Every inch of Cassandra's body ached from the previous night's excursions, but one of the unfortunate side effects of working within the Guild of Assassins was that she couldn't tell anybody why she was constantly sore or tired, therefore any injuries she endured would need to have an excuse.

Because of that, she quickly discovered that she was very good at hiding the truth.

But after the previous night, Cass was exhausted.

After Baz officially declared Cass the victor and the Trial complete, he brought her back to his quarters within the Guild as the morning sun rose over the city. As much as she would have preferred an hour's worth of sleep before returning to her regularly scheduled life, he insisted they celebrate the occasion appropriately—privately, together, and with the least amount of clothes as possible.

Which, in turn, led to some additional discomfort in other places as well, but those pains Cass could manage, and there wouldn't need to be any lies told about where they originated.

Thinking about it again, she allowed a small smirk to form upon her lips.

She had shared Baz's bed for some time, neither allowing their professional standing nor their status within the Guild to come between them as lovers. Even when Lilia protested, their relationship continued to blossom, and perhaps maybe even more so knowing that she disapproved.

But Cass was a woman grown and was for some time. She didn't need her sibling's approval on how to live her life, especially now that she was absent from it. Maybe once, when they were younger and it was only the two of them, Cass would have allowed Lilia to influence her decisions, but not anymore.

Especially not when Lilia didn't even have the courtesy to tell Cass where she'd been for the last three months.

The only way Cass knew her eyes drifted closed while her thoughts sifted through her head was because Lucas, her sister's adviser and steward, cleared his throat to regain her attention. Again.

She snapped her eyes open to see him sitting behind the desk within her sister's study, his dark hair neatly tailed in the formal style, with the same formal black suit clothes to match. And before him, piles of ledgers and papers scattered about as they attempted to discuss the coming month's silk trading estimates and merchant demands.

Normally, it would have been Lilia sitting behind that desk, and Lucas would be the one suffering in the uncomfortable wooden chairs on the opposite side. But Cass wasn't a merchant- she wasn't even a Lady- and she was more than happy to allow Lucas, who once assisted their father, to take the reins of the family business in her sister's absence.

"Lady Cortova," he addressed her as she leaned her sleepy head against a propped fist. "Perhaps we can discuss the accounts at a later date?"

"No, Lucas," she insisted, sitting straighter in the chair as she stifled a yawn. "Now is as good a time as any."

Truth be told, she'd prefer it not at all, but since Lilia's disappearance she was responsible to maintain all matters of their family's trade, and Cass could at least assist her sister in that endeavor. Plus, as soon as he was finished, she didn't have another appointment until the Guild meeting that evening, which would allow her plenty of time for a much-deserved nap.

As if he could read her mind, Lucas gave her a skeptical eye but proceeded with listing the numbers of gains and losses from last month's shipment, and who he believed would be beneficial in taking their next ship of cargo across the ocean. And again, Cass's thoughts wandered as Lucas droned on.

She wrote letters to Lilia, almost too many to count. For three months she attempted to send her correspondence, but not a single response—they weren't even returned to her as undelivered. It was almost as though Lilia chose to keep hidden away so well. The Underground's own post didn't even know how to find her. Cass feared the rumors were growing true, and she had, in fact, abandoned it all for whatever lordling caught her attention at that damn festival.

A sigh escaped Cass's lips as she leaned her head back against the chair's uncomfortable headrest and closed her eyes, no longer caring if Lucas judged her for her blatant disregard of the silk economy.

In the last three months, Cass finished her training with the Guild and successfully completed her Trials. She would be Initiated within the next month, becoming a true member, and some believed that if Lilia failed to return to reclaim her position, she could vouch for her seat as Second.

It wasn't necessarily something she wanted, but Cass spent enough time with Baz to understand the Guild's politics to know that it needed to be done. Discord was surfacing among the assassins within, and if anyone was to step up and rectify the situation, who better than the sister of their lost Second in Command?

In those same three months, it was Cassandra who oversaw her sister's silk trade, and even though she was initially uncomfortable with her sister's inherited title and the servants that came with it, she truly was grateful for Lucas and his magical ability with numbers. Not to mention, having been with her family for years, she knew she could trust Lucas with the responsibility she never wanted in the first place. Never once did she have the inkling for the mercantile life as Lilia had, just as their father did before them. Cass always preferred the more private route, willing to lose herself in a book about princes and faraway places instead of dealing with the troubles of everyday life and was happy to give Lilia the ever-public title of Lady so she, herself, would never need to have that burden.

The burden of living a double life that she was so readily embracing as each day passed.

Another throat-clearing cough sounded before her, and she waved her hand dismissively in the air. "No, Lucas, it's fine - I'm listening. Please, keep going," she insisted, not bothering to open her eyes or lift her head.

"If we kept going, you'd probably have never made it back here in time for your meeting this morning," a familiarly warm voice purred in response.

A broad smile formed on her lips before she opened her eyes. And there, leaning against the desk before her, dressed in his diplomatic finery with his wonderfully muscled arms crossed in front of his chest, was Lord Sebastian Gaylen.

"What are you doing here?" she asked softly, taking in the sheer power of him as she found her gaze getting lost in the depths of his blue eyes.

"It would seem my schedule is open for the rest of the afternoon, and I'd have cleared yours ahead of time as well, but I know how you don't want me interfering with your professional dealings." He had a gleam in his eye that matched hers as it traveled over her lounging form within the chair.

But she scoffed at that as she sat up straighter in her seat, stretching her arms above her head slightly as she realized it was now only the two of them within the office. "Did you scare Lucas away again?" she mused, noticing the steward no longer at his position behind the desk.

Baz shrugged his strong shoulder beneath his embroidered tunic. "I merely asked him to excuse us while you took your nap, and to give us some privacy for when you awoke... in an extremely non-threatening manner, of course."

Cass snorted in response, shifting in her chair as the memory of their privacy from the previous night resurfaced, and she allowed the blush to rise to her cheeks as she maintained his gaze, those eyes sparkling in the noonday sun that flitted in from the bay window behind the desk. She knew he was already aware of what she was thinking- what memories his presence dredged up, and how she was feeling. Nothing was a secret to the Lord of the Guild of Assassins.

The smile on his face confirmed her suspicions. "You know, it would just make more sense for you to move into my quarters. There would be less need to travel back and forth if you just lived there..."

"And oh, the scandal that would arise!" she teased with feigned incredulous shock.

He perked a brow at her outburst but smirked, nonetheless. "Our relationship is not a secret, Cass."

"I am well aware of that, Baz," she assured him as she finally pulled her gazed from him and brought her attention to the intricately carved armrest of her chair. "But that doesn't mean that I should abandon my home - my sister's house - for my own personal enjoyment."

And it was true - it was her sister's house, and her sister's trade, and, in essence, her sister's Guild. Everything that became an integral part of Cassandra's life was because of her sister. She wasn't bitter, but the sudden thoughts of her sister seemed to sober her mood.

"What is it?" he asked, a gentle finger under her chin to bring her eyes back up to meet his. "What's wrong?"

She looked at him for a moment and knew her eyes reflected everything she was thinking. And there was no need to explain it to him, so instead, she asked, "No letters?"

He didn't need to inquire as to ask whom she was expecting to write, so Baz only shook his head slightly.

"Do you think I should write another?" Cass asked, trying to hide the desperation from her voice.

Sighing, he pushed off from the desk and took the seat next to her, spreading his long, powerful legs before him as he lounged in the chair. A very un-Lord-like thing to do, Cass humored to herself, but he'd never needed to be a Lord around her with her. Not truly.

"That's part of the reason for tonight's meeting," he muttered as if concerned there were others listening. "And I'm going to need your help in it."

Cass perked a brow- the Lord of the Guild of Assassin's never asked for help, unless... "You do think she's deserted." She tried not to let the despair show in her voice.

Baz ran his hands through his loose, shoulder-length blond hair. "And when I do go to find her, I'm going to need to leave for a few weeks- a month at most- to find out."

"But you never take missions."

His attention turned back to her. "I do when I believe my Second has betrayed me. And the Guild."

Cass bit her lip but kept his gaze. "Then I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not," he replied flatly.

"But she's my sister-" she protested, but he cut her off before she could continue.

"I'm going to appoint Wil to stand in until I return. And I'm going to need you to stand with him."

That stopped her protests. "I'm not even Initiated yet, Baz. I don't even know the first thing there is about assisting in the running of the Guild-"

"And that will be another reason for tonight's meeting."

Cass's jaw dropped. "But the Vote... the planning? There's so much still to do..."

"These are desperate times, Cass, and in that, decisions have to be made." With a slight groan of his own, one that made Cass smile in satisfaction at the memory of those pains, Baz rose from his chair and stood before her.

She looked up at him, truly looked at him, and considered what other decisions the Lord of the Guild of Assassins would need to make before he left in search of Lilia.

Catching her gaze, he leaned down, his fingers brushing a strand of golden amber hair away from her face. Instinctually, she leaned her cheek into his touch.

"Will you stay with me tonight?" he asked a moment later, his tone unusually soft and intimate.

Curious, she met his gaze with a smile. "Of course, I will," she promised. "Why would I not?"

For she had spent almost every one of her nights with him, even more so since Lilia had left. She never cared to sleep along in a large manse all by herself, so why he felt the need to ask now...

Instead of further explanation, he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, kissing her as if sealing a pact, signing a contract. A promise.

She returned the kiss but pulled away just enough to look at him. "What's wrong, Baz?"

He hesitated, as if considering answering her question. The thumb of his hand lightly grazed her cheek as his eyes met hers, but he only smiled in response.

"I'll see you tonight."

With one more kiss, he excused himself, and she turned to watch him as he sauntered from the office. She smirked as she heard him utter a half-hearted apology to Lucas, reassuring him he meant no threat to his person, and let himself out the front door.

Only once he was gone did her smirk drop to a pensive frown, for she never once remembered Baz ever hesitating in conversation, and only then did she wonder how much of a weight Lilia's disappearance may have had on him, after all.