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"Not today," he repeated

"Very well, but if you change your mind"

Aden remained silent until he heard the sound of her bare feet padding softly away Someti the scar tissue and keeping it as flexible as it was ever going to be

But he didn’t trust hie It was a hot coal in his belly, burning him from the inside out Was this to be the rest of his life? What would happen when he grew too old to service the wo? Would his an to pace, his long legs needing no th of the roorew What purpose was there in continuing this farce? Why not end it? He knew the herbs, a simple cup of tea, sweetened with honey to blunt the taste One of his ladies had brought hiift of tiny date cakes, baked with cinnamon and sesame, prepared by her cook as a slave like him But they would taste all the better for that, and he could eat them all with his final cup of tea There would be no point in saving the them like the only treasures of hishis rage, his feelings of betrayal, until an idea began to take shape Yes, he would end this wretched existence, but he wouldn’t go alone

Crossing to the cheap wooden box where he stored his few possessions, he dug down until he unearthed yet another gift from a customer, this one far more useful than a few date cakes It was a blade, forbidden for one such as he to possess But the lady had given it to him not because it was a weapon, but because it was beautiful It was meant to be a woiven it to hier He’d sharpened it over tie now gleaertip and watched a line of blood well up

He smiled It would do

He didn’t bother dressing for the occasion None of his clothes were any better than the loose trousers he earing And it didn’tthe blade, he pulled open the flimsy door which was for his clients’ privacy, not his own, and strode down the short hallway to the stairs, ascending swiftly to the third floor, with its cool, tiled hallhere his reater splendor that any of the slaves who h the sht had descended He could hear the crowds outside, the devout whose fast ended with the setting sun, and ould now gorge theain to on hisher own fast, sitting down to a finer meal than anyone else in the house would enjoy Once upon a tier invited hi hi her squawk of surprise "How dare--" Her outraged protest was cut off, quite literally, by his blade against her throat

She stared up at hiasped "Please"

Aden watched her with hooded eyes, feeling nothing but gried for her life

"I love you," she whispered

Disgust turned to rage, a cold fury that drew the gleah skin and tendons, releasing a fountain of blood as she went to her death staring up at hi hair, watching the hot blood puered, that her death had been far too swift

"You made it too easy"

Aden spun at the sound of a woman’s low, sensuous voice behind hiripped in one hand, his other hand opening to let his dead otten

The woer across the front of her own throat "It’s satisfying, but the blood spills too quickly If you want theer, you must cut here" She indicated the side of her throat "They will still die, but it will be slow, and they will know every moment of their death"

Aden stared silently He didn’t know this woman, had never seen her before in this house She wasn’t veiled and didn’t seee, armed and half-naked male She also didn’t seem overly troubled that he’d just murdered hisa step closer

He thought about using the knife on her before she could run screa stopped him She hadn’t done so yet, and besides, what did it matter if this woman reported hione before anyone arrived

She stretched out a hand, stroking it down his arnize it Women found him attractive, beautiful even They adth of his body

"Sweet child," she whispered, urging hi her see the ruin of his back, even as he scowled at his own complacency, his obedience He was hardly the child she’d called hi his own thoughts, telling his body what to do

"She’s nearly ruined you, hasn’t she?" He felt cool fingers gliding over the lumpy scar tissue "What a waste," shenorain why she was calling hie

"Would you like to go with me, Aden? To leave this place, this life, forever?"

He stared at her in confusion "I don’t--" he started, his voice a croak of sound "I don’t understand," he said, trying again "Where would we go?"