And it's a very cute nose."

Her eyebrows furrowed and he had no doubt she had been about to say something clever when she started at the sound of the tea set being messed with.

"Ew!" Jessamine barked from the other room. "Wrath no! Get!"

Corvo shooed Emily out of the bathroom and toward the hound. "Get your dog, kid."

"What.. what do we do with this stuff, Corvo?" Jessamine gestured to the tea set and Corvo lifted a brow.

"Your kidding, right? Throw each and every piece away and set it ablaze."

"Fitting." Sokolov muttered as he entered the room and caught sight of Jessamine's panicked expression.

"Well Sokolov, you know, having children is an exciting endeavor and not altogether a clean one." she scooped Emily up in her arms and handed her off to the Guard waiting patiently in the hall. "Ensure her maid gets her bathed. And then take her directly to Madam Claudette for her lessons."

"Can Wrath come wif me, mama?"

Jessamine huffed and snapped at the hound and he trotted up, the bonnet slid so it hung awkwardly over his left ear. "See if we can't give him a bath as well."

"Yes, my Empress." and just like that the man trotted off, the hound following the child who beckoned him with her chubby hand.

Sokolov turned a stink eye on Corvo. "We need to talk." the man said tersely.

"Do we?"

The old man's face went red and the cords of his neck stuck out in irritation, "About that door."

"Ah." He nodded while drying his hands with a terry cloth, "Is there a problem?"

"A problem?" he sputtered, "Honestly Corvo, it's not the type of thing I can just slap a new key and mechanism on. That damn lock took me months! Months! And now you're telling me ham-handed Gorilla comes galumphing though and loses the only key?"

Frustration had Corvo lifting Emily's teapot and holding it out to the older man, "Tea?" he offered with a false smile.

"Sokolov." Jessamine halted Corvo's advancement on the man with a gentle hand on his chest and a wrinkle to her otherwise perfect nose, "Please don't insult the man who could very likely kill you with a flick of his wrist."

Corvo set the teapot down and rolled his shoulders. To be completely honest, Corvo was well aware he'd be berated by the pompous old windbag. Still more than a little irritation tightened in his chest at the man's insults. Even though he had come to expect the criticism, it was hard to stomach with Jessamine in the room.

Jessamine was right though. Corvo was more than capable—and willing—to snap the old man's neck.

Sokolov humphed and rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath, "less a man than an overcompensated guard dog."

Corvo's fingers wrapped around the handle of his blade which he then casually drew and let hang, non-threateningly, at his side. Jessamine glared him down and he returned her look of displeasure with a shrug.

Her expression melted into one of boredom and she kicked out her hip as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Blood makes for a very ugly paint color, Corvo." the warning in her voice was all too clear.

Translation: He wasn't going to get her blessing to kill the bastard.

"Would it not be better for us to find a solution to the problem as opposed to barking obscenities and threatening death upon one another?" Jessamine offered, pointedly waving at Corvo's blade.

"With all due respect," Corvo smiled tightly at her, "I threatened nothing."

"And obscenities? Why my Empress, I would never dream of-"

"-Yes, yes, you are both perfect gentleman. We've gathered as much." Jessamine sounded utterly done with the both of them. "Now to the task at hand. Perhaps only having one key is not prudent. What if we made two or three?"

Sokolov began shaking his head before she even finished speaking. "The room would no longer be secure my Empress."

"I understand the risk, all I was saying was that I wouldn't mind if Emily was given one, not now obviously, she is much too young. However, eventually she will need the same protection I do. And the last one would go to my Lord Protector. It seems silly that my Protector is not granted access when I am."

Sokolov seemed to consider his words before he spoke, "the problem arises if, Isles forbid, something were to… happen… to your Lord Protector…."

He let the statement hang in the air between himself and Jessamine.

Corvo took her silence as an opening and closed in behind Sokolov while his attention was on her, he rested the tip of the blade on the base of the old man's spine, right where the hips met the vertebrae. He didn't break flesh but made sure the metal weighed heavily so Sokolov knew it was there. He stiffened and Corvo leaned in to whisper in the guy's ear. "Did you know, if you take a man's legs, you've taken the man?"

Jessamine sighed hard and Sokolov gulped loudly, "I meant nothing by it, you neanderthal. I know you are quite capable when it comes to killing, but you are still just a man."

"Is that what I am? To hear you tell it I'm a varying animals and a moron."

"True. but I never said you weren't useful."

Corvo scoffed, "useful, huh? Flattery under threat of pain isn't genuine, Sokolov."

"Enough. Both of you. Sokolov, Corvo is no match for your intellect but it will do you little good if you are skewered, would you not agree?"

"-I-"

"And Corvo, if you take him out before he gets access to the safe room I will personally punish you."

Corvo felt his eyebrows rise and gave her a wicked smirk: Promise? He mouthed at her.

Causing a flush to creep over her cheeks, she kept her expression perturbed. "I mean it Corvo."

He sheathed his blade, "as my lady commands."

Jessamine's expression became pleading as she turned it on the older man, "Sokolov, I would greatly appreciate your cooperation on this. I just want myself and my child safe."

Sokolov was quiet for a long time then with a resigned sigh he shook his head, "Of course, my Empress…But until that time you're vulnerable."

"That's why I've ordered the guards to be doubled and the grounds to be on lock down."

"That is… not your worst idea, Corvo."

"And that was not your worst compliment, Sokolov."

"See!" Jessamine breathed, sounding very much like she was dealing with bickering children and had reached her limit. "You two can get along!"

"...Now Empress I see no reason why you should insult me.." Sokolov jumped to defend himself-

-As Corvo hedged, "...Jessamine let's not take it quite that far…"

She raised her hands in defeat as she backed out of the room, "I take it back! Don't get along, just… don't kill each other."

Corvo smiled at the older male and rested his hand on his blade hilt, he swept his free hand out to the door. "After you, Sir."

The man eyed Corvo's blade, measured his shoulders and heaved a sigh. "Yes, yes, I may as well get started. Before you break something else that is."

"Oh I'll break something." Corvo muttered as he followed the man out.

Sokolov bristled, "I heard that."

"I didn't say it quietly."

One Day Too Late - Skillet.