Page 7 of The Hood and his Thief

“My office!”

Contessa pushed between the trio standing motionless in the entry, but Nate’s hand shot out to grab her wrist before Contessa could make it to the desk. She looked up at him and furrowed her brow at her husband, but she shook her head gently.

“We’re not in any danger,” she assured.

At this, Nate nodded and let go of her wrist. Her skirts puddled around her as she crouched to the ground to look at the papers littering the floor, gathering them up into a stack.

Rhosyn stepped further into the room, eyes darting around to carefully catalogue anything that might be evidence of how somebody had gotten into the office of the King’s advisor, and who it might have been. However, she breathed easier at Contessa’s assurance that they weren’t in danger, and if Nate agreed with her, then it must be true.

After all, Contessa’s Talent for sensing peril had only become more precise over the years, and with Nate’s Talent being so attuned to Contessa’s feelings, he would know if his wife’s mental alarm bells were ringing in the slightest.

As Contessa continued to shuffle through papers, Nate grumbled orders to Rhosyn and the King’s guard to watch over her before hurrying out the door. While he technically wasn’t on duty bodyguarding the King tonight, the office might not be the only target if somebody broke into the palace.

Rhosyn nodded, reaching into the front of her dress to produce a short, but still quite sharp, knife. The King’s Guard frowned at it, clearly concerned that a guest had been able to bring such a weapon to a celebration when His Royal Highness was in attendance. Rhosyn resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew as well as anybody that one didn’t need a weapon if they were intent on doing some serious damage.

“It’s fine, I’m an officer of the Royal Police,” Rhosyn offered by way of explanation instead, which seemed to placate the guard. “Contessa, keep track of anything you think might be missing.”

Contessa nodded, eyes already narrowed in on each report she rifled through, her steel trap of a mind likely cataloging each and every one. Stepping around the desk, Rhosyn headed toward the window on the far wall to inspect it for any sign of forced entry. Before she could reach it, she paused with a frown. While all the cabinets lining the walls of the office hung open, contents in some degree of disarray, the one in the far corner remained tightly closed, seemingly untouched. Rhosyn edged closer to it, seeing that no lock kept the handles closed.

She looked back at Contessa as she approached it, but the woman remained on the ground, seemingly unperturbed by any mental signs of danger. The King’s Guard had stationed himself in the doorway.

Tightening her grip on her knife, Rhosyn reached for the handle of the closed cabinet, curious why this one had escaped the intruder’s ire.

The door nearly smacked Rhosyn in the face as it smashed open, a slight figure springing forth from the enclosed space. In her effort to avoid having her nose broken by the swinging wood panel, Rhosyn jumped aside, giving the hidden occupant just enough room to slip past her.

With a crash, the thief leaped through the window, shards of glass exploding outward as they avoided the guard in the doorway. Shouting erupted behind Rhosyn, but she had already leaped into pursuit. She threw her arms up to protect her face from any errant glass as she followed her quarry out the window.

A tearing sound and a tug at her waist told Rhosyn her skirts had caught at the jagged edges clinging to the window frame, but she paid them no mind as she pounded through the courtyard. The shadowed figure had gained the slightest lead in Rhosyn’s moment of frozen surprise. Now, they turned out toward the gardens and the surrounding buildings.

Rhosyn’s long strides ate up the ground between them, but her legs tangled up in her now tattered skirts. With a huff of annoyance, she hoisted them out of her way as much as she could without slowing her pace.

In the moment it took her to slow, the thief turned abruptly, crashing through the doors to one of the outbuildings. Rhosyn hurtled through after them and nearly pulled up short at the cacophony of color that greeted her within.

“Stop them!” Rhosyn shouted into the crowded room, the words nearly swallowed by the hubbub.

The thief was already bobbing and weaving between brightly dressed figures in all manner of curious ensembles. Rhosyn tried to follow, but found herself slowed considerably by trunks and boxes, as well as the crowded nature of the room. She frowned at the people around her as glimpses of her quarry in the distance became less frequent.

Finally, breaking free of the crowd, she dashed out the back exit the thief must have taken, only to barrel headfirst into a familiar figure.

“Rhosyn,” Chief Thorne exclaimed as he righted himself.

“Did you see where they went?” Rhosyn panted without preamble.

He frowned at her. “Nobody came out this door. I was just coming in to sweep the outbuildings after Nate told me what happened.”

Rhosyn spun on her heel, staring back into the crowded room and blinking in confusion at the sight that greeted her. Now that she wasn’t running, she recognized the strange outfits as costumes of performers. A nearby woman in a short, frilled skirt held the type of clubs used for juggling while a man wore the outfit she remembered on the acrobats, what seemed like hours ago.

This was where the circus was preparing for their performances.

“I was chasing the thief. They disappeared when I followed them in here,” Rhosyn explained.

“Then we better start searching,” Joseph ordered grimly.

Together, they swept through the open space, Rhosyn keeping a keen eye out for anybody in plain, dark clothing. To her dismay, everywhere she looked was a performer dressed more flamboyantly than the last. They all moved aside easily, letting her search, even opening the larger trunks for her, in case the burglar had attempted to hide again.

A few King’s Guards joined them after several minutes, but by then Rhosyn knew the trail was lost. The thief must have doubled back and slipped out the front entrance when she ran into Joseph. She asked the circus performers if they had seen where they went, but they all shook their heads earnestly, citing that it had all happened so fast.

The guards moved on to continue sweeping the area, but the thief would likely be long gone by now. Rhosyn trudged back to Contessa’s office, this time with Joseph, failure weighing heavy on her heart.