Lovely Dark Things

ELEVEN (ISELEN POV)

"Iselen, what's going on?"

Ruby asks nervously but I'm not paying attention to her because I'm too busy checking her grandma's portrait. I know we don't have time to lose and we should leave this house as soon as possible, I still believe that sneaking into this building without an escape plan was a stupid idea, but we've been lucky so far and nobody caught us. The golden frame catches my eye and I slide my fingers up and down over the edge till I find the spring.

"There it is..." I whisper smiling triumphantly.

"What?" the assassin shoots an anxious look at the studio door, maybe her sharp elven senses have noticed a noise, but she seems to calm down and focuses on the painting again.

"Voilà," I answer when the portrait shakes a little and moves to one side, revealing the wall behind it. "I've seen this before... but not in this world."

"I don't understand, babe." My wife seems about losing her temper and the truth is that we don't have time for games, I can understand why she was curious and wanted to visit her ancestors' home but we're in danger every minute we spend under this roof. Even if she doesn't look like a dark elf right now, I don't think the servants will be deceived easily if they find two strangers wandering around.

"It's a safe hidden behind the painting, it's pretty common in my world, this is why the way the frame was stuck to the wall seemed familiar to me. They can't get rid of your grandmother's portrait no matter how much they hate her, Ruby, because it's part of the mechanism that hides the safe were they keep valuable stuff. I bet it was your great-grandfather's idea, he made this when Allisara was still the family's spoiled little girl."

"How clever," the assassin mumbles shocked. "I don't know anybody who has something like this in Baalberith, safes are protected by powerful spells there. Do you think the diaries are inside?"

"I don't know, but that letter said that your cousin wanted to protect them because there was sensitive information and this safe looks like the perfect place to keep them till the King asks him to hand them back."

"Great. Can you open it?"

"Eh... no." My wife stares at me surprised and confused and I can't help shrugging, smiling sadly. "I feel flattered because you believe that, thanks to my knowledge, I can do anything but I'm afraid that I can't help you with this, Ruby. I don't know the combination, babe. Of course, there're other ways to open a safe breaking the lock, prying the door or cutting the metal walls, but it takes a lot of time and it's noisy. I'd also need to pull the safe out of the wall and don't think Lord Eataine will let us do that."

"Fuck! What are we going to do now? We need those diaries..." The assassin frowns angrily, pacing up and down the studio. "We'll have to wait till my cousin comes back home from his dinner, I'll attack from behind leaning my knife against his throat and he'll tell us the combination... Or I can torture him..."

"Hey, calm down," I lean my hands on her shoulders, looking at her scared. "The house is full of servants, and don't forget about his wife too, we're in the most restricted area of the city protected by guards, we can't run away easily if something goes wrong. You can't lock up Lord Eataine in this studio and torture him for hours before vanishing like it's nothing..."

"Of course I can do it, I'm a temple assassin."

"But I'm not one of those, do you remember? You're stuck with me, with the stupid and clumsy human that will follow you back to our boat hoping that the soldiers won't catch us. Do you really think we'd succeed?" Ruby Rose grimaces before shaking her head reluctantly. Actually, I think she can do it because she's done extraordinary things before and saved my life many times, but the possibility of ending up hurt is very real and I think it's better if we're cautious right now. "Okay, let's take a look at the combination."