A Ghost's Wish [MxM]

10. A Ghost, a Priest, and a Thief Walk Into Bar

The Sloan brothers were grinning when they finally found Oliver.

"Little Lord! We saw you through the window and had to stop to say hi." The elder Sloan said.

Oliver sighed inwardly. They are the son of a wealthy Marquess. He spent too much time with them in bars, acting like a fool. It seems that these two are the ones helping to plot against him.

"It's never a simple greeting with you two. You have something fun planned, don't you?" Oliver said with a disgustingly fake smile. He hadn't had to be this greasy for a long time and found that he hated it.

The brothers laughed. "An interesting place opened up that's invitation only. We finally got one. Do you want to join? Drinks, gambling, and beautiful people."

"Some of my favorite things." Oliver grimaced when he said this. He grabbed a jacket from one of the staff members helping him with his clothes. "Good thing I felt like spending money today."

He motioned to Sarah and pointed to the jacket he was wearing. She nodded and continued to set up the payment and delivery.

"That's a little... plain for you." The younger brother said, looking at the grey and white outfit.

Oliver tied his hair back with a ribbon. "It'll do for now. Shall we go?"

He then wrapped a black cape around his shoulders and pulled the hood up to hide his silvery hair. Despite covering himself, he could sense several people following the trio. He trusted Ella's information but was surprised that it was all happening so soon. He observed his surroundings while walking, attempting to calculate every possible escape plan. Whoever was plotting against him could not succeed. This was supposed to damage his reputation and, in turn, the Kardoses.

The Sloan brothers were chatting down the street, and Oliver realized the Sloan brothers were nervous about what they had planned.  Suddenly a boy a little shorter than Oliver crashed into the younger Sloan brother.  The brother snarled and lashed out with his fist. The boy slipped past the attack but lost his footing and stumbled in front of Oliver.  

A coin pouch with the Sloan sigil was falling from the boy's grasp, and a heavily accented curse escaped the boy's mouth.  

The accent was clearly Abrorgean.

Oliver reached out, discreetly secured the coin pouch, and caught the boy from falling.  He deftly stuffed the pouch back in the thief's hands.  The boy looked up at him with surprise, his hood falling back a little.  His skin was dark from the sun, and his black hair was shaved on both sides; the center was long and tied back. This was Abrorg's aesthetic.  

They were strategists and stealthy hunters, using knives as their preferred weapons. They would test their children's stealth skills by making them visit foreign places and pickpocket.

However, it wasn't just his nationality that made Oliver falter.  The kid looked similar to Savvi.  His eyes flashed with joy and nostalgia as he looked at the boy.  But he quickly gathered his wits, reached out, and secured the boy's hood so his foreign features would not be exposed in the middle of the street.  

"Careful, kid," Oliver warned with emotion infused with his words.  He coughed a little and urged him to run away. Without anyone noticing, Oliver wiped some fragrant oils from his hands with a handkerchief and discarded it.  However, he could now smell a light lemon scent coming from the pouch that the little thief stole. 

It was an old trick he had used on Savvi many times to stop him from ambushing him in the middle of battle. Oliver's senses were particularly high, and when a person is used to blood, he could pick up other smells easily. So Oliver commonly used light lemon oil as a tracer. Out of habit, he carried some with him in a handkerchief to be prepared.