Damon let go of his black warhorse’s leather reins. He left the tired horse standing near the water trough. He slowly and silently walked toward the deep, dark shadows of the wooden stables. His right hand rested firmly on the cold iron hilt of his broadsword.

He stepped inside the stables. He narrowed his dark eyes, searching the dark corners carefully. He looked at the empty wooden stalls. He looked at the piles of hay.

Damon walked entirely through the stables and found it completely empty. There was absolutely no one hiding in the dark.

He slowly took his hand off his sword. He let out a quiet breath into the cool night air.

"Maybe I’m seeing things," Damon whispered to himself, shaking his head. He blamed his extreme exhaustion. He had been awake since dawn, fought a political battle with General Howe, and watched a deadly death match. His tired mind must have been playing tricks on him.

But Damon was not seeing things at all.

At that exact moment, on the outer stone wall of the massive mansion, Camilla had already climbed the walls upstairs.

She was using every single ounce of her strength. Her fingers gripped the rough, cold stone perfectly. Her soft leather boots found tiny cracks in the wall to push her body upward. Her muscles burned with sharp pain, but she did not stop moving. She scaled the tall wall incredibly fast, like a dark, silent spider.

She reached the top floor. She grabbed the wooden ledge of the master bedroom window, pulled her body over the edge, and rolled silently into the dark, empty room.

Downstairs in the grand foyer, Mr. Murry was walking happily toward the front entrance. He was preparing to welcome Camilla.

Suddenly, the large double doors pushed open.

Damon walked directly into the front door.

Murry saw him and completely panicked. The old housekeeper’s happy smile vanished instantly. His heart skipped a massive beat. He was absolutely terrified because he thought Camilla was home.

"My Lord!" Murry gasped loudly, rushing forward to greet the General. His voice shook with deep, hidden terror.

Damon stood in the bright foyer. He looked incredibly tired. He slowly removed his dark blue military coat. He pulled his thick leather gloves off his large hands.

Damon gave them to Murry. The older man quickly took the items, hugging them nervously against his chest.

Damon looked around the quiet hallway.

"Where’s the lady?" He asked. His deep voice was quiet but direct.

Murry swallowed hard. His throat felt completely dry. He had to maintain the lie he had started this morning. He had to protect the Lady’s secret.

Murry forced a polite smile onto his wrinkled face.

Murry replied, "The lady, she is upstairs."

He quickly looked down at the marble floor, completely unable to meet Damon’s sharp, intense eyes. He chuckled nervously.

Heh. Heh.

The sound was hollow and completely fake.

"Let’s arrange your dinner, My Lord," Murry suggested quickly, desperately trying to distract the General. "The kitchen has fresh roasted chicken and hot soup. I can set the dining table for you immediately. Please, come this way."

Damon shook his head slowly. He did not move toward the dining room.

"I’m not hungry," Damon replied, his voice completely flat and exhausted. "I just came back to rest."

Without waiting for another word, Damon turned toward the grand staircase. He walked upstairs.

His long legs moved quickly. His boots made loud, thudding sounds against the thick carpet on the stairs. His strides were incredibly fast, completely focused on trying to reach the master bedroom. He just wanted to see if Camilla is truly in the room.

Standing down in the foyer, holding the heavy coat, Murry watched the General climbing the stairs.

Murry spoke in a complete, absolute panic. His internal voice was screaming loudly.

"What do I do?" Murry whispered to himself frantically, his eyes wide with pure terror. "The lady isn’t back yet! The room is completely empty! When he opens that door, he will find out she has been out all day! He will fire me! He will execute me!"

Murry quickly dropped the coat onto a nearby wooden chair. He practically ran toward the staircase. He followed Damon closely behind, his old legs working as fast as they possibly could.

Upstairs in the master bedroom, absolute chaos was happening in total silence.

Camila got into the room and immediately jumped into action. She had heard the front doors open downstairs. She knew Damon was already inside the house.

She quickly unfastened her leather belt. She ripped the twin daggers off her waist and tossed them aside. She rapidly took off the black combat clothes. She pulled the dark shirt over her head, careful not to drop the thick stack of paper bank notes hidden inside. She kicked off her black trousers and her soft leather boots.

She gathered the entire pile of clothes, daggers and the massive fortune of money into a tight ball.

She threw them completely under the bed.

She heard Damon’s boots walking rapidly down the hallway. He was just seconds away.

Camilla grabbed a clean, white bath towel from the wooden chair. She quickly tied a towel tightly around her bare chest.

She dropped heavily to the wooden floor. She fell directly to the foot of the bed. She sat on the hard floorboards, spreading the white towel and her bare legs widely, completely covering the dark, empty space underneath the bed where the black combat attire was hidden.

The very second she hit the floor, the brass door handle turned.

The door pushed open.

Damon entered the room.

He stopped just inside the doorway. He looked down at the floor at the foot of his large bed.

Camilla looked up at him. She smiled her brightest, sweetest, most welcoming smile.

"My Lord, you are back," Camilla said softly, her voice sounding completely innocent and very happy to see him.

A second later, Murry arrived at the open doorway, panting heavily from running up the stairs.

Murry looked into the room. He saw Camilla sitting on the floor wrapped in a white towel.

Murry looked completely confused. His jaw dropped slightly. He blinked his old eyes rapidly. He looked at Camilla, and then he looked at Damon’s back.

"How in the world did she get in there?" Murry thought to himself, completely dumbfounded. "I have been guarding the front doors all day! Did she fly?"

Damon did not notice Murry’s confusion. Damon was entirely focused on his wife.

Damon looked at Camilla carefully. He slowly took a step into the room. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Damon walked forward slowly.

As his tall, massive body stepped closer, Camilla felt a sudden spike of nervous fear. She gently used her hands to push her body backward on the floorboards, making Camilla move back closer against the solid wooden frame of the bed to ensure the black clothes were entirely hidden.

Damon stopped a few feet away from her. He narrowed his eyes.

His sharp gaze completely analyzed her appearance.

"Why does she look flustered and sweaty?" Damon thought to himself, studying her carefully.

He looked at her bright red cheeks. He saw the thin layer of shiny sweat covering her bare, pale shoulders. He saw that her chest was heaving up and down rapidly under the white towel, exactly like someone who had just finished a highly intense, physically demanding workout. She did not look like a lady who had been resting peacefully in her room all day.

Damon’s mind connected the dots with terrifying speed.

He remembered the slim, black-clad fighter on the dirt field who had killed the giant mercenary with perfect, flawless combat physics. He remembered the figure in the dark shadows who had familiar eyes. He remembered the fighter asking for paper bank notes because a chest of gold was too heavy to carry.

"Could my absolute, crazy suspicions actually be true?" Damon wondered in his mind, his heart beating a little bit faster. "Is she the shadow assassin? Did my wife just win a death match for me?"

He took another slow, highly suspicious step forward, intending to question her directly.

Camilla saw his dark eyes narrowing. She saw him stepping closer. She knew exactly what he was looking at. He was noticing her sweat. He was noticing her heavy breathing. He was entirely too smart.

She needed to stop his brain from thinking logically. She needed to completely distract him using the one absolute weakness she knew he had.

Camilla tilted her head to the side. She let out a soft, sweet, completely shameless giggle.

Camilla smiled warmly up at him from the floor.

"Should we be intimate tonight, my lord?" She asked bluntly.

Her voice was incredibly smooth, deeply sweet, and entirely provocative. The words echoed loudly in the quiet bedroom.

Damon completely froze.

He stopped walking instantly. His heavy boot planted firmly on the floorboards. His dark eyes widened in shock. All of his highly intelligent, logical military suspicions evaporated completely from his brain.