Veron was sleeping on the couch in the study and I was lying awake in my bed as Liv slept soundly next to me. Whilst we had determined that there would be no intrusion tonight I still could not find it in me to sleep.

“One day until they come? Seriously? You really are a goddamn magnet for bad luck, you know that?” Veron had said hours earlier. He was of the very interesting and unfortunately common opinion that I had a tendency to be on the receiving end of bad luck. 

We had gone over the information Liv had brought and scoured over a few possible entry points of the castle and made preparations for each and every one. Unless they were of Liv’s prowess or higher, there was no way in hell they were getting in without us knowing. Still, it will be stressful all the same, Guild Virzas knows a bit too much about me for comfort. I let out my breath in a soft hiss, tracing the ceiling's scaffolding with my eyes. Brain, heart, lungs, veins in the thigh…I began listing off the vital points of the human body as I lulled myself into closing my eyes and getting some sleep.

Light slowly began creeping in through the windows, next to me Liv muttered something inaudible that sounded suspiciously like an insult to the sun and rolled over. I laughed silently, shoulders shaking slightly in an effort to maintain silence, she was so cute sometimes. 

Knowing what a light sleeper she was, I was painstakingly careful not to wake her, making sure to gently let her welcome weight slide off my chest and onto the cushioned mattress before removing myself from the bed. 

Tiptoeing to my dresser, I picked out two tunics, one black and long sleeved and the other beige, short sleeved and tight fit. Next I grabbed some comfortable breeches, along with one of my thinner gambesons. I took the time to pick out one of my more comfortable leather belts. 

Both my breeches and black tunic were intentionally tailored to be too big for me to accommodate hidden leather armor, my gambeson and my other tunic. Of course to everyone else I looked like a lazy noble. Honestly it kind of worked in my favor until someone remembered that I was a spy master and I had to look like I was in shape.

And the women. Ha they go apeshit over my appearance. Thank the goddess I wasnt required for any public appearances today.  

Leaning down I reached beneath my dresser, hand finding the hidden notch in the stone, shifting the stone panel.

I flinched as the panel grated loudly against the stone floor. 

Liv shifted in bed, “What the hell, Orilis?” She said gruffly. 

“Go back to sleep, I’m just getting dressed.” I murmured, removing the contents of the rectangular carveout hidden beneath the stone panel. 

I began to look through the removed contents, the last time I had need of this was quite a while ago. Since my return from Vix.Good it's all here.  

Snorting, the tired assassin sat up, “Once I’m up, I’m up,” Liv said in a somewhat annoyed tone, “blame it on my profession.” 

“Fine, I blame your inability to sleep deeply on your profession. Now would you mind getting Veron? I know you're already dressed and armed to the teeth.” I said not bothering to stifle a yawn between sentences.

How the hell Liv actually managed to sleep dressed like she was going to war I’ll never know. 

The first time I had seen her knock out in full blown gear made me gawk like some idiot. 

Just wearing a belt to sleep alone would bother me so I highly doubted I could ever sleep in full on assassin garb. Not to mention the hidden weaponry. I knew from experience just how many knives Liv managed to conceal on her person at all times. It was actually kind of insane. Personally, I could barely manage to sleep with the knowledge of today's upcoming events. Not from anxiety though.

A grumbling, relatively disheveled Liv padded past me, grabbing her boots and walking into the study. She gave me a side eye glare before shutting the door behind her.

I would not want to be on the receiving end of tired Liv, I thought with smirking. Veron was going to be so pissed. 

My body moved out of memorization of many times past, the beige tunic slipping on over my shoulders, attaching greaves and thigh padding to my legs, breeches came next. I grabbed my belt, fit it so that my breeches would stay in place and locked it into place. I attached braces to my forearms next and slipped on my gambeson and tied it into place. Next came my tough leather armor, which was stiff from disuse. 

Sighing I did what I could to soften the places where I knew it might chafe my underlayers and wrestled it on. And this is why Liv harrasses me about taking good care of my equipment, I thought after five solid minutes of struggling to shift the damn thing into the proper place. Peeved, I finally managed to re-adjust the stiff leather and finish tying it around my waist to secure it in place. I yanked on my black tunic with minimal effort of looking put together, the leather armor having exhausted my interest in trying. 

A dull thud came from the study, “What the actual hell woman!”  

Apparently Liv had gotten around to waking Veron up, I could almost see her look of pure satisfaction from the reaction to whatever she had done to wake him up. I smiled to myself and walked into the study to watch another one of Liv’s spectacles unfold.