Hearts in Zenith (Four Husbands and a Lover)

10. The Hair! The Hair!

Anastasia didn't hide her gloating. I had never seen a wider grin on her face. Her eyes shone so bright, they lit up the storage room of the infirmary better than a thousand lamps. She didn't even check on the precious stack of her scrolls. Maybe she had stashed her poetry under her pillow for the night. Maybe what she wanted in life even more than a poet's fame, was to see me humbled. And she was getting that in droves!

"Gala's blessing!" She squinted her yellowish eyes, so she wouldn't miss a single detail of my disgrace. "Who would have believed a woman could fall so low so fast! Not even a week in the gutters and..."

She shook her head in pretend dismay. "Ah, what a pitiful, pitiful sight! I must pray for the Divines to guide all those less fortunate to a safe haven."

I was urgently in need of a vomiting bucket. "I'll pray that your piety is rewarded. May the fire ants find shelter in your bed with you, those poor hungry creatures."

Hopefully, Kozima kept his mouth shut about the scorpia assassin. He probably did, because the boy wasn't just a pretty face. He was smart. Plus, if he had told Anastasia about the scorpia, she'd probably be trembling. Instead, the woman struggled to rein in her happiness. She was so happy, she completely ignored my jab.

"I'm helping you on one condition," she said.

Kozima bit his lip and darted an apologetic glance at me.

She glared at him unnecessarily, since he didn't so much as stir a muscle, let alone spoke up.

He still bit his lip so hard, I was afraid it would start bleeding. The concern glued my gaze to the dimple on his chin. If the ruby droplets rolled down it, as a woman, I should alert this silly goose. He should break bad habits that could mar his beauty.

"My condition is that you seek out the pearl-and-coral seller Lydia and make her break the courtship to Kozima," Anastasia said.

My head whipped wildly in her direction. "What? Who?"

"Since you'll be working in the docks anyway," Anastasia explained. The word docks made her shrug one shoulder, a thin-veiled attempt to conceal how much she was savoring my downfall.

"Anastasia, please..." Kozima whispered at the same time as I squeaked: "Courtship to Kozima? A woman is courting him?"

Anastasia sighed with infinite patience. "Yes."

I had never before felt like someone had punched me in the guts with words. "But when?"

"Since two days ago. This Lydia came to the Temple to seek courtship and marriage with one of our wards. Her choice fell upon this young idiot."

The young idiot in question dropped his head into his hands. A head full of thick, jet-black hair just how mine used to be about an hour ago.

"Ahem... congratulations, Kozima. May Gala bless your loins with plentiful seed. Though if you want the courtship broken... no congratulations are in order?" I asked. "I'm confused. Why did you even agree?"

Providing we had an hour or two, Kozima might have whimpered something comprehensible in response, but Anastasia had even less patience in the dead of the night than she did during the day.

"The Head Priestess had asked him--it is a proper thing to do--and he had agreed. He agreed! Like a dumb pigeon! I thought she'd have an apoplexy on the spot."

I feared the same fate for Anastasia, to be honest, she was so worked up over Kozima's courtship. She treated me to another display of trembling cheeks, lips, curls and bosom. "It is a terrible match for him. Terrible. He'd be a second husband and Lydia already has three children."