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“I haven’t got all day, Ma’am,” impatience tinged the trader’s tone, and the second one bellowed a loud, mocking laugh, only seizing when Zavian sent him a murderous look.

“You know what?” Zavian reached forward and grabbed the lobsters, to which Neera squealed and backed away. “We’ll take it. Do you have a bucket they can go inside?”

“I’m afraid people come with their own buckets, but I’ve got a leather bag I can fill with water for ya, but not strong to hold them for long. But those lobsters you picked are huge, so put them face down and let their tails hang out. I hope ya folk’s places ain’t far?” He asked while the other trader handed him the dusty bag.

“No, and thank you,” Zavian answered, holding back a chuckle as Neera stared at the creatures as if he held baby dragons ready to spit fire on her at any moment.

The packaging of the lobsters was swift, and Zavian thanked the man, his hand now with two restless lobsters swimming in the bag. Neera stood to his left, her eyes going to the bag in his right hand, which dripped with water from different parts.

“Better to head home and drop this in the kitchen,” Zavian said. He sniffed at his sleeves. “And even a bath. Do I stink? Or my nostrils are coated with the smell of fish?”

“You don’t stink, rich boy,” Neera said, waiting to cross the busy road once they left the street.

“Rich boy? Boy? I am a demon of several centuries, Neera.” Zavian replied amused;

.....

“Oh sorry, rich old demon.” Neera flashed her teeth. Zavian laughed. She had begun to take him by surprise with her bold actions and words, a trait characteristic of Lailah.

“And I’ve got news for you, we aren’t going back to the castle,” Neera said.

“We aren’t? Neera, I’ve got your two pets fighting to be released from this brittle cage.”

“Relax, we are going to a cabin I booked. I met the owner last week, and it’s a nice quiet place out in the woods.” She said, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

At once, Zavian’s mind flashed back to Freya, still laying unconscious in the palace, her now thin body still covered in bandages that were regularly changed and feeding from a needle connected to a bag of medicine pierced in her skin, the liquid dripping into her daily nutrients.

“Neera, Freya was attacked out there,” Zavian reminded her.

“No, it’s not far out of town, Zavian. I’m serious. And there are people living around, and nothing unusual had occurred there for days, I promise. I made sure to know. You know what? Just have a look at it yourself and decide if you still don’t want to stay.” Neera’s words tumbled out in a hurry.

Zavian agreed, mainly because he didn’t want to spoil Neera’s mood for the day. He still didn’t know what kept her crying, and the bags under her eyes and the dark eye circles grew with each day. He asked, and asked, but there was always one answer he got,

“I’m fine, Zavian. You worry too much.”

So if it was a cabin that would lift her spirits, he would agree to it. All day she had been happier than he had seen her in a long while, and he himself had felt looser, and his body didn’t feel like a rope was tightened around him. She helped him unwind and unknot, and he needed that more than he knew.

They walked along the sidewalk, Zavian by where the carriages rode past and Neera by his side. It was crowded, and people poured out in the streets, and Zavian was wary of a group of suspicious young boys who stared at people up and down, deeming who was fit robbing from.

“Should we have invited Pen?” Neera asked over the noise.

“I think you two have made me the third wheel in your affairs.”

Neera looked at him and laughed. “Oh Zavian, is that jealousy?”

“A King doesn’t have time for such flimsy emotion.”

“Okay, your Highness,” she mocked with a smile. “I only thought inviting her and Azriel over would... bridge things. The cabin has two rooms, I think.”

“What is there to bridge?” Zavian asked.

“Hasn’t Azriel been acting off lately?” Neera asked.

“He seems fine to me, shouldn’t he be?” Zavian asked. “Did something happen between him and Penelope?”

“More like...,” she didn’t complete her answer, for the lobster had torn through the bag and a loud splash with the sound of their hard exoskeleton hitting the floor. She hurried after one, and Zavian picked the other.

Neera bent to hold the creature, but it snapped its claws at her, almost catching her finger. She was saved by Zavian picking it, and he held both in either hand.

“How exactly again were you planning on killing them yourself?” He asked, laughter hiding behind his words.

“I am not exactly afraid of them.” Neera lied, her eyes darting to the creatures in Zavian’s hands. “I just need practice.”

“Okay then, let’s start,” Zavian said.

He brought the lobster so close to her face that she shrieked, attracting even more attention to them. She ran a few steps away from him, to keep her distance, only to find Zavian already chasing after her, the clawed creature reaching out for her again. Neera’s speed was spiked with adrenaline as she ran through the crowd.

They finally reached the cabin before sundown. And the quaint little structure was nested at the base of a hill whose shadow fell over it, obscuring it from being so exposed out in the open. Neera reached under the staircase, bending lower to retrieve what Zavian saw to be the keys.

“Home away from home,” Neera gave him a low giddy squeal, and she opened the door.