A Jewel Among Thieves

Chapter 5: Visible

Safia shrugged, shoving her embarrassment away, though she could feel a touch of heat in her cheeks. If Rezo was uncomfortable with her naked body, then she'd use it as a weapon. It was about all she had at the moment besides her mind. "The spell I use makes my body invisible. It doesn't work on clothes unfortunately, so here I am."

Any flickers of expression that betrayed her went unnoticed by Rezo, who was keeping his gaze locked onto the ceiling. Safia slowly smiled and padded to the end of her cell that was closest to him. She leaned against the wall, making sure the bars didn't block anything. It was a pity he was too far away for her to reach. She'd have no problems taking the keys now without him noticing until it was too late.

"If you want, you can always give me back my belt and I can get the shirt I have in there," she lied, knowing there was no way he'd agree to it.

And he didn't disappoint. "Nice try-" He snapped his mouth shut as his eyes found her again then jerked away.

Safia grinned. If the situation hadn't been so serious, she might have even laughed. The way Rezo was trying so very hard not to look at her, while at the same time it was obvious he wanted to keep an eye on her in case she tried anything. His gaze kept flashing towards her shadow or her face, only to flicker away again after only a moment. For someone who had been so confident only a short while ago, it was quite the switch. She wondered if he was lacking in experience with women. If that was the case, it opened up certain doors for her.

"If you're embarrassed, you can always just head upstairs, maybe take a nap or something. I'm fine by myself. No need to keep me company."

He glowered at a point well above her head. "If I leave you here alone, it'll only be a matter of time before you find some way to slip past those bars. I need to keep my eyes on you to make sure you don't escape."

"Well, you'd better actually look at me then, shouldn't you?" Safia shifted slightly, crossing her arms just under her breasts so they were just that much more prominent. She couldn't overtly seduce him, he'd notice that immediately and shut down, so she had to lure him in without appearing to do so. All she needed to do was get him close enough that she could either steal the keys off of him, or take one of his weapons. Even just a pin, or other small bit of metal could be used to pick the lock with enough time.

When he only grimaced, Safia's smile gained a razor edge. It was time to push him, but carefully. She couldn't afford any more mistakes. "If you're worried about me, you shouldn't be. Like you said, I'm a professional. Something like this doesn't bother me. And if I'm not embarrassed, there's no reason for you to be."

Rezo met her eyes then and she smiled at him. "Good boy."

He continued to hold her gaze, stroking his goatee with one hand. After several heartbeats, he finally spoke. "You don't look like what I expected."

"Oh?" Safia let one arm drop to dangle by her hip, the movement drawing Rezo's attention momentarily as she'd hoped. "And what were you expecting?"

"Someone...older. And taller."

She wondered what he'd been about to say before settling on older, but didn't press him. "Being small is good for a thief. I can fit into places others couldn't, and there's less of me to catch. But I'm surprised that you're surprised, both about my height and my lack of clothes. You must have carried me here. How didn't you notice?"

Rezo held up one gloved hand. "I don't take chances that someone doesn't have a nasty spell that goes into effect when you touch them. I thought you were wearing something thin, something easy to move in. I didn't realize..." He awkwardly cleared his throat before continuing. "And when I brought you here, I was hardly thinking about how tall you were. I was more concerned with getting you secured and getting back what you'd taken."

"I suppose I can't fault you for being focused on your job, though I have to say I wish you weren't quite so good at it."

"I'm sure many people have said that about you."

Safia gave him a half smile laced with wry amusement and just a hint of self-deprecation. "I think what people who've been visited by me say is a great deal less polite and a great deal more violent. You said it yourself, I'm good at my job."

He smiled back for a moment before coughing and looking away from her again. "Some may have cried instead."

She snorted. "I doubt it. I refuse to take jobs to take things from people who can't afford it. I'm picky about what I do steal and from who, you may not believe me, but I have a conscience. People I take things from are the type who wouldn't notice if I'd taken the equivalent amount of money from them. And it's mostly other rich bastards who hire me. Their infighting and one-upping is the kind of insanity I'm happy I don't understand. You'd think they'd have better things to do with their time and money."

Safia stopped herself there before her mouth ran off with her again, but it was a near thing. She really didn't understand why people wasted their money on hiring her to steal expensive things from each other. Though, the time she'd been hired to steal back the necklace a lady had inherited from her grandmother, or the letters used to blackmail a prominent goldsmith, she'd understood. The rest of the time though...

Rezo was back to looking at her, rubbing his chin. She refocused on him. She wondered what he was thinking as he watched her, his dark eyes impossible to read. "Not all rich people are like that."

"The ones I've met have been, for the most part."

He leaned back in his chair again. "That's because the kinds of people who would hire a thief are mostly like that. There are more people in the world and more kinds than you've met."

Safia turned so she was facing Rezo directly, her loose hand moving up to her hip. "I could say the same to you. Not all us thieves are bad people, you know."

Rezo sighed. "That may be true, but my job remains the same."

She tossed her head with a sniff, while inwardly she smiled. Rezo wasn't completely impervious to her words and it seemed like he was softening his attitude toward her ever so slightly. With a bit more time, she really might be able to convince him to let her go.