The Executioner's Wife

Bonus Chapter: The Rains, Part I

The rains started a day too early. Alois had warned her, half-jokingly, half-seriously, that hell in the Realm was not hot. It was wet.

As Alois and Lily watched hell pound against the window, he wanted to explain that he hadn't meant to trap them there together. Of course, it was somewhat ideal- the two of them stuck inside, alone, with nothing between them but their breath and clothes. But this was destined to turn awkward fast- they'd just barely managed to get from the market to his house before the sky broke in two, sending an ocean's worth of rain onto the streets. Now they were watching the rain from his kitchen window, coming down in such thick sheets that the world was entirely blurred by a watery filter.

"Maybe I could just run back to the hostel?" Lily offered. Alois shook his head.

"That hostel is downhill. You'll get washed away."

The rains only lasted about three days, but flooding in the Realm could get so bad that kids could swim in the streets for a week afterward. He hoped it didn't sound like he was making excuses just to keep her there- but the truth was that being outside during the rains could be a death sentence. It was why people shopped days in advance, stocking up to stay inside. That's why they had been in the market before it all came down- they'd turned his shopping list into an excuse to spend time together. If only Alois had been smart enough to double-check the Almanac- the rains were meant to start today, not tomorrow. He was beating himself up for it, and at the same time, trying to figure out what to do next.

Lily, on the other hand, had no prior training for what to do in such a situation. There she was, alone in a house with a tall, dark, and handsome man who smiled like a shark and somehow also blushed like a strawberry whenever she winked at him. For now, he looked flustered, as if he were trying to add up something in his head. Whatever he came to, she could not tell. She was remembering what her mother always said about being alone with men.

"Lily, don't ever go to a man's house alone. A man in his house is like a lion in his den. You go in a lion's den if you want to be eaten. You go in a man's house if you want to be disgraced."

Lily muted her mother's voice and offered another question. "It really lasts all day?"

"For three days," Alois stated grimly.

"And there's no way to go anywhere?"

Alois pinched the bridge of his nose and pushed his hair back, realizing, finally, truthfully, "No. You'll, uh- have to stay here."

"Oh." Lily's mother screamed in her head. Her fists tightened over her skirts. Three days? In Alois' house? Alone?

"You can have my bed," Alois said.

"You don't have to do that. It's your house."

A lion's den! Her mother reminded her.

"It's my fault you're stuck here, anyway. I'll just sleep on the floor."

Lily sucked her teeth. "You don't have to sleep on the floor in your own house."

Alois chuckled. "It's my house. I'll sleep where ever the hell I want."

Lily snorted. "Okay, sir."

Something eagerly shuddered in Alois when she called him "sir". But he ignored it and asked if she was hungry. She was.

They examined their score from the market, and found the rice and fish looked appetizing enough for dinner. It was a nice prize, pink and glittering, and Alois began to clean it as Lily began boiling the rice. She was distracted by the rolled-up sleeves exposing the concentrated muscle in his arms, built up over years of training and focus on his gruesome craft. He easily scaled and gutted the fish, an effortless strength that resembled his practiced mastery of the scaffold.