AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The Promenade is getting more dangerous every day,” Luvar, the new chef, said as he added another pinch of svanti spice to the sauce. “I tell you, my predecessor wasn’t the last person who’ll get shot out there. It could happen to anyone.”
“Yeah, it’s scary,” I said, laying the latest clean dish onto the rack. That was Luvar’s job before, but now that he was promoted to head chef, I was stuck doing it, as well as the rest of the prepwork.
Frankly, I was exhausted. At least when you cleaned floors, the air wasn’t as hot and steamy as it got when you were half an hour into washing dishes.
“The kind of person who could do that to someone…” Luvar went on, turning his attention to the vegetables. “There must be something really wrong with them. It might have been their first, but I’m sure it won’t be their last.”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” I said, instinctively. Immediately, I regretted it.
“What do you mean?” asked Luvar. “You think a normal person just walks up to someone on the street and shoots them?”
No, I thought. They would have to be very scared. And also pretty angry and maybe thinking about how their scary Vinduthi boyfriend would handle the situation.
“Well, I just think there might have been circumstances. Like maybe they felt threatened.”
“Threatened by the chef?” Luvar laughed. “What would he threaten? That he’d overdo their pasta?”
“Well, I don’t know. It’s just pushing a button, isn’t it? Maybe they didn’t really think about what would happen until they already pushed it.”
Luvar shrugged, and in the same movement, pushed the chopped vegetables onto the pan with his knife. “Maybe. There are probably some people like that out there. But there are also some people who are really scary. Who just love killing for the sake of it.”
“You’re right about that,” I said, staring off into the distance, briefly. “You’re certainly right about that.”
“Don’t slow down now!” Luvar called, clapping his hands. “You’re almost done!”
“Right,” I said, grabbing the next plate and scrubbing. “Just thinking about something.”
“The really crazy ones, right?” said Luvar. “Yeah, I think about that kind of guy a lot. I tell you, we’d all be better off if we could just get rid of people like that.”
“You really think so?” I murmured, putting the plate on the rack.
“Oh, I know it,” Luvar continued. “Of course, they’ll never do it. You’d end up getting too many innocent people if you tried. But it sure would be nice if the rest of us normal people could just get along without them.”
Was I a normal person anymore? The question bothered me for some time. After all, I killed someone. In a moment of panic, sure, but that didn’t change the fact that he was dead.
I also didn’t like his pasta much, another voice in my head added.
Then again, I wasn’t anything like Tazhr. I wasn’t anything like him, but I also wasn’t scared or repelled by him the way Luvar was. He fascinated me. Even when he did something that scared me, even then, there was something I couldn’t help being amazed by. Something that almost felt innocent and playful amidst all the horribleness.
“You don’t think there might be a place for some people like that?” I asked, placing the final bowl on the rack. “Like, maybe there are times when you need someone like that to deal with things. Even if only because of other people like that.”
Luvar stared at me. “Emma, that’s the craziest thing I ever heard.”
Oh.
I kept working in silence, moving on to the pile of vegetables that needed to be prepped.
I couldn’t stop replaying my last conversation with Tazhr in my head, wondering if we missed some vital clue buried in all those files and records I stole from Conii’s office. We were so close to exposing her crimes and freeing Havek.
I just knew the evidence we needed was in there somewhere. If I could only focus long enough to piece it all together...
“Ow!” I hissed as the knife sliced into my thumb. Dammit, that’s what I got for daydreaming about Tazhr’s sexy rumbling voice instead of paying attention. I shook my hand irritably as a single drop of blood landed next to the cutting board, nearly marring the perfectly chopped piles. Nice going, Emma. The sous chef was gonna have my hide for that.
Right on cue, the Mondian scowled down at me, beady eyes zeroed in on the blood staining her pristine workspace. “Clumsy, foolish girl!” she snapped. “Keep your empty human head focused on the task at hand, not wandering the void!”
“Yes, chef. Very sorry, chef!” I mumbled, quickly wrapping a towel around my stinging thumb to stem the bleeding before I made an even bigger mess. Couldn’t afford to have her notice how utterly distracted I was obsessing over Tazhr and our mission.
With a sigh, I turned back to the endless piles awaiting chopping, trying in vain to shut my brain off and just focus. But my thoughts kept skipping traitorously back to Tazhr—the way his muscles rippled beneath his skin when he fought, that wicked grin he got when he dug up a promising new lead, the heat in those smoldering golden eyes when we were alone...
