A day or two later, Maquiavel showed himself again. Angry, depressed... Instead of hateful, those were the adjectives that Linn could read from his eyes. Despite being a cruel forsworn, he showed devotion, and sucha thing touched Linn's heart. The least she could do was trying to be pleasant.
- So... How was the execution?
- The damn argonian escaped! A dragon showed up!
- A dragon? For Mara are you trying to trick me?
- No, I don't do skooma, I was at my sanest moment of the day. A dragon destroyed Helgen! And Leepdroon escaped with its help... I need a drink, want to have a Black-Briar at the bee and the barb?
Linn's silent look served well for an answer.
- Look it's a joke! White Gold Tower?
- Fine... The Guild is trying to pick the lock in my manor. We need to make them stop... Let's discuss it with a drink in our hands, then...
The sunny weather was replaced by the muffled view inside the inn, sitting in a table at the corner, away from Hemming and Maven, who boldly claimed the table at the centre of one of the buildings which they exploited. Maquiavel drank the White Gold faster than Linn. A lot faster, with enough speed to even call it bad manners. Not that the inn was a place for politeness, but in the presence of a lady, it would be expected so.
- So..._ he said while landing his flaggon on the table in a loud, sturdy clash sound._ You have a little thievery problem huh?
- Yes, they have been fiddling with my locks every single night. I need to make them stop attempting to break in.
- It's easy... I can help you... IF I may have the key to your manor?
Linn hesitated. Of course she did. It was a big risk to give a key of her door to another person. But Maquiavel had worked on her side very hard, and the thieves had to be pushed back somehow. What better man to do that but the most fearsome headsman in Skyrim? In a resignation tone, she put one of her keys on the table in front of Maquiavel's trimphant grin. But before the breton took it to his pocket, another voice interrupted. It was Hulrad, for the first time seen after the "overseeing" in her bath.
- Miss... miss Sypho... I'm sorry I climbed through your window... I just... lost... lost it... Could you forgive me?
Linn looked at her half filled flaggon, avoiding eye contact with the boy to express her disappointment.
- Hulrad just... stay away for a while... I will talk to you when the time to forgive you comes... not yet.
Yorth left the inn shamefully while Maquiavel searched intrigued Linn's expression, with the key in his pocket already.
- Look, forsworn, you have my key. I want no assassinations in my house, and I hope you are loyal!
- What was that?
- What do you mean, Maquiavel?
- The Hulrad lad. What happened?
- He... spied on me while I was on the bath! And now he comes here to apologize! Someone should teach him manners.
- Clever man... Haha! Well, I can teach him if you want...
- I just want him to never do that to a lady ever again.
- As you wish, Linn. I will do so, and some other time, I will take care of the thieves as well.
The stalker from the Reach left Linn to finish her Tower and think about her wrongness about Maquiavel. He was a good ally to have. Reliable and skilled, plus he liked doing political work, not bad... Her mental complements to the breton were based on that until few seconds after she finished her drink. Maquiavel had returned with his backpack now heavier, and a wide smile across his pale face.
- Done! The lad won't peep on any woman again. You can bath in peace now!
- Good... I hope you were easy on him, though.
- Yeah... It was almost painless.
- Almost? What do you mean?
- Well... It had to hurt a little didn't it?
Her mind was immediatly filled with the worst prediction possible. In a serious, worried tone, trembling in her voice, Linn asked.
- Maquiavel... what did you do?
- I chopped the boy's head off! Now he won't bother.
Hulrad was dead... It was all due to Linn's order... The mere ideas made Linn begin to lose her sight. Everything was blacking out, and the last she saw was Maquiavel opening his eyes wider.
- Boss? Linn!