Elizabeth checked her pocket watch: 2:57am, just like last time. She risked another lean over the roof edge to scan the glowing streets below.

When she started this double life, she'd been more anxious than ever before in her life, excepting perhaps the odd run in with a ghost: worrying about getting caught, worrying about getting hurt and the sudden unexplainable injury, and worrying about someone figuring out who she was. The nobility was hardly free of scandal, and one of them engaging in criminal activity certainly wasn't new, but rarely was it done so directly.

2:58

By this point, four months in, she'd grown nerves of steel; accustomed to tip-toeing around guards, to engaging other criminals for services she couldn't perform herself, and even, most recently, to the feeling of life leaving a body after sliding her blade between its ribs.

There was one thing that still got her antsy though, that got her heart beating in her ears and anbaric pixies dancing on her nervous system.

2:59

She didn't make contacts in Ambercrest, as a rule; there was too much danger that someone might recognise her: a fence, a hawker, or if she was especially unlucky, an assassin. Rules, however, were made to be broken; a fact learnt from observing her family early in life. Information on her rivals wasn't something she could easily get in The Tangles, nor were the rather exotic potions she'd needed once or twice.

Fortunately, her one single contact in Ambercrest had been all too happy to provide both. Unfortunately, beneath the mask, the cloak, and the prickly alias was... well, not an immediate rival, but close.

3:00

"Early as always, darling," came a taunting voice from the chimney stacks behind her.

"Well I wouldn't want to keep you waiting now, would I?" she said, in the lower register she used for these occasions. She turned to face Thorn, hoping she'd masked the anxiety in her voice as thoroughly as her outfit masked it on her face.

"Ever the thoughtful one," said Thorn, supple lips curling into a teasing smile, the only part of her face not hidden behind porcelain. "I got what you asked for. You always have the most interesting of requests, Shrike."

"Who else is going to keep you on your toes?" said Elizabeth, tossing a small velvet pouch to Thorn, which clinked as she caught it.

"This had me quite busy," said Thorn. She retrieved a small box from beneath her cloak, a letter secured to it with a length of red ribbon. Proffering it, but making no effort to close the gap, she continued, "I won't say it wasn't exciting, but I am afraid I shall be taking a... supplemental fee."

"I gave you the agreed payment; I have no more coin on me."

Thorn took a step towards her, dimples forming as her smile widened. "It wasn't coin that I had in mind, darling."

"Oh?" asked Elizabeth, as confidently as she wasn't. She took a step towards Thorn, arm reaching for the box. "Then what?"

"Why, the same thing as last time," said Thorn, as she reached out with her other hand to grab Elizabeth's and pull her into a kiss.

Thorn really did have a way of making her heart race.