“What do you want me to do?” she typed back to Hector.

“Keep sending reports. We have a plan in formation. Within two weeks, we’ll be able to assassinate him.”

That thrilled her to no end. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. We have agents already in place. It’s just a matter of finding the right opportunity.”

And then Darling Cruel would join the rest of his sick family in hell.

10

By the time Zarya was through with her “prep,” she was ready to hunt Darling down and make him pay with blood. A herd of so-called grooming women had descended on her like locusts. They had plucked, shaved, and “honed” areas of her body that no one other than Darling, her, and one other boyfriend had ever touched.

It was absolutely awful.

One woman had even rouged and flavored her nipples, and Zarya was trying real hard to forget what they’d done to another part of her.

Gah, was that ever going to itch when it grew back…

If that wasn’t bad enough, she was going to be “schooled” on how to pleasure Darling, and how to perform erotic dances for him.

Her classes would start tomorrow.

Could they offend me any more? Probably. But she hoped to not find out for sure anytime soon.

At least they’d finally left her alone in the bathroom with Gera. Now she sat at the ornately carved vanity table while the older woman brought over a mirrored tray littered with beautiful bottles, and set it in front of her.

Zarya frowned at the collection. The perfume bottles strangely reminded her of jewels, and some of them were encrusted with stones she was pretty sure were real. “What’s all of this?”

“Scents the governor has approved.”

Oh no, Gera didn’t say that…

Did she?

“Excuse me?”

Gera held up a tiny blue bottle and removed the glass stopper. “This one should blend well with your natural scent. Care to smell it?” She waved the stopper near Zarya’s nose.

Zarya started to protest until she caught a whiff of it. Yeah, okay, it did smell great. She couldn’t even begin to describe it. While she’d smelled perfumes before, none of them could compare to this one. “What is that?”

“It’s called Kiss.”

Well that explained it. “The really expensive perfume?”

“Yes.”

No wonder they charged so much. Normally, Zarya despised perfumes of any kind. They made her sneeze and gave her headaches. But this one was very subtle and…

Yummy.

Gera smiled in satisfaction. “The trick to wearing perfume correctly is to only apply enough that if someone else can smell it, they’d better be intimate with you. A fragrance should never linger without you in an area after you’ve left it. Rather it should be a subtle reminder that only stays on your pillow or clothes, and only when your lover’s face is buried in them.”