A Jewel Among Thieves

Chapter 14: Delicious

Rezo's echoing footsteps preceded his reappearance. In one hand he carried a long plate, in the other a small jar and spoon. "Well, there wasn't as much as I thought there would be," he said as he headed over to the table. "At least what's non-perishable. All the really good stuff is locked into the saverbox, and I don't have the word to unlock the spell. I hope you're okay with bread. I did find some cheese and berry preserves to go with it."

Safia shrugged. "You're the hungrier of the two of us, so if you're good with it, I'm fine."

He raised his eyebrows but didn't reply. He turned and busied himself with the slices of bread and accoutrements. Safia couldn't see much of what he was doing, mostly just the movement of his arms that made the muscles in his back shift. Lit by the lantern, the play of shadows and light across his skin was...distracting.

She shoved those thoughts away. She needed Rezo to be thinking stuff like that, not her. Safia bit her lip for a moment, then realized what she was doing and crossed her arms under her breasts. This was a matter of survival. There was no reason to feel bad at all. Even if she found herself genuinely liking Rezo.

Like her thoughts had summoned him, he turned back towards her, a piece of bread in each hand. One had a hunk of cheese on it, the other a dark layer of preserves. "Which would you like?"

While typically she'd have gone for the cheese, the sight of the sweeter one sparked an idea. "Preserves, please."

With a flourish, he bowed and extended his right hand. "Your meal, miss."

She had to smile at that as she took the bread from him. "Thank you." She held his eyes and took a large bite, taking care to get some of the preserves on her upper lip. She flicked her tongue out and licked it off, just a touch slower than she would normally.

Rezo didn't seem to notice. He folded the bread and cheese together and popped the whole thing into this mouth at once. Chewing, he sauntered back to the table where he slathered another piece of bread with preserves, facing her this time.

That was good for Safia. She ate quickly, and not as neat as usual. By the time the bread was gone, she had a few patches of preserves on her hand. She stared at it for a moment and frowned while inwardly she smiled. It had worked before. Without looking at him, Safia began to lick the smears off herself using long strokes of her tongue. She paid a bit of extra attention to her fingers, sucking on the ends, but was careful not to overdo it. She couldn't risk Rezo catching on to her. And to be honest, she really did hate being sticky.

When she finished, she glanced up at Rezo. He was busy munching his way through another piece of bread without any evidence of having notice her little performance. Her pride punctured in a few places, Safia thought she'd been doing a good job at being alluring, she decided to switch tactics.

She twisted her neck one way and then the other, like she was stretching. Her hair fell over her shoulder and partially into her face. She impatiently brushed it away but with too much force so it fell right back in front of her. Safia grimaced and gently shifted it out of her way before looking at Rezo. "Hey, you don't happen to have something I can tie my hair back with? It's driving me crazy."

He frowned for a moment. "Why didn't you do that before you came here?"

Safia sighed. "It's part of the problems with the invisibility I use. I told you how it only works on my body, right? Well that included things put into my hair. If I had tied my hair back, you'd have seen a bit of cloth or leather just floating around in mid-air. That tends to draw attention."

Rezo snickered. "I suppose it would. You really do have a shitty invisibility spell, don't you? It works but..."

She rolled her eyes. "I know. If it weren't so much cheaper than my other options, I'd never bother with it. It almost has more flaws than perks."

"I'd like to help you, but unfortunately, I don't carry spare hair ties. Silly of me, really."

Safia crossed her arms. "If you go into my belt, there's some in there. You want the pouch three down on the left side if you're wearing it from the vials. Be very careful not to break anything on that though. Some of my stuff would be nasty if you were to get it on you."

"And how do I know you don't have something nasty in that pouch for me?"

"Because that would be incredibly stupid of me. If something happened to you, I'd still be locked up in here, but no one would know. Except the guard you called. Who if he found you dead, and me locked up, would probably just leave me here to die. He is your brother."

Rezo smiled. "You raise good points. And I do owe you for-for before. Alright, I'll get you one. If I can find that damn belt of yours."

Safia went cold. "Please, please tell me you haven't lost it. That has all of my equipment and was unbelievably expensive."

"It's invisible. I remember where I put it, but if I'm wrong, it could take me a long time to find. I'm surprised you haven't lost it." Rezo turned away and began patting the back half of the table.

"Because I'm careful. And I've had my fair share of close calls. Unfortunately, I had to choose between something invisible or visible all the time. No one has a spell that you can turn off and on. Not without resetting the spell each time, which is even more expensive than my damn belt."

"I can imagin-ah ha! Got it." Rezo faced her, grinning, hands holding apparently nothing in front of him.

Safia relaxed. So he hadn't lost it. "Thank you. Third pouch on the left."

"From the vials. I heard you the first time." With a bit of hesitation, Rezo ran his fingers along the air, stopping suddenly before moving more slowly down. He frowned and moved flipped something with his thumb. A moment later, he was holding a leather hair tie in one hand, while the other still appeared empty. "Is this what you're looking for?"

"That would be it."

Rezo put her belt down first, in roughly the same area he'd gotten it from before coming over and handing her the hair tie. She took it with a smile of thanks. Safia waited until he was back by the table, cutting chunks of cheese and eating them without the bread before she went to work.

Eyes on the ground like this wasn't deliberate on her part, she gathered her hair up into one long tail. She smoothed the sides before quickly tying the leather around in a move she'd practiced hundreds if not thousands of times before. With everything secured, she shook her head to make sure her hair wasn't going to pop back out again. Only then did she look up.

Standing right by the bars was Rezo, his dark eyes on her, a forgotten hunk of cheese in one hand.