Quinn was not happy. His twin sister Talia had been distracted and distant of late, and he didn't like it. He was used to being the centre of her world. It had been that way ever since they were born, Quinn would lead and Talia would follow. Their mother Mia was a waitress in one of the town's taverns, and was known to provide extra 'services' for both travellers and locals. Few of the townsfolk were eager for their children to associate with the children of a whore, meaning the twins relied on each other a great deal.
This had changed somewhat as the twins grew up and grew into adulthood. Blessed with the good looks of their mother and their unknown father, they had many admirers who were eager to ignore their parents displeasure to get closer to the twins. Quinn revelled in the attention, seducing several women in town, young and old. Talia however hadn't seemed especially interested in any of the young men who vied for her attention, her brother remaining firmly the most important person in her life.
Talia's absence bothered Quinn. She would disappear for sometimes hours, and wouldn't be in any of their usual favoured places. When she did reappear she would be moody and withdrawn, and refuse to tell Quinn where she had been. Their mother Mia was no help, snapping at him that Talia was a grown woman now and a woman needed her privacy.
So Quinn resolved to keep an eye on Talia, to discover where she was disappearing to. He was sure that she was deliberately trying to keep him in the dark, and so to avoid raising her suspicions he told her he was meeting up with young Annie from Oakbridge Farm. He left the tavern that was their home, but instead of leaving, Quinn raised his hood and ducked back and slipped in the kitchen door of the tavern. Quinn was a well known sight in the tavern's kitchen, and the cook and his helpers paid him no heed as he snuck around to the back of the tavern's main room to watch his sister unnoticed.
She was talking to one of the tavern's regulars, Vidaf the Jeweller. Vidaf was one of the wealthiest inhabitants of the town, an older man in his mid fifties, and a regular client of Mia, much to his shrewish wife's displeasure. Vidaf had never paid either of the twins any attention before now, so when Talia nodded and then stepped away from him, Quinn was not surprised. Perhaps she was negotiating a purchase from him? However immediately after they stopped talking, Talia walked toward the taverns staircase, and Vidaf followed her. Quinn shrunk back in his seat as she passed him by, hoping she wouldn't notice him.
