"No thanks."
Kai shook the stone fragments off his shoulder.
"How's it going?" Aldric said, without looking up from the newspaper. "Did you win yet?"
Kai looked at the hole in the floor he'd come up through.
"Meh."
He shrugged nonchalantly.
Aldric nodded.
"Understood." He folded the newspaper carefully and set it on the desk.
"Why are you reading the newspaper instead of taking shelter?"
"I do it every morning. I don't like starting the day without reading and having coffee, though." He picked up his cup.
"Circumstances forced me to settle for last week's."
---
The hole in the floor widened.
Lira emerged.
Her black hair perfectly in place despite everything.
The dress with the cut on the shoulder Vayne had made hours earlier, the only visible sign of combat on her person.
Her eyes found Kai immediately.
She lunged.
---
Kai moved.
The first dodge came by centimeters.
The space was wider here.
More obstacles.
