Jezio keeps leaning down to kiss her forehead as he holds her beneath his arm under his shoulder tightly keeping Cleo close to his side. With the dark coat keeping her features hidden and Jezio's arm slung across her shoulders, no one could so much as catch a glimpse at her.

They keep walking closer and closer to the docks, passing plenty of farms and crops which were so frozen it made Cleo grit her teeth. She could see the distress in the farmers— they're losing profit in the busying time of the villagers purchasing more products and food. The demand increasing with the time coming closer to her ceremony. She grits her teeth again. She is sure there wasn't enough to feed every villager right this moment.

She creeps even more closer to Jezio because of the fair amount of villagers swarming around trying her best to not seem too mysterious but also completely normal.

On either side of the pathway they were walking down were various crops, they were currently in the fruit section, and it was swamped with farmers and workers picking and ploughing with some trying their best to make the best of the green bananas, which didn't seem to turn ripe at all.

Some villagers have physically come to the farms themselves to find out what was happening with the yields and also picked their own food; which Cleo deemed is pretty selfish. Obviously the Court gets the first batch of the best foods provided and the rest gets distributed to the Market to be sold to the Village. But to pick up the foods straight from here is a bit selfish when everyone else is struggling as well.

Cleo lifts her gaze under the cloak to the farmhouses set behind all the crops and fascinatingly watches the turn of the windmills almost in sync with one another with every farmhouse they've been passing. In the distance she can also see the cattle of cows and goats and some other things she wasn't interested in, grazing and feeding, strip feeding; and even from here she could see the drying of the grass and how limited the supply of fodder was to the animals.

She bites her lip this time. Things really weren't looking good. It's the cold sickness, the food dying out, and her waiting for the next demon attack? How cliché. She should just end it here and now.

"Don't look up like that. Keep hidden." Jezio pipes to her and draws her head down onto his shoulder pulling the hood low again.

She fancied all this with Jezio. Especially how caring he was to her, she feels warm and protected in his arms and most importantly she loved the way he kissed her over and over. She couldn't get enough. And it is clear he couldn't either, not with the regular kisses he plopped onto her forehead almost every second.

After the heated kissing session they have had the previous day Cleo was forced to end it then as she had to take her leave back to Court. And this morning when she came in, he immediately pulled her onto his lap forcing her to straddle him on his unmade futon and kissed her senseless. She must say, she does prefer kissing after one freshens up. It just tastes better but she didn't dare stop Jezio. They were both enjoying themselves.

It was when she felt a hardness poking her front that she right away stopped him and asked if they could leave. Jezio didn't seem to read into it, he only grinned wickedly and they left quickly to head towards the dock which is where the next barge will leave to do some far fishing and her only opportunity to go with and to find out where this Esra stayed in the high rocks in the sea. Thane wouldn't lie, he is still a child following his father around like a little puppy so Esra has to be real.

She was also more afraid than excited when she got that way with Jezio. She has never felt anything like that before. She also could not believe she didn't give herself away to him yet. She loved the feelings she got when she got intimate with him. But that hardness scared her. It is not the time to be doing this either, that could be her excuse if he really wanted to know why she stopped him. She couldn't be sleeping with him with so many issues going all around the City. But at the same time. She really desperately wanted to continue.

"I wasn't. I'm just looking, I haven't been here many times. Things don't look good though." She says softly into his shoulder, and she could feel the heat her mouth evoked onto his clothing.

In his tunic and a pony Jezio grins in the shining sun. "Yes it doesn't. I don't know what's up, but I really hope you figure this out."

She envies how freely he could walk around without a care about giving away his identity. Here she has to suffer in this oversized cloak Jez gave her and is drying out under this heat.

"Jez why do you keep kissing my head over the cloak?" Involuntarily she lifts her head again and he again moves her down which she answers with wrapping her arms around his waist from the side, feeling his strong solid frame warm and hard and him resonponding by holding her even more tight.

"To not have so much attention from the others over here."

"But who comes to the farms to get intimate Jez?"

He throws his head and laughs and she feels reverberating of his chest against her face. "I would. I'm very special I could do it anywhere."

She didn't have to see his face to know that he was giving off a filthy expression.

Jez is such an ass.

Cleo continues watching the farms all around them. She is mainly fascinated by how much neater the farms are compared to the rest of the Village. The plants and flowers which are mostly dead now, would of been more beautiful than the miniature gardens and potted plants dotting the Village. It is also much more maintained and looked after in her opinion, but it makes sense too. Who cares about looking after a plant that's not theirs in the first place?

She supposes that her feelings for gardens is much more stronger than she initially thought. But what is better than having an amazing garden.

"Cleo?"

Still half in her own world she grasps tighter onto Jezio and hums into his shoulder.

"Are you going to hold a burial for... What's her name again?"

She shudders. She forgot about Genevieve, and she would need to hold a burial for her in honour of her sister especially. She would need to make a speech, do planning...

She bites her lip hard, drawing blood. Why why why did this have to happen. The entire Court will know its a demon that has caused Genevieve's death, which means they'd be weary about their safety in Court. Some activities would stop or the courtesans just wouldn't pitch up to their duties and blame the entire demon maelstrom on her— for not taking care of them.

Then there will be an even more serious matter regarding her death after the crowning, if it were to happen. It has been happening all the years ago so great she's going to die too, it's without a doubt. What is different now from the past? Nothing. She just could at least stall it off by slaying the demons, tending to her tattoos and also screw Jezio before she dies. And bone man...

She sighs and is so thankful that Jezio started massaging her stiff neck. She could feel the relief right in her toes and it built up into her core.

Ugh. Why did she stop the kissing?

Him and his glorious hands. Cleo has to get a compartment in her Court reserved for men with beautiful hands only. She is curious of what else he could do with his hands.

Trying to stop the heat from rising within her— she could already feel the tension in her belly and the rosy redness in her cheeks, suddenly pleased that she is hidden beneath Jezio's cloak away from his attention and others, who might have seen her entranced state; she clears her throat and wills the heat away before answering him.

"I will have to. The Court is one big mess. I've been avoiding all meetings with Landon about all this. It's just I don't know how to perform a burial for her-"

He cuts in, "That's because you didn't lose someone close to you. Or that meant a lot to you."

He now circles her ear over the hood of the cloak.

She gulps down hard thinking about what he said. "But, I'm sure there have been people that died before, courtesans, and they have held burials for them."

She could feeling him grinning. "So?"

She frowns more at herself than at him. Well. He couldn't even see her beneath the cloak. "So, I don't have to hold it for her. Landon can."

Jezio hums, "Well you see since you're an Elemental and the death was because of a demon, the Court is looking up to you to do something about it. To pay your respects on behalf of the Court."

She rolls her eyes. If the Court wanted to pay their respects then let them. She won't speak for a hundred people dammit.

Jezio bugs in again,"Imagine it was me that died. You would want to hold something for me wouldn't you?"

That brought a heavy silence over them. Too soon she feels less small. Hell she is way more important than him, her reputation is higher than his, her superiority is higher. Everything is higher. And now she is feeling a soft spot for him if he were to die? Why does she care more for a thief than for the highest healer in the City?

However she couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like if Jezio had to part ways with her. She liked him a lot but-

"Aye Cleo. We're here."

She pauses her streaming thoughts and looks ahead of her.

The docks comes into view, there were many fishermen coming in from the calm blue sea and many going out at the same time. It smells of fish, it's very strong, Cleo wrinkles her nose and she presses her nose right into the crook of Jezio's shoulder. He chuckes in response and brings her face out again.

He removes her arms from around his waist and makes her face him. "Cleo I still want to ask something before you go. Well maybe two things." He palms either side of her face until she has to tilt her face up to meet his precious blue eyes.

"I love your eyes. They're green like the sea." He whispers  thoughtfully to her. He seems to be a love trance this time. He didn't seem wholly focused on her, his attention was laying elsewhere— her face. Well her eyes to be exact. Staring deep into her soul. She feels flushed once again.

Cleo frowns. Yes her eyes are sea green. But whenever she sees the sea, it's blue. Not green."The sea is your eye colour Jez."

She smiles brightly and his trance drops to her mouth. Was he going to kiss her now? She hopes he will.

He meets her eyes again, a hint of mischief in them. "Why don't we go lay behind those sea shipments and kiss for a bit?"

Her smile disappears, "Behind the fish? Is this what you want to ask me?"

He laughs and quickly the skims the area behind her for any attention. "No. Nevermind. I'm sure you're in a hurry to go. I will wait right here for you until you return alright? And if you're not here by sundown then I'm going to look for you."

His face is stern as he watches her intently. But he goes on just as she was about to answer. "The one thing I wanted to ask was maybe you could stall your crowning, and maybe you won't you know..."

She locks her fingers against her belly. "Jez. I don't know if that will make a difference. Even if I wasn't crowned it was still the same time when they all died and-"

"I know."

He looks down at her locked fingers and comes back up again to meet her eyes, in that process his look burned her skin from beneath the clothing; from her belly to her ribcage to her breasts which he stared at for a longer time and finally her eyes.

The cloak she wore is only held together by a single button at the throat, and had two very loose sleeves which made sense since it is Jezio's cloak, which he used for his thievery. So it exposed her tight black clothing beneath  and for him to watch and enjoy.

She liked it. A lot. She liked the attention and desire she received from Jezio. It made her feel wanted and important. Where was he when she was younger in the Court lacking these exact feelings? So what if she was only 12 years old.

"When you come back we can have this talk. Does that sound fair?" Both his thumbs have begun to trace her ears through the cloak.

"Yeah sure." She replies.

He leans forward and kisses her forehead for the hundredth time again and tugs on her hand as he makes the way toward the barge.

The owner left to place down more of his shipments, to create enough space for his next fishing trip. Cleo and Jezio hides behind one the boxes filled with fishing nets and rods and plenty fish getting dried out on a cloth layed out on the wooden floor on the pier.

The pier is filled with fishermen going about their duties. It is nice to see. She really should be doing her own work now, everyone else contributed to Court, except for her.

The activity was buzzing, people going in and going out. Plenty boxes around the pier with some villagers just standing around for fun and some farmers coming to have their breaks here and some just here to steal some fish. But they remained out of sight hidden by the high shipment boxes and other fishermen.

"Right let's get you in." Jezio mutters and to the right, they hide behind  more boxes staying low and out of sight until they reached the barge which is now empty swaying on the water.

Jez reaches down the pier and pulls the barge toward him and pulls back the tarpaulin for her to hide under.

He helps her onto the barge and she nearly falls over at how unsteady the barge feels beneath her feet. She crouches and whispers, "Who fishes in a barge?"

After that she settles beneath the taurpalin. The heat scorching her, but it only be so until she and the fisher man were out of human sight.

She couldn't see Jezio. But she knows he will watch her until they are gone and then he will probably steal something from the farms or from the sea shipments or whatever but he will keep himself occupied until she came back.

Her heart tugs in her chest.

Suddenly the barge splashes down hard and she hit her chin against the wood of the barge, biting her tongue in the process. She stifles a cry, her tongue is bleeding and a good deal of her mouth hurt.

Alright. She's going to kill the fat fish man. She glares at his back hard and clenches her jaw. May he burn for all eternity.

The man turns back and she quickly lowers her face to the floor bringing a big net over her face to cover from him. He starts whistling and when she raises her head again. He stood and is already paddling away.

She sighs in relief, ignoring how potent the heat was beneath the taurpalin and closes her eyes for the time being— until the loud noise of the pier dulled away and she'll spring into action.

                                                           °°°

It was easy knocking out the  fisherman. Far too easy. Security should be more breached.

She easily slipped from the tarpaulin; quietly reached up behind him and from the pressure point in his neck which Jezio showed her— she knocked him out. She didn't kill him. But she slipped him out of consciousness long enough for her to reach her destination and then to  hopefully come back again, meaning she couldn't take long.

From where she stands at the edge of the barge before the still sea, she closes her eyes in the salty breeze which cooled her after the heat stroke she had beneath the tarpaulin; and brought with it a wave of peace to settle inside her. This is more relaxing than the baths.

Before she could get carried away. She opens her eyes and turns to see the man still knocked out beneath the tarpaulin.

She waited till she was out of sight from the vision from the other fishermen before knocking out the man, and is now in an extremely rocky area. Rocks bulged up randomly from the sea and she had to paddle away from them before she collide and crash into them. Which happened almost every second.

She moves away again from another rock and scans her surroundings. This part of the ocean was quiet and she couldn't be thankful enough for it. The blue water was vast and clear, she could see some silver fish swimming beneath them as she got closer and closer to a pebbly shore. Strange this part of the ocean didn't have any sand.

She glances at her reflection in the water. Her eyes were bright but that was probably still from the adrenaline she felt with Jezio and this paddling. She pulls her hood off baring her single braid and sweaty fringe. She looks cute enough.

She didn't know what she was getting herself into.

The closer she got to the shore the more rocks she met. Before her lay thousands up thousands of smooth grey stones ranging from small to big which led to the shore bed of even more bulging rocks so tall she couldn't see past them and on either side of the shore stood towering cliffs of hard rock — with the one on the left having stairs etched into it winding up the face of the cliff reaching right to the top to a small stone house and the right remained bare. Well actually like what a normal cliff is supposed to look like.

She raises her brow. Was that it? Was that Esra's place? So easy? Why was she expecting a more dramatic journey to reach this man?

The area is discreet. Not too far from the Village. And from what she can see, there is definitely no one who stayed here. Not with all the rocks here, absolutely no access to food except for fish, and just to have rocks as neighbours?

Esra must be mad in the head to stay here.

The barge hits a rock and she groans at the distance from where she currently stood and the shore where she needed to be at.

Now her boots will get wet. And she will definitely not use the fishing gear from the fisherman, which reminds her that she needed to move; her time is limited before the man woke up and she didn't have any answers to his questions.

Luckily for her the barge remained remote against the face of the rock. She couldn't paddle closer to the shore without scraping the rocks against the underside of the barge and she didn't want to destroy the poor man's barge.

Ugh. Why didn't she bring Jezio along?

She pulls her hood back up and steps on the slippery stones and drags her legs through the water until she reaches the end of the water. Her pants are soaked through and through, but she actually loved the feel of the water chilling her thighs. She shall consider a a naked bath right here if Esra wasn't up in his hovel.

As she reaches the stony shore she was already tired and wanted to sleep. Her clothes wet from the waist down made her feel heavy, she rids of the cloak and stumbles her way through the uneven rocks until she reached a dry part and spread the cloak out to get dry.

She turns to the sun after and spreads her arms and legs. She closes her eyes and welcomes the heat to dry her up for just a moment. The sun always made her feel powerful. Or maybe that was just the heat.

Without removing her shoes or anything else she stalks with her heavy wet clothes to the base of the carved in stone steps.

She really should of made out with Jezio instead.

                                                            °°°

The stone steps that starts at the base of the smooth pebbled shore, ran up and curved half way around the cliff leaving the mid-stairway exposed to the sea below which lightly crashed onto the rocky plains below. So if Cleo were to slip on a step half way up she would fall far to her death against the rocks and then get washed onto the pebbled shore with her body parts embedded in stone.

Definitely not how she pictured her death.

She would rather prefer to fall onto piercing knives instead.

It took her a while to reach the top, that's how tall the cliff was, she gripped tightly onto the rock as she slowly went up and up, leaving deep scabs on her hands with her blood dripping onto the rock from how harsh she held on for dear life. She hopes Esra liked red paint.

Soon she reaches the top and takes a deep breath to still her rapid heart. She draws her focus to the sound of the sea gulls and the light crashing of sea onto rock to bring calmness to herself.

Already she is sweating like crazy, her clothes seemed even more wet than when she came from the sea, her hood and pants clung to her body like second skin; Jezio would of enjoyed the sight. He would of tried getting his wicked hands onto every part of her skin. The thought brought a tugging in her lower belly.

She stands on the last step on the top and takes in her surroundings — a small open doorway, well it had no door, stands a few feeet away from her and from where she stands, she could see the sliver of wall carvings on the stone wall but Cleo is too far to see what exactly was portrayed.

She moves closer and closer towards to the archway and stands at the threshold, she was about to skim the area around her outside but the inside of this small stone hovel drew her attention and it made her heart thump faster and faster again and her vision to become white.

Inside the awfully tiny room right around the walls were the carvings of the exact tattoos on her skin, only this time there were  more circles interlocked with one another and they were painted blood red just like that of her tattoos. It was drawn on every single wall of the curved room, leaving no room for more. Some were upside down, some were sideways, some were small some were big — but all of them were drawn with four interlocked circles. And hers only had two

Ignoring that; she brings her vision to the middle of the room where a huge bulky man sits cross-legged with his back facing her in a meditating position.

His sun-kissed skin shone heavily with sweat or perhaps it was oil. She didn't know. But it glimmered a lot. What also surprised her was the fact that his hair was longer than Jezio's— almost reaching his bottom, and it looked very wet and tangled. From the spaces she could see through his hair; his back is just full pure muscle. He was even bigger than Kaleb and definitely not much older than him either.

He is huge. Cleo actually takes a step back out of the room suddenly very very frightened of this man. And when is Cleo ever afraid of something that didn't involve hooves and claws?

His arms are huge of roped muscled that stretched beneath his skin in mountains. He was strong. Very strong.

"I know you're there."

Cleo freezes. Sweat starts beading on her palms and forehead, she could swear she couldn't feel her fingers and toes.

His voice is husky. Manly. Something that would draw the ladies in.

She hears a creak and snaps her vision to him to see him snapping his neck sideways ridding of knots and slowly and smoothly he was up on his feet.

His huge body took up half of the room and she felt claustrophobic for all the curved shelves rounding the floor of the room filled with various vials and liquids, which Cleo also recognized as the medicine that Thane was talking about.

Cleo pops her gaze to his extremely muscled back and blushed at the single loin cloth he wore. Which was actually the only thing he wore.

His thighs matches his forearms and his calves. Damn. He is perhaps the biggest man to ever exist in history.

He turns to face her, and Cleo immediately catches her breath at his face. He was handsome, Cleo supposes he would be if his face hadn't had any hard lines on it. His chiseled jawline looked strong enough to cut through stone and his face looked so gaunt and emotionless she was surprised he still stood before her alive.

His eyes is as dark as night and his wet brown hair formed little waves at the ends, she knew instantly that it was as untameable as hers, even though her hair was pin straight whenever it got wet.

He has a scar that ran beneath his right eye, and it stretched right over his cheekbone; with even more across his broad shiny chest. She runs her gaze across his chest following each deep scar on his muscled torso, with so many lines and contours and bridges it brought her own guards to shame.

She flits her gaze up immediately just before she followed a scar leading down into his loin cloth.

He stands in a warrior stance— legs apart and his huge hands in fists at his sides, seizing her the same way she assessed him.

His mouth is in a thin line. He didn't look pleased at all that she stood before him. He was cold. Icy icy cold. No sort of emotion was stapled on his hard face, he looked dead inside.

Cleo bites her lip feeling regretful for ever pitching up here. What was her plan anyway?

"And you are?" Husky. Deep. He snaps up a finger at her for a heartbeat and brings it back down to his side again.

Cleo matches his stance and tilts her head up more than she ever had to for Jez and Kaleb. "I'm Cleo. Are you Esra?"

"Ezra. With a Z. What do you want?" He emphasizes the Z in Ezra. And Cleo could palm her face right this moment, obviously little Thane couldn't pronounce properly his age yet, she should of known it was Ezra and not Esra.

"Right sorry. I am actually here to ask about your... Engravings on the walls." With that Cleo waves her hand all around his little homestead with no windows. She went straight to the point she had no time for more small talk.

He snaps his gaze to hers and behind his look  she could see anger and some heightened curiosity. His face turned somehow into an even harder facade than just a second ago.

He growls out his next response one dropping with venom. "Who sent you to me? How do you know me?"

His fists turns harder and Cleo locks her fingers behind her back, summoning flames to her fingers. If he were to start a brawl with her, she'd make sure she wins.

"You were suggested to me by Evans. Surely you know him and his son?" She forces herself to deem calm before this tank of a man.

He snorts and switches his gaze to his walls, and in it Cleo saw a hint of warmth, but it dissappeared when he faced her again.

"Evans from the Court? Why would he ever send you?"

"He is tired."

Ezra gives Cleo a deadpan look and rolls his eyes. "If you're suggested by Evans, then you have to be here for vials." He spreads his arm showing off his vials.

She sighs and retreats her flames as she starts walking slowly around the room brushing her bloodied fingers against the hard stone wall.

"I want to know what these engravings are." She starts humming.

"You came here to ask about my fucking walls? I sell potions." He laughs under his breath and she notices him trailing closely behind her as she roams about the room, watching her step as to not knock over his potions.

"Well. I will make this short and never bother you again if you told me what they mean?" She gives him a hard look over her shoulder and she saw him clenching his jaw.

She saw his fist coming up and Cleo couldn't react quick enough as he got a hold of her throat and lifted her straight off her feet.

Her breathing gets constricted and she tries her to best to suck in breathes but she couldn't. She starts flailing her legs hard to impact his shins but this ball of muscle didn't flinch one bit. She starts seeing stars, her heart starts thumping slower and she feels herself giving in. Her ears were buzzing incessantly and her ears have begun to ring.

Her attempts at scratching hard at his hand around her throat became weaker and her face burned with hot fire. Wow. She'd die at the hands of a giant. Not too shabby.

His teeth are clenched and she could see angry veins poking on his forehead and his thick neck. Blood pumping through each part of his body. He shakes as he tightens his hold around her throat; and it hurt. Pain zaps all over her face she closes her eyes tighter and keeps scratching at his hand.

He looked all too happy for this, and he could see she was giving in and ever so slightly his hold loosened. Cleo took this as her opportunity to take one away from scratching his hand and wrapping hers around his  thick muscled throat bringing her hottest flames to his skin— it burned his flesh and through her blurry vision she could see the beginnings of a sizzle.

He screams out so loud that Cleo's concern wavers to the man below in the barge who most likely woke up from Ezra's harsh wails before drawing back to Ezra again.

Ezra growls and once again tightens his hold, but she doesn't remove her hand. He uses his other hand to yank her hand away and she catches sight of the blood from scratching his hand away and from the rocks beneath her nails.

She gasps and chokes. Her face blood red.

Ezra growls and still with her in the air he runs out, and smoothly pushes off the cliff and into the sea below with her. She hopes it was the sea at least.