Alessandro doesn't need to look for Rei to know he is watching, the little, fine hairs on the back of his neck begin to prickle with that odd sensation when someone is watching you intensely. It is a disconcerting feeling to say the least but in this castle there was a fair chance it was only one person, Rei and if it wasn't, it was likely another assassin -or so he reasoned- and thus Rei would be close at hand anyway. Some in his position might think him foolish, unwise to put such trust in a man who was hired to murder others and did so with such ease, an ease he had seen first hand in the town square but for some reason, something even Alessandro could not quite place, he trusted the Fae with his life, more than he'd trust most of his guard whom he had grown up knowing. 

The Lady he was with was indeed lovely, she spoke eloquently but without the usual emotionless tone that most Sister's managed to stamp out. Her eyes lit up and her nose gave a cute wrinkle when she was excited or confused and she walked with all the gentle grace of a deer in the woods, barely disturbing the stones beneath her feet or the grass her dress hem brushed against. she was lightly doused in a scented oil though it was faint and fleeting so Alessandro barely managed to catch the hints of jasmine before it drifted away on the gentle breeze. She laughed at his jokes though not long or loud and she spoke little of herself until asked it of her. Alessandro imagined it would have been quite easy to fall for a woman such as her if her smile didn't give her away, it was empty and false and every now and then he caught a chill in her gaze. No doubt she'd spent her young life hoping to be married off to the King's eldest son, like many girls -or so his sister had said- she probably hand fantasised about the day they met, their wedding day and their life afterwards. With the war and the death of the eldest her dreams had been shattered.

______

The princess watched all from her place at the window, she saw her brother laughing and walking arm in arm with the Lady her father had dragged in and she felt a stab of hatred for both the woman and her brother. They had not been walking together for some time now, of course Father probably wouldn't disapprove but since the war it was so hard to guess his moods and with the lessons she was subjected to day in and out it was almost as if they were being kept separated on purpose. Perhaps her father feared she would be corrupted by Alessandro, though to what end she had no idea, her brother was a lot of things she was sure but she doubted he could ever bring harm to a woman willingly. There had been times where she had contemplated asking her father to allow her time with him, she believed she could change him into a better man, more like their deceased brother but with less cruelty. Though every time she got the courage to ask it waned and her mouth went dry. It was dry now but from dainty white teeth digging into it silently so those who also watched from the Window's would not see her distaste. 

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