293 [Bonus chapter] Guard Your Heart

~ ASH ~

Zara was fucking adorable.

It bothered her that her parents didn't invite me to sit at the dining table with them. She was so clearly modern, while trying not to be, it was ridiculous. They'd done a terrible job training her for this. Or maybe she was just one of those people who couldn't quite shake the place and culture they'd come from.

I'd worked with a few men like that. They'd been sent here by the Physicists to train, and ended up only causing greater suspicion because they were just far too… modern.

They never learned to play the game.

Clearly Zara hadn't either, but she was at least aware of it, I thought. Self-conscious about it, anyway.

That was okay, I could help her with that. I could help her with a lot. Because it was also clear that she had no clue just how deeply her father's power ran, or what he'd done to get her here.