blood and pearls: a sokeefe au

f i v e

"HELLOOO? IS ANYONE HERE?"

Ah, he's here.

I jot down a couple more ideas and tuck the notebook away. A golden dagger glistens on my wooden desk, the afternoon sun coming through the sheer curtains.

I pick the dagger up and slowly twirl it around. My hands move swiftly, used to the movement. Duchess Gisela taught it to me, she taught me a lot of things.

"OKAYY BYE BYE! I'M LEAVING!"

Right. I set the dagger back down and descend the flight of stairs, sliding my hand down the railing. A tall guy stands at the foot of it with his back turned, ready to leave.

His hair was disheveled and he stood confidently. Back straight, hands in his pockets. It seemed like he had a sense of style, his clothes looked refined, fancy.

He turns to look at me and the first thing I notice are his eyes. Blue eyes, happy and bright, filled with mischief, but there was a hint of something deep. Sadness, maybe? Anger?

"You're Keefe Sencen," I affirmed, holding out my hand. "I'm Sophie Foster, or Lady Sophie, whichever one."

Keefe smirks.

"You know," he starts. "Normally when people first meet me, they call me Lord Keefe, but you didn't-"

"Sorry... Lord Keefe,"

"No, no. I was about to say that I liked it." He waves his hand. "You're different, I can tell."

 "Was that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Yup!" He grins, running a hand through his hair. "I like you already!"

We're running behind schedule. He was already 10 minutes late and now we're wasting our time talking? I mean, I guess it isn't all that bad, cause I need him to trust me and all, but Elwin's going to get suspicious.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

Keefe nods while I start up the stairs, his footsteps right behind mine.

"Oh and sorry about being late," he says. "Daddy-kins was being annoying... again."

"Duke Cassius?"

"Yeah, yeah, him." Keefe rolls his eyes.

I continue walking as we reach the second floor. The tiles sparkle and the windows look as clean as ever. I decided the right thing to do would be to tidy up a bit, since everything was so dusty.

"Anyway," Keefe plays with a button on his tunic, twisting it around and back. "Where do I go?"

I point to Edaline's room. "Elwin's waiting for you,"

He starts walking to the door then stops in his tracks.

"You're not coming?"

I shake my head. "I have other things I need to do."

"Ahh," he sighs. "Too bad, I wouldn't have minded if you stayed a bit longer,"

Was he... flirting with me?

No, that's impossible. Guys can say things and not be flirting, I mentally scold myself.

Can they?

"Okay then, I'll see you later!" He opens the door and waves.

I hesitantly wave back. He's not flirting with me, he's just being friendly.

You need to get your act together. You're trying to murder the guy and you think he's flirting with you? Just how delusional are you?

I shake the thoughts out of my head and shudder. Ew, no.

Keefe's high pitched shriek breaks the silence. I stifle a giggle as he bolts out of the room.

"FOSTER!" He screams, grabbing onto my shoulder. "Can I call you that?"

"No."

"Okay, I'm still gonna call you that. HE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!"

Elwin laughs, coming dangerously close to us with a huge bottle of bubbling liquid.

"SAVE ME FOSTER, SAVE ME!"

I groan. It's going to be a long day.