"I believe I am no longer needed here. So I will take my leave. Do excuse me."
Without waiting for a reply, Kaki clasped his hands behind his back and walked away.
Ashclaw watched him go, then turned to Nisha.
"May I have the honour of inviting your grace to my house?"
"Sure."
She accepted his invitation readily, for some reason.
A while later, within Ashclaw's mansion, the two sat face to face in a grand hall.
The night was cold. The faint crackle of the hearth filled the air.
Ashclaw asked the question that had been bothering him for a while.
"How will the Town Master react to tonight's situation?"
Hearing his words, Nisha smiled at him, not warmly, but with the sharp delight of a predator toying with its prey.
Ashclaw shifted uncomfortably under Nisha's gaze, his back prickling with cold sweat.
