Karz leaned forward over the counter and squinted at me. “I thought I saw something, but now I don’t see it.” He dropped back onto his stool and shrugged. “Must’ve been a trick of the light, and these eyes aren’t getting any younger. Anyway-” He spun around and snatched a key from off one of the many hooks, which he handed to Torvus. “Have a quiet stay, and may you leave more rested than you came.”
Torvus held up the key and smiled. “I guarantee it.”
I cast a suspicious look at my partner as he led me up the stairs to the second floor and down the hall to one of the front corner rooms. He unlocked the door and pushed it open before sweeping his arm toward the interior. “After you.”
“Do you treat all the other women like they’re your bride?” I inquired as I slipped inside, with him following me.
“Only the special ones,” he quipped as he shut the door and tossed the key onto a small round table in the middle of the room. A chimney stood in the wall to our right, and a large bed was situated in the middle of the small room. Worn rugs, frayed curtains, and a dresser with a brick for one leg finished off the decor. I plopped myself down on the queen-sized bed and was pleasantly surprised when the mattress sprang back.
Torvus moved over to the front window and scanned the street. “Not a sign of our wonderful new friends.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Who were those people?”
“Managers.”
I blinked at him. “What do they manage?”
“The dirty deeds of their wealthy clients,” he told me as he shut the curtains and drew off his coat. He tossed it over the back of a nearby chair. “They ‘manage’ blackmail, assassinations, embezzlement, and anything else they wouldn’t want the authorities to know about.”
“Did you make somebody mad, or did we just run into them at a bad time?”
He sat down in the chair and removed his boots before flexing his toes. “They were standing at the end of the dock where we had earlier landed, and I overheard enough to know they were waiting for a captain and his woman to rent a boat to get back to a ship.”
The color drained from my cheeks. “That sounds a lot like us, doesn’t it?”
“Exactly like us,” he agreed as he stood and unbuttoned his pants.
My mouth fell open. “What are you doing?”
He paused and twisted around his upper body. “I’m undressing.”
Color returned to my cheeks. “In here?”
“Would you rather we have separate rooms?”
I turned my face away, and my hands fidgeted with each other in my lap. “N-no, but, well-”
“Then if you don’t mind, I’ll be removing my pants,” he insisted as he finished the unbuttoning. “These are a little dirty after our chase under that trash pit.”
I heard his pants drop to the ground. Curiosity made my eyes flicker in his direction. He advertised boxers instead of briefs. Plain and not as loose as I expected.
His eye twinkled. “Do you like what you see?”
I whipped my face away. My head felt like an overripe tomato in a flaming skillet. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He chuckled as he strolled around the foot of the bed and plopped himself down on the other side. “Alright. You’re turn.”
I shot up and stiffened. “What do you mean by that?”
He nodded at my attire. “You’re not any better dressed than I, and I don’t like sand in my bed.”
I nodded at one of the worn rugs. “Then maybe you can sleep on the floor.”
“I don’t like that idea, either. Too many splinters.”
“What about the bathroom. It has tile.”
“Only one exit. I’m too big to fit through the window.”
