I point at Lis. “Her.”
Lis’s eyes grow wide. “...Me?” she asks.
“Yes, you.”
Moe looks at me as though I have sustained severe head trauma. “Nyk, what is wrong with you?”
“What is wrong withme?” I repeat in disbelief. “What is wrong withme?I should be asking what is wrong withyou,wandering around unattended with someone whose intentions are clearly predatory?—”
Lis lets out a short laugh.
I glare at her.
“You think this is amusing?”
“A little,” she admits.
My eye twitches. Every killing instinct in my body tells me to act.
Moe pulls her wrist free from my grip. “Explain yourself, Nyk. Right now.”
I stare at her. Then at Lis. Then back at Moe.
“You cannot seriously be this oblivious.” I tell her.
“To what?” She tilts her head to the side.
“Tothis,” I snap, gesturing aggressively between them. “The gifts, the touching, the whispering, the staring, the flowers, the perfume, the sweets…. The jewelry—By the Seven, the jewelry!”
Understanding dawns on Moe’s face. Then horror. Then her cheeks turn a bright red.
“Oh my goodness,” she whispers.
“Yes,” I say grimly. “Exactly.”
I knew she was a sensible female. Surely now that I’ve pointed out those events specifically she can finally see that Lis doesn’t have honorable intentions towards her.
Lis presses her lips together, her shoulders trembling with mirth.
Moe covers her face with one hand. “Nyk…”
“You may not realize it yet,” I continue, laying out the facts in the open. “But this female has spent the entire day courting you while you smiled through it.”
No sooner do I finish speaking than Lis doubles over laughing.
Nearby shoppers begin staring and whispering about us.
I stand there seething while she clutches her stomach and tries—and fails—to compose herself.
Moe makes a strangled noise into her hands.
“You think—” Lis gasps between laughter, “you genuinely think I am trying to seduce her?”
“I know what I saw.” I say confidently and cross my arms over my chest.
That only makes her laugh harder.
Moe finally drops her hands from her face, mortified. “Nyk, she is not trying to seduce me!”
