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I can still see his smug smile in my mind. I imagine driving a dagger through his face, ruining his perfect teeth and his jagged, cocky jaw. He’s the only xaphan who ever crossed me and got away with it, and soon, he’ll be dead.
I bring myself out of my fantasy to discover a roused and overjoyed Hanna. I find myself somehow disappointed at her authentic elation.
“What? That’s fantastic!”
Hanna’s reaction is more immediate than I imagined. Once half-asleep, her groggy mind urging her to return to bed, her eyes are wide awake now, brimming with excitement.
“How long have you known this?” she asks.
“I just found out via karasu,” I lie.
She shakes her head, as though uncertain of the new reality thrust upon her.
“And you’re certain that we’ll be able to track him down? That you’re not trusting old information?”
I nod, struggling to keep the smile on my face.
“We know where he’s going to be when we’re ready.”
And when we find him and kill him together, we won’t have to pretend to be husband and wife anymore.
I’m grinning, but inside, the realization hits hard.
Our entire reason for being together will soon be gone, and Hanna will no longer need me.
“You know, at first, I had so many doubts,” she says. “You were a total stranger, forced to listen to me talk and ramble. I thought it was too good to be true…”
I move up to her, putting my finger up to her lips.
“We haven’t caught him quite yet,” I say. “So why don’t we save our celebrations for after he’s dead?”
I embrace her tightly, gripping her slender form in my arms. As I bring her up to me, I smell her hair… feel the smoothness of her neck.
“But Kazrith,” she says suddenly. “I thought we had business to get to? To set up the shop?”
I rub my jaw into her ear, feeling her long, flowing hair against my skin.
“Oh, shut up,” I say, chuckling slightly. “Let’s head back to bed for a bit.”
There’s probably a world of errands I could be doing right now. I’ve got to analyze trends, looking at what my competitors are doing. I need to develop new things and discover new resources to sell. I need to figure out where to go next for the most valuable items.
But my business will be here when Hanna leaves, never to return again. I’ll be able to study the market and organize my shop front as soon as this marriage comes to its inescapable end.
“You’re shaking,” Hanna says, gripping my arm and stabilizing it.
What’s wrong with me?
I pull away from Hanna, grinning to mask this pain. Then I chuckle.
“Just can’t believe we’re finally going to nail this asshole,” I lie, imagining her face as she walks away from me forever, and we return to our separate worlds.
She reaches in, breaching the distance. This time, she wraps herself around me.
“He really fucked you over, didn’t he?”
I look down at her, meeting her comforting gaze and reflecting it back.
“Well, it isn’t anything like what he did to you,” I say. “But yeah. I’ll be able to sleep a lot more soundly at night knowing Zathex isn’t alive to fuck with people anymore.”
