Zero Pleasure
Copyright© 2026 by Sandra Alek
Chapter 3: Confession in the Dark
The air under the cloak grew thick and humid. Stan felt Hiss’s damp cheek against his chest. In the silence, he heard the fog again—clawing at the stone slab outside with a thousand invisible talons—but the voices were gone.
She shifted, her hair brushing against his face.
“Stan,” her whisper was barely audible. “Don’t go imagining things. I still hate you. And I’ll never forgive you for what you did to me at Yellow Hill.”
Stan closed his eyes. The memory of that rancid oil stench in the roadside inn flooded back, and Hiss—delirious, reeking of that cloying magical honey. Driven mad by fear and loathing.
“I can offer you some comfort,” he grunted, sliding a hand over her hip. “I didn’t enjoy it much either. It was just a dirty job.”
He felt her sharp intake of breath. Her fingers dug hard into his thigh.
“You bastard ... You’re the one soul I’ll kill with a smile on my face.”
“Get in line,” he growled, prying her hand off his leg. “First, we have to make it to morning. The fog hasn’t gone anywhere.”
Hiss fell silent, but he felt her trembling with rage.
“You didn’t even get any pleasure out of it?” her voice had turned quiet.
“Not a damn bit,” Stan lied, staring into the blackness. To admit the truth was to give her power over him. And mercenaries knew: the moment you give a woman power, you’re a dead man.
“I won’t forgive you for that, either,” she breathed, a strange, sharp hurt in her voice.
“For what exactly? The fact that you’re still alive, or the fact that I am?”
“Everything, Stan. All of it.”
She rolled onto her side, taking the edge of the cloak with her. Stan didn’t try to pull it back. He just lay there, listening to her breathe.
“Why are you so quiet?” she asked a minute later.
“Thinking about whether we’ll see tomorrow.”
“We will,” she snapped. “I want to see you die way too badly to let go now.”
“Well, at least you’ve got a goal in life.” He paused for a heartbeat, choosing his words to avoid starting another storm. “By the way, did you notice? As soon as we started ... handling each other, the voices in our heads shut up.”
She shifted, settling in more comfortably. “I did. Who would’ve thought there was a cure like that for the White Blight?”