“[i][b]We’ll see each other, later, Taris.[/b][/i]”
Taris watched Aera leave, her words ringing in his ears. A promise? He hardly dared to hope it. At least he knew she didn’t want to kill him. The library door closed behind her, and Taris turned back into the Shadow Realm.

He exited atop a tavern in the city, rain pouring down over him. The elf smiled, he hadn’t sat in the rain for quite some time. He’d forgotten how great the rain felt, as it cooled the fire in his body. Aera’s last kissed still lingered on his lips, and he looked up at the sky. His mind went over her body against his, the way she had molded herself into him. She was incredible.

But she fought against her desire.
For her husband.
A man that didn’t even care for her anymore…

Taris grimaced at the thought. He wanted her, badly, and thought that she wanted him too. But still she honored her marriage to the man. And for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to break through her resistance, her sense of honor. No, she needed to discard them herself. Taris smiled a little, there were many ways he could accelerate the process, he knew.
A tingle ran over his cheek, like a hand lightly smacking him, and he knew Layne didn’t approve. It would hurt Aera worse by far, when she found out he had something to do with it. And he was wise enough to know that the truth would come out eventually if he did. Almost 200 years of life had taught him that lesson at least.

That settled it, the assassin would wait, and watch over her, until he could take her away from the Prince. After all, they were elf-kind, time was something they had in abundance.

Taris dozed in the rain for some time, his own latent power keeping the chill out of him, and the rain itself keeping anybody that might wonder at an elf on some roof out of the streets. But his peace was interrupted by the sound of hooves clattering on the streets. The assassin opened his eyes and peered over the edge of the roof, at the carriage and its escort careening through the roadway. A quick scrying under his hood, and Taris knew Kentaro had returned to the city.

The elf stood, and slipped into a patch of darkness nearby, returning to his flat. A quick change into dry clothes and he sat in a chair in the dark of the room. He really needed to do something about Kentaro though, something to rattle him. He gazed through the darkness into the castle searching out Aera, while he thought about what to do. He found her in her room with Paytin, drinking tea.

Seeing the initiate assassin posing as a maid, reminded him of his request to her. An idea slowly formed in Taris' mind.