The Queen's Knight

He had known his prime directive on this assignment from the start. He did not need anyone to tell him what course to take when the King had fallen silent. The path was clear. Marcus Belby remained, as he was, the proverbial knight, hired by one man to protect the only thing in creation the King cared about. Beyond all else, she was the prime directive. She--not Katherine--had been Robert's queen since her conception--the pride of the, then, threadbare Lupin kingdom. Oh, there were some secondary objectives that Marcus was well aware of, objectives that the public would have believed were surely first in priority, but in the course of events, those events became inconsequential to men like Robert Lupin. Few knew him like they professed to. Marcus was finding that the public's need to misread Robert--no matter whether they made him saint or tyrant--made it infinitely easier for Marcus to slide back into the shadows where he preferred to be and to obey his orders.

When Belby had been hired, he had been supplied with a security pass that got him almost into any area of the Lupins' lives--including the Minister's office and his little hidey holes that only he and Khaat knew of. It had been geared, not for national security, but of survival. Things hidden away in case of dire times, and it had been Robert's hope to never have to use them.

Times had changed. Marcus had gone in to Robert's office after he was certain the little ditzy blond, Millie, had gone home. Elijah Krum, of course, was gone. Belby figured that most likely the young and inexperienced womanizing deputy minister was chasing whatever feminine flavor of the month suited him for September. Belby drew the secrets from the hidey holes. All but the last one.

The last one was hiding in plain sight--inside the thin, center drawer of Robert's desk and was a magical compartment under a bit of trickery that looked very much like a starlight mint in cellophane that had long been left towards the side of the drawer and had been left to get sticky and a bit gooey. It made Belby crack a slight smile. The candy even felt rather tacky and disgusting beneath his fingers as he unraveled the hex. Just a moment longer, and he would have it open to get the last bit.

Ana had been sent into the more seriously protected part of the Ministry to pick up a memo for Elijah Krum after the meetings that afternoon - not that she was particularly appreciative of his sending her about like a secretary. She was to give the information to him first thing the next morning when they met in his office for the second day of meetings with the matches.

Ana supposed Elijah could actually get a way with a lot around her - which was slightly unfortunate considering her husband. She wasn't about to divorce him, because of the children, but she did have odd moments of guilt here and there. What she did know, however, was that Eli was supposed to marry someone and she wasn't sure if he would go through with it.

They had to talk about that, she decided as she passed through the halls. Upon reaching the door, she let herself in, watching her heels as they tapped along the floor. When Ana glanced up, however, she saw  someone standing behind the desk.

Ana froze, narrowing her eyes at him. "Marcus." She greeted coldly. Over her years at the Ministry, Ana had never been able to like the man. Something about him didn't rub her right, and his overly interested nature when it came to Khaat. "What are you doing in here?"

Perhaps it was a strange question, since it was the Minister's office and he worked for Khaat, but he seemed oddly suspicious and Ana was an Ex-Auror after all. It never hurt to be cautious, she decided, and allowed her hand to subtly drift to her side where her wand was hidden.

Marcus looked up at her, rather amused. He couldn't stop a rather boyish grin at her. He loved toying with her. He saw her dislike of him, and the feeling was mutual.

"Well, well. Ana Levski. Why is it that if things have suddenly gone all to hell, you seem to be right in the thick of it someplace?" he asked. "Wasn't there some big brouhaha in Bulgaria that you were up to your eyeballs in, there, too?"

He shamelessly continued to filch in Robert's desk drawer.

"Funny, isn't it, what you can learn about the measure of a man from the useless bits he keeps in the center drawer, isn't it? Here." He tossed the gooey sticky candy to her suddenly and deliberately. "Have a sweet. He obviously has no fondness for cheap peppermints. Can't say as I blame him there."

He kept rooting in the desk. There it was. His salvation and a reason to be in the desk and a reason to get out of it. A small white beanbag kitty toy with a pink bow. Probably something "Grandpa" had, at one point, tucked into his pocket in haste, and was definitely Abbey's taste in toys.

"Ah, there it is," Marcus said, glad to have found something to create a lie around. He drew forth the toy and dangled it rather disrespectfully by an ear.

"I have a cranky three year old who misses her grandfather and who is not going to be happy unless we can produce this silly thing. But--you wouldn't remember much about the importance of things like that, would you? If I trusted you, I'd be telling you that you should meet her. She's a delight. But since I don't trust you, I'm probably not going to recommend it."