If Audrey sensed what he was contemplating, her silence did not let on. He turned from the window and found her looking at him with a flawless poker face. It may have been attentiveness and curiosity to hear what he would say next, or perhaps she was expecting from him what women throughout the ages, often against their better judgment, had expected of men.

I really want to call you to me in a thunderbolt so I can smack you. We’re not even married yet and I want to strangle you with my bare hands. That doesn’t bode well for your life expectancy, Assefa, or my chance of staying out of prison on a homicide charge

My teeth ache, my gums hurt, and my cat is tearing me apart, wanting you in every way imaginable. Your body. Your magic. Your fire spirit. Your blood.

Trust her heart, Assefa, and believe in yourself. No matter the challenge, no matter the foe, be brave, be wise, be the undefeated Mngwa of lore.

Guilt doesn't follow the rules of time. Most things fade with time, regret, eyesight, memories. But guilt feeds on time, and as it feeds, it grows, and when it runs out of time, it begins to gnaw on the guilty.