This story isn't much longer, so I'm taking a break from my other romance, "Slipping into Shadows", in order to wrap this one up in the next several days. Once one is done, updating on the other will be faster anyway, so for those of you who are following both, that's what's going on. I haven't forgotten about the other fic. Lol.

Enjoy the update, everyone, and I promise that great things are to come.

Chapter 16:

Lex walked towards Mandila's cell with sure strides that masked his agitation. Here she was, the only person who'd ever seemed so genuinely interested in, attracted to, and appreciative of him, and she was nothing more than a common thief—one of the enemies, a piece of waterfront lawlessness. He would be lying if he said that he hadn't been hurt after his shock wore off last night. She had made him believe that she was an honest woman who wanted to see him succeed, but she couldn't be serious if she was part of the Thieves' Guild. She couldn't...

Lex steeled himself for this confrontation as he neared her cell. At least she wasn't crying this time around. When he'd come here last night, the entire corridor had echoed with her sobbing, and he'd been bothered by the way that she'd turned away from him, like she was ashamed. He wanted to treat her like any other criminal, because that's what she was, but she wasn't defiant or defensive like others, which made his job more difficult. She was merely a woman lying broken at his feet, refusing to even meet his eyes, and when she did, it looked like she was begging for forgiveness. But her begging was silent, for she hadn't asked for release or mercy, and of course she wouldn't since she knew him better than most. She knew not to expect leniency.

Lex arrived at her door and looked through the bars to see her curled in a ball, still sleeping. He didn't want to see her here, and yet he could not summon enough sympathy to comfort her. For a moment, he visualized the way that her face usually lit up when she saw him, how she'd be outraged when other people mocked him, or the vision of her bright smile when she leaned to kiss him at a bar. No! Lex angrily grabbed his keys and unlocked the cell, his kindness melting into nothing as he realized that she'd been distracting him from a theft that night. The mysterious birthday wisher—had that been her too, distracting him and playing innocent to aid her guild? His emotions again burned as he marched into her cell, imagining how she must have laughed at his back when she'd bested him, making him thank that she cared—making him think of kissing her!

"Citizen," he roughly called, refusing to look away as she stirred and moved into a sitting position against the wall. Her eyes were still red, but at least her lips weren't quivering, which was amazing considering her obvious condition, for she'd been issued no blanket. This cell was cold and wet, and she had nothing to protect from it.

"Captain Lex," she softly greeted, hands moving to hide behind her thighs, but it was too late, for Lex had seen the damage. Stupid girl! Why hadn't she listened to him? He stepped forward so that he was looking directly down at her, frown firmly in place as she glanced upward through her unkempt hair.

"Show me your hands," he ordered. She hesitated, trying his patience and making him wonder if the dark bags beneath his eyes showed, for he hadn't slept well last night. It had taken every ounce of his control not to come down here and demand answers from this elf. "Now," he ordered, and Mandila placed her hands atop her legs. It was obvious that she'd been trying to remove her manacles, for her wrists were chaffed and lacerated along the edge of the bracers, and even her fingers appeared rubbed raw from tugging at the metal. She always had to be difficult. Always!

"That was very stupid, elf," Lex murmured.

"They're uncomfortable," Mandila weakly argued, causing Lex to bark a humorless and bitter laugh.

"This is prison. It's suppose to be uncomfortable. Tax payers don't want to pay for criminals like you to live in comfort." Mandila winced at his words, and he saw water forming in the corners of her eyes. No, there would be no tears, because he didn't think that he could tolerate them right now. He wanted her to scratch and curse him---show her true colors—but she remained meek and repentant, almost like she was the victim. Like hell she was.

"You're part of the Thieves' Guild!" he accused, grabbing her shirt and hoisting her to her feet. With a startled expression, she stared at him as he held her against the wall, his unforgiving features making her want to disappear. "You've been with them the entire time, haven't you? Answer me!"

"Yes," Mandila gasped, stunned by his aggressiveness.

"So you've been playing me for a fool since the beginning," he growled. "You should have known better. Did it amuse you to take me to lunch, to offer me a drink while your friends worked? Did it? And what of the tax records? You took them too. A confession now will spare you pain later." But something told him that he didn't even need to threaten her, for she hung limply against his palms as he held her in place, her brown eyes blinking at him in the dim light.

"I..."

"Did you take the taxes and the records?" he repeated, slowly, threateningly.

"Yes," she sighed.

"And my mother's pendant?" he pressed, but Mandila sealed her mouth and refused to answer, making him give her a slight shake.

"I don't need to tell you anything!" she erupted, a few tears sliding free. "I'm already in prison, and I'll be here so long that I'll forget what the sun looks like. Isn't that enough? I'm a thief. I'm in the guild, and Armand was my superior. Are you happy?" She shut her mouth, and Lex stared at her as the energy seemed to desert her body. She was a damned thief, and he wouldn't feel sorry for her current state, even as he had to beat the temptation to do so into the ground. If she wouldn't talk, she could always be handed over to the the guards for some whipping.

No. The word screamed through his mind so vehemently that he nearly let go of Mandila, but he had a feeling that if he didn't hold her up, she'd fall.

"I even arranged for you to have your birthday off," Mandila slowly stated. "You were working too much, and I wanted you to relax for a day." Was she being serious? How did he even trust her word anymore? But she seemed so honest, and he sensed that she was telling the truth. Then again...

"You're obviously a talented actress," he told her. "So tell me why I should believe anything that you say." When she didn't respond, he slowly released her and watched as she propped herself up against the cold stone wall, his hands ready to catch her if she began teetering. "If you cooperate and give me information and evidence against the Thieves' Guild, I'll shorten your sentence according to how useful you are. For each guild member that you help put away, I'll remove 6 months of jail time." It was a good deal—better than she deserved.

"And if I talk and am released, I'll have nowhere to go, because they'll know that I ratted," Mandila reasoned. "So you see, captain, I can't help you. Even if I wanted to—even when you made me that tempting offer on our picnic, I couldn't have said a thing without losing everything. I have nowhere else to go but the waterfront." Of course, he realized, that had been why she was afraid of being seen with him. So what did it mean that she'd snubbed her own people to spend time with him? If she'd only been taking advantage of him, she wouldn't have been scared. Was it possible that she wasn't the manipulative wench that he'd once playfully accused her of being? His heart softened by the smallest fraction, and so he left the cell for a few minutes, returning with a blanket and pillow, which he tossed onto the ground beside her.

"For telling me the truth this once," he told her, and she nodded, pulling the blanket to her chest as she again sat down. He watched as every movement of her hands made her wince in pain, but he wouldn't do anything for her. Maybe he could justify the desire to help her if she told him something of importance. Alright, they would start off small then.

"Are you a high ranking member of the guild? Perhaps someone of your apparent innocence is even the Grey fox..."

"No, and definitely no," she answered. "I'm only a Prowler, so I do average jobs."

"But you were sent to rob Halidor Ranen," Lex pointed out. "Why were you sent on such a dangerous mission if you're not overly skilled?" To his surprise, Mandila gave a cold peel of laughter, and her words were not without venom when she spoke, although he was under the impression that her scornful emotions were not directed at him.

"I was sent on the mission because of you," she admitted, but Lex didn't understand how that was possible. His face contorted in confusion as she leaned against the wall and brushed prison dirt from her face, resulting in a small rivulet of blood sliding down her arm from beneath the manacles. "The guild and Armand in particular were upset with me. They didn't trust me, because of you. I defended you, tried to spend time with you, even snuck around behind their backs to see you, and people noticed. I tried to be careful, but Armand was right: my problem was obvious to everyone but me. They hated you, and I liked you. They tried to get me to ignore you, but I ignored them." The longer she spoke, the more her eyes watered, and Lex could not look away from her face, her heartfelt confession commanding his deepest attention.

"Armand doubted me, so I tried to prove my loyalty by taking the taxes from your room, but I still couldn't leave you alone. I was ashamed of what I was doing when you looked at me, but I couldn't walk away from the guild either, so I was stuck between the two of you. I decided to risk everything to prove my loyalty, because I was scared to lose my friends. They were going to send me to Bruma, because," she quivered, finally beginning to cry, "because they didn't want me near you. They probably think that I'm a traitor like Myvryna...hell, maybe I would have been if you'd...I was so stupid to fall in love."

Lex stood in silence, completely floored by what he'd just heard. So she wasn't exactly honest, but she'd had her reasons. She even...loved him? She had to have been referring to him when she'd said that, but he couldn't understand why a thief had fallen for him. Why had she even wanted to get closer to him in the first place? A million thoughts imposed themselves on Lex as he realized that he shouldn't be handling this case, aiming for detachment as he was. He simply couldn't be objective after hearing this—after being told that she loved him, and when he was feeling guilty because he'd misjudged her this entire time. He remembered her warning that people's situations had to be taken into account when punishing criminals, but he'd never felt the urge to do so more than now. In some ways, she'd been talking about herself when she'd confided in him, and perhaps her advice had been her seeking a chance to no longer need the guild, but him.

"I'm sorry," Mandila whispered.

"You've broken the law, and there's nothing that I can do about it," Lex replied, calming himself. "Unless you help me, you will serve every minute of those four years, and would betrayal matter at this point? When you're released, will you even want to return to your criminal friends?" Mandila couldn't answer that. "It's your choice, but I suggest that you side with us." With me.

"Why? Will you offer me a job to keep me fed once I'm released?" Mandila asked.

"No, not after this. You had your chance, and you squandered it, but the guards would ensure that nothing vengeful would befall you for helping us." Mandila managed to roll her eyes, clearly telling Lex what she thought of his suggestion. "Then enjoy your cell, citizen. It will be your home for some time." He began walking out on her, both knowing that it would be the last time that they ever spoke to one another unless work required interaction. He certainly was not coming to visit a thief, and she would be trapped here until she became a thing of the past for him. Yes, that would be for the best. He would forget her and the confused frustration that she'd caused by this time tomorrow. Liar.

"If you ever change your mind," he called over his shoulder. "Tell a guard, and I'll come to negotiate a deal."

"Goodbye, Captain Lex," Mandila regretfully said, wanting to say more, but not finding the words. He was in the same predicament, but silence was the ultimate response as the two separated, never to see each other again until duty called, and so the days whittled away, turning to dust in Mandila's fingers as she came close to forsaking everything that she had ever known time and time again...

************

Seven days, she counted, making another mark on the prison wall with a stray piece of stone. She'd been locked away for seven days, and the reality of her situation had only fully sunk in yesterday, when her jailor had advised her to accept Lex's offer. She'd brushed his comment aside and instead asked if she couldn't have a rag or something with which to clean her eating utensils, which had earned her a hoot of derisive laughter as the guard informed her that she wasn't allowed such privileges. So this was prison life, from the constant chill in her bones to the simple joy that she felt when the sun hit her small window just right, allowing her to feel warmth as she sat in its glow. Of course, the window was much too high to look out of, but at least there was fresh air. In winter, it would be terrible, but for now, she was surviving.

Mandila sat on the floor (she didn't have a cell with a cot), and stared at the wall opposite her. There were carvings from former inmates, from tally marks to curses, to prayers, but her favorite was a picture. An artist must have been held here, for the carving was an elaborate scene of a forest with trees, clouds, grass, and even a river. Viewing it made her long for freedom, and she wondered if the man been inspired by hope or depression, for the image certainly invoked both in her. Ah, but she couldn't let deadly negativity consume her or she would end up like the Nord across the way—cussing and talking to himself at odd hours until the guard told him to shut up. It would have been nice to have a conversational neighbor since she was social by nature, but no such luck.

She wondered if Lex ever thought of her, for she certainly thought about him. She even considered his offer from time to time, but if no one would financially support her after release, there was no point in accepting his deal. Plus, the one factor that would make her do anything for him was not something that he was willing to consider, which he had made perfectly clear by his formal departure from her. He was probably working himself to the bone again, and without anyone to harass or parry with him during his patrols this time. He would probably even forget that his elf existed now that he'd written her off as a criminal. By the Nine, if confessing her feelings for him hadn't made him budge in his ways, nothing would. The man really was as hard as everyone said, but she only thought so during her darkest moments. Otherwise, she accepting that her dreams had been groundless to begin with, and that it was only her hopeful and chipper personality that had made her believe anything to the contrary.

"Keep your spirits up," she commanded herself. Life without Lex would be tolerable, for she was stronger than her circumstances. Had she crumbled when her brother died, or when she'd barely had enough to eat? No. Her energy and outlook had carried her through, and since she'd never really had Lex, continuing without him was perfectly possible. Of course, she was always aware that she could side with him and move once she was free. There were other towns where there was no guild or a very small branch, and she could steal for a living as she always had. It was something to consider...

"Food delivery!" a voice called, making Mandila cringe. She automatically glared as the guard who served as a cook stopped before her door, a cold bowl of porridge in his hands, and a cruel grin plastered on his pallid and pudgy face. Mandila didn't just hate this man, she loathed his very presence, and with a stare that warned him not to come any closer, she stood to accept the offered bowl. She did not like his leering expression as she moved toward the door or the way that his eyes always aimed too low to be focusing on her face.

"Pig," she spat as she reached for her food, only to have the man retract it through the bars.

"Now, now, sweetie," he mocked. "Language like that won't feed you. What do you say?"

"Go to Oblivion," Mandila replied, convincing herself that she didn't breakfast. She could wait until late afternoon when dinner was brought. She didn't like porridge anyway.

"I take it that you don't want this then..." Mandila's stomach growled as she watched the guard hold up a box of what smelled like fried fish and...good gods, was that the Bloated Float's famous potato patties that were teasing her nose? No, Mandila, don't do it.

"Why would you feed me that?" she probed, watching the disgusting man chuckle.

"I take care of you, and you take care of me. How about that, sweetheart?" He didn't even wait for an answer as he unlocked her cell door, stepped inside, and secured the barred entrance behind him, all of which made Mandila skittishly edge away from him. "I'll just put this here," he said, setting the box of food on the floor near her blanket.

"What are you doing?" Mandila defensively asked, not missing a beat as the man reached for her. She swatted his hands away and spat on his tunic, making him snort in amusement.

"Fair's fair," he taunted her. "I don't do anything for nothing." Mandila didn't stop to ask what he was up to, because she could very well guess, and so, with incredible force, she punched the man in the nose, a satisfying crack sounding throughout the room as she did so. The guard howled in pain and clutched his face, blood trickling down over his jaw while Mandila followed up her punch with a kick to his gut. The blow sent him into the wall, and the resulting jingle of metal brought her eyes to the keys on his belt, making her see a chance at freedom. She could escape and get help from the guild, especially since they owed her a whole hell of a lot after this.

"Bitch!" the guard shrieked. "You broke my fetching nose!" Mandila lunged for his keys, but the guard was fasting, grabbing her wrist and swinging her into the wall. That will leave a bruise, she vaguely thought as her forehead crashed into rock. Her vision blackened, but she remained conscious as she was pulled from the stone and tossed onto the floor. She landed with a grunt and felt manacles dig painfully into her wrists as the guard planted a boot on her chest, pinning her in place.

"That wasn't very nice," he seethed. "Good thing that the guard's still changing, or someone might have heard us." Mandila squirmed, but his heel only dug deeper into her ribs, and as the man began reaching for his belt to undo the buckle, her hand groped outward, searching for something, anything to stop him. She'd never been so scared in her life, Methredhel's words screaming through her mind with horrifying insistency.

The guard was saying something, but Mandila wasn't listening as her hand wrapped around a sharp piece of stone, the very same one that she'd used to mark her tally on the wall. Oh, he was going to regret messing with this Bosmer, and so she gripped the rock tighter as the man got his belt free and tossed it aside, the keys cracking against the floor. Yes, if she could only...

"I'm going to make this easy on you since...AHHHH!" The man screamed as Mandila jammed the rock into his boot, the point clearly puncturing the leather and hitting flesh. He fell backward and grabbed the wound while she scrambled to her feet and seized the key ring. "Don't you dare! They'll only bring you back!" Mandila was willing to risk anything as she ran for the door and freed herself, locking the way behind her so that the guard was left gripping the bars of her former cell and yelling for assistance. Mandila merely ran, adrenaline taking over as she never looked back.

Freedom.

Mandila passed a few other guards, but with such speed that their delayed pursuit bought her the time that she needed. Hands pushed against a door, and then she was in the morning air, the sunlight nearly blinding her as she relied on experience to navigate her way through the city. She wasn't going to the waterfront, even though she longed for protective friends to welcome her back into the fold. They would take her back since Lex wouldn't, and so she would contact them, but not now. She needed to find an entrance to the sewers. Once there, she would be safe, for the guards were clueless about the city's underworld. Yes, almost there.

"Stop her!"

Too late. Feet descended a ladder into darkness, and the Bosmer was gone.

*************

"What happened?" Lex demanded, standing in the infirmary where a guard sat with a thick bandage over his nose. A nurse was currently wrapping his right foot, which sported a nasty stab wound that would likely become infected if the man wasn't careful. The injuries were clearly painful, but Lex didn't care how much misery the incompetent fool was in. He just wanted to know how Mandila had escaped, and what the guard had been doing in her cell.

"The elf was acting strange," the guard explained. "She'd been refusing to eat for several days, so I tried bribing her with some outside food, but she wouldn't take that either. I was just putting it in her cell, figuring that she'd eat once I left, but then she attacked me. I tried to stop her, but she stole my keys and made a break for it. Once she's back here, I'm going to..."

"Enough," Lex ordered, considering the man's story and whether or not he was omitting anything. Then again, there were no complaints against this guard, so he had no reason to doubt the account; however, it did seem strange that Mandila would starve herself and then attack a guard, for a starved woman would have difficulty besting a trained fighter, and assaulting an officer was grounds for immediate execution. If the wrong officer found Mandila, she'd be killed instead of being brought back to prison for an extended sentence. Damn, but the girl was creating more problems for herself.

"File an official report, and get back to work," Lex stated and then left the room. He would find Mandila and enforce justice, because that was his job, and he was still angry with her for putting him in this predicament. If only she'd never gone to Ranen manor, and why couldn't she have stayed in her damn cell? If someone else found her first...Lex didn't want to think about that or how much the thought bothered him as he called together several men to assist him. He would hunt her, and she would lose since she'd knowingly made herself his prey. Foolish, pretty, frustrating elf.