An Unexpected Visit

**Shaira’s POV**

Assu didn’t wake up until almost dawn. I heard him moving and got up from the makeshift cot I had on the floor. Soon it would be morning, and I had to leave for work at the doctor’s house.

“Shaira. I didn’t hear you come back,” he said.

“You were drinking again,” I said, with thinly veiled reproach in my voice.

Although I owed my life to Assu, I was also paying a high price for his, and even though we were only married in name, I expected him to help me with what I was facing alone.

“I’m sorry, yes. It’s this idleness, not being able to get up because of the wound, but I promise I won’t drink today. How did it go at the doctor’s house?”

I didn’t tell Assu what that horrible man had tried, extending the time I owed him in service. That would only worry him and might even drive him to do something reckless.

“It was better than I expected,” I lied. “Although I can’t say he’s employer of the year, he spent the day holed up in his study, and we barely saw each other.”

“Still, you have to stay alert. At any moment, he might try to take advantage if he sees your guard down. Are you still carrying the knife?”

I nodded in the darkness before asking a question whose answer I already knew but felt the need to ask anyway—it was a topic I needed an update on.

“Do you know anything about Angro?”

Assu rubbed his face, trying to shake off the traces of alcohol still lingering in his body.

“No, I haven’t heard anything.”

“Could you find out what happened?”

“Yes. I promise I’ll look into it.”

Finally, I stood up and ate some of the travel provisions Assu had in his pack and which I’d been surviving on for two days.

“And about our marriage…”

I hinted at the topic without asking anything specific.

Assu got up carefully, still sore and making sure not to reopen his wound.

“I don’t know if it’s wise to undo it right now, Shaira,” he said, a little hesitation in his voice. I immediately became defensive.

“You promised, Assu.”

“I know, and it’s not that I don’t want to keep my word, but now that you’re stuck working for that doctor, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to separate.”

“What do you mean? What does that have to do with the promise you made?” I asked, a bit furious.

The last thing I needed was for Assu to backtrack on his promise and try to keep me tied to him.

“If I make that public declaration and end our marriage, the man you’re working for might feel emboldened to act, you understand? As long as you’re my wife, he might think twice before trying anything. I’m not saying being married will stop him for sure, but knowing you’re protected, that a ‘savage,’ as he calls us, will seek revenge if he wrongs you might make him think again. But if I make the public rejection, he’ll see you as a defenseless woman, maybe even shunned by your former partner. That could encourage him.”

I had to admit that Assu’s reasoning wasn’t entirely without merit. While being married might not fully prevent the doctor from doing anything to me, he could feel encouraged if he learned I no longer had a husband to back me up.

“So, you’re saying I’ll stay married to you until I pay off my debt to the doctor?”

The idea bothered me. It felt like being tied to two men at once, and while Assu couldn’t be compared to that horrible man who had saved his life through the blood transfusion, if I was going to be with Assu, it should be by my choice.

“I don’t want it to be that way, Shaira, but I don’t see another option. Understand that if we hadn’t needed that man’s help, I would’ve made the declaration yesterday. I swear I would have.”

I knew Assu was being honest, and the situation weighed on him too. I sighed as I once again considered the simplest option to put an end to all this, but before deciding, I needed to know what had happened in Zuwua, whether Angro had managed to recover the helmet that implicated me. I needed to know if he was alright before I could focus on saving myself.

“Please, Assu, find out what happened with Angro, whether he managed to catch Omawit and take the helmet.”

Assu nodded.

“I give you my word I’ll get news today.”

I finished eating and got ready to leave.

“And, please, Assu, don’t drink today.”

“You have my word on that too.”

I walked back to the doctor’s house, turning over what the woman who had led me to him had suggested—telling that scoundrel who I really was. I was tempted to see his face when I told him I was actually a warrior from the eteri fortress, and if I found out he took any action against Assu, I’d pay him a very unpleasant visit. But to make that revelation, I needed to be sure Angro was safe and that Omawit wouldn’t try to accuse him again because of me.

When I arrived at the house, I noticed the doctor was still asleep. I didn’t bother waking him and began preparing breakfast the traditional way. He woke up just as I was finishing, and to my surprise, ate in silence. I started cleaning, and by mid-morning, while I was still on the first floor, I heard a knock at the door. As I stood to answer it, I saw the doctor coming down from his study in a hurry. I let him open it, and fortunately, I did because I saw two eteri soldiers in uniform step inside.

I hid immediately and slipped out of the house through the back door, hoping the doctor wouldn’t notice my absence, but as I walked away through the fields, I realized I needed to hear what they were talking about.

Had the doctor called them because he suspected my identity?

Or was it related to Assu and his illegal weapons trade?

Convinced I needed to listen, I sneaked back into the house and crept toward the living room where they were gathered, listening carefully to what the doctor and the soldiers might be discussing.