Nothing was ever easy, was it?

The prince's voice echoed down the hallway as Gareth's target stumbled to the ground. If he were an assassin, it would be time to flee already. These were the first pair of unwanted eyes to catch sight of him tonight, and already it was one pair too many. He could escape now before the other man got too close, but keeping his identity a secret was not the priority here. What was a priority was the girl, and fortunately for him, it seemed like she might have unwittingly revealed an achilles heel. As she bared her teeth to him, she may as well have been baring her neck at the same time. What was important was not that he get in and out unseen. The only important thing was that he was to leave with the girl. And if she cared what happened to her brother, she wouldn't leave the two men alone.

After he finished his quick analysis, Gareth placed his second hand on his sword in a fighting stance. He waited for the prince to draw closer before speaking again.

"Welcome, Prince Brelan, to our little quarrel. I'm not a man for words, so I'll keep this short. Unless you've brought your whole army with you, there's only two people walking out of this room tonight. I'll let the two of you decide who's leaving with me. Whoever's left behind gets gagged and tied to a post. Or killed, for all I care." Gareth shrugged casually. "It's up to you. But now that you're here, if you try to run... well, just don't try to run, alright? Make good life choices."

Gareth's expression might as well have been carved from marble, his gaze remained measured and fixed on the two siblings. Saying he would kill either of them... well, it was a bluff, but one that should be impossible to discern from their position. It was true, however, that he was ready to spring back into chase if either of the two attempted to flee and call for backup. This wasn't like before, he wouldn't be caught off guard again.