The trading courtyard was bustling with activity when Hesi and the other women got there, tailed by a whole entourage of Mayaware maids. Heads turned, eyes gaped, and mouths hung open the moment they passed through. Like the sea parting, the crowd stepped aside, pressing themselves closer to the traders' tents and tables (much to the chagrin of the ones in and behind them) to give way to the Prince's brides.

Hesi tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, grateful for Barteset for agreeing to braid it before they went out. She didn't want her hair getting into anything the traders might be selling. True enough, the smell of spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and turmeric was thick in the air especially when they reached the center of the courtyard. By then, the spectators had dwindled to a few looks every once in a while. That's the only time Hesi felt safe to browse for what she really wanted out of this trip.

"Look," Mensa pointed east, to a tent with pink and yellow flaps bearing a low table bedecked with gleaming gems and ornaments. "I haven't seen a rich collection like that in a long time."

Hesi resisted rolling her eyes. By "last time", Mensa meant last week. This was a common occurrence for the bridal palace and most of the time, Hesi stayed behind to scour the palace for more hidden paths with less guards as Kharta would have wanted. This time, however, she decided to tag along. She might find something worthwhile in a pile of gleaming junk.

As the other women dragged poor Barteset into the jewelry tent with a frowning merchant behind the table, Hesi stepped back and waited for a throng of mules and carts pulled by horses to cover her until she was sure the brides didn't notice her disappearance. Then, she turned to the tent with its flaps closed.

It was a curious thing to do. In a courtyard full of potential customers, if one was a merchant looking for profit, one would have thrown the flaps high and even higher. This particular tent, though, had it down and if it could sew the flaps shut, it would have.

She tilted her head and stalked towards it, willing a little bit of sunlight to pass through the thin canvas cloth the tent was made of. Hopefully, she could see the number of people inside through their silhouettes. When she got in front of the tent, a hand reached out and cracked the flap with a meager slit. "Yes?"

Hesi cleared her throat when a lump suddenly formed inside it. "Uh, are you selling something?" With the cloth of the tent muffling the voice to a certain degree, she couldn't tell if it was male or female.

The hand beckoned her forward and disappeared back inside. She looked behind her and saw only more Mayaware and human merchants and customers milling about. No sign of the other brides or their demonic maids. With a light shrug, she drew the tent's flap back and ducked inside.

"Welcome," a woman with a hefty turban wrapped around her hair said. She twined her fingers atop a low rosewood table and Hesi couldn't help but notice that her nails were painted a different color each. "I hope my wares could satisfy a Royal Consort."

A cough burst out of Hesi's lip which she blocked with a close fist. "I..yes," she wiped her mouth and smiled at the merchant. She didn't see many women traders in the desert so this was something new. "Let's see it."

The woman nodded and braced a knee to pull herself up. As she strode to a chest east of the tent space, Hesi ran through her memory for merchants dressed in colorful knee-length tunics, huge turbans with red or white feathers stuck in the middle, and flat-soled boots with the tip curled. Where had she seen this specific style?

"Here we go," the woman placed a gilded box painted gold and red on the table. "I think you'll like this judging from your physique and the fire in your eyes."

Hesi knitted her eyebrows. Was this how shopping was supposed to go every time? Shouldn't it be the other way around, with her saying what she wanted to the merchant and the merchant getting it for her?

All of that vanished from her mind when the woman lifted the lid and the first thing Hesi's eyes registered was the pointed tip glistening with the scant light making it through the tent's cloth sides. It's...

"From the dunes of Ser-Ib, slayer of a thousand," the woman announced with a certain flair Hesi only heard in traders and merchants. "I present to you: the Moonslayer."

Hesi bit down on her lip to keep her laugh to herself. It's rude even though the name was as ridiculous as the trader's attempt to overstate its importance. She leaned in to inspect the blade. But still...

It was a dagger whose blade was as long as Hesi's arm. Its hilt lathered with marbled rubies and its guard was made with interlocking metal strips to form a shape resembling a snake twisted in on itself, just without the head. Beautiful. It was beautiful.

"How much for this?" Hesi blurted, her hands already itching to the bag of nakti tied by her belt.

The woman clicked her tongue, moving a finger from side to side. "Not so fast, young consort," she said, leaning forward and almost bumping her nose against Hesi's. "I don't accept filthy nakti made from the gold mines who employ human slaves."

Hesi gulped and let go of the bag of money beside her. "Then what do you require?" She didn't even know why but all she knew was that she must get that dagger.

"Something more valuable than gold and gems," the woman tapped her chin. "It's entirely your choice. Convince me."

That's a crap marketing tactic but Hesi had no choice but to bite the bait and swallow it whole. "Something more valuable than gold..." she rubbed her chin and tucked another loose strand of hair behind her ear. Then, she paused.

Wait.

Something more valuable than gold, huh?

"How about human hair?" Hesi laid a hand on the table and leaned forward.

The merchant blinked. "Sorry?"

Hesi undid Barteset's braid by pulling off the single pin holding it together. Waist-length hair tumbled in waves and almost touched the soles of her sandals with her folded legs. "I hear human hair costs a ton in other territories," she said, mentally thanking the countless foreign merchants she lounged with during her years in the desert. "Is it used for ah..." she looked up at the tent's pinion and pretended to think. "Crowns to adorn the heads of queens."

"Ayeh, you know your trade-talk," the woman grinned, showing at least three teeth plated with gold. "I'll take it."

Hesi grinned. "Great."

Then, before the merchant could react, Hesi grabbed the hilt of the dagger, grasped her hair with her other hand, and placed the dagger near the back of her neck. Then, she slashed outwards.

It was quiet but something dropped into her stomach when she watched the shortened strands of hair swing past her cheek and tickle her neck. She froze, her fingers still clasped around the long strands which once have been attached to her head and around the hilt of the dagger glinting in the sunlight.

"Wow, that's..."

"Deal's done!" a hand swept for the hair in Hesi's fingers and pried it cleanly. "Out you go with your new blade. Shoo!"

Hesi stuttered as she was shoved backwards until she had to duck to avoid hitting the tent's poles and end up making it fall down. The woman shoved the dagger's box and a nondescript scabbard into her arms as she went. "Thank y—"

The tent's flap dropped in front of her face.

Okay. Nice trade.

Hesi shook her head, blinking her eyes both to hasten their adjustment in the bright, outside light and to debrief herself that, yes, she just traded years' worth of hair for a dagger she didn't even need or would ever use. It's really not part of the plan.

When the other women found Hesi after smoothing most of the merchants' tables free of combs and necklaces, they each gave a hearty gasp seeing her bobbed hair. And it didn't stop until she reached the bridal palace and until she knocked on Kharta's door that night.

He opened the door and his eyebrows rose and his lips parted ever so slightly. "Oh," he blinked and scratched his eyes. "It's you."

He stepped aside to let her in and she sauntered through. She propped herself on the same table she had been leaning on since she found Kharta's quarters, tilted her head aside, and smiled. "It's me."

Kharta rubbed the back of his neck, propping his other hand on his hip. "What, uh...happened with..." he gestured vaguely to his head then pointed to her.

"Oh," Hesi's fingers reached up and rubbed the sheared ends of her hair. It was shorter than any length she had worn before so it's lighter. For a while, she felt freed. "I traded it for a dagger."

Kharta knitted his eyebrows. "Sorry?"

She propped the satchel she brought with her on the table and brought out the sheathed dagger. "This," she waved it in Kharta's face. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"You didn't think this through, didn't you?"

Hesi chuckled. "You know me," she jerked her chin in his direction. "Of course, I didn't."

"Let me see if it's worth the price of your hair," Kharta extended his hand towards her and she passed him the dagger. He unsheathed it halfway. Then, he froze.

"Is something wrong?" she edged off the table and approached him. "You're not speaking. There's something wrong."

Then, a huge smile broke into Kharta's face—brighter and more genuine than any of the other ones he showed her over the course of their being together. "Are you kidding me? This is the best thing that could happen!" he yelled, his voice echoing in the room even when he told her in a dead-serious grimace to never do that a few weeks ago. Hesi flinched when Kharta grabbed her by the shoulders. "I don't know how this is possible but this is the answer to our problems!"

Hesi knitted her eyebrows. "Wait, is that...?"

"A huurshe blade," he dropped his voice to a whisper so soft Hesi had to lean in only to have his breath tickling her ear. "Huurshe."

Oh.

Oh.

She met his eyes with her own widened ones. "Oh gods, for real?" she covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her gasp.

"For real!" Kharta threw his arms around her and kissed her cheek. He hefted the dagger into the air and gave it a little shake. "This...this is the key we've been missing!"

He looked at her and tucked her hair behind her ear. "You are amazing," he said, his eyes shining with hope that filled Hesi's emptying well inside her. "Even if this is just by accident."

"Don't mention it," Hesi said. "What do we do with it?"

Kharta stalked to his table which Hesi had resorted to naming "the potion table" and held a vial of the Mayaware poison to her face. "We could coat the blade with this and it's instant death for the demons! How wonderful is that?"

"Ah-ha," Hesi forced herself to choke out even though a mysterious twinge wormed itself into her gut. "Yes. It is wonderful."

Kharta could have danced his way back to his potion table but all Hesi felt was dread. What was this? She should be glad they have the final piece of their plan. She should be joining Kharta in welcoming the end of the Mayaware's reign. So why...

Why was she feeling like she's the worst person in the world for doing it?

That same thought was in her mind well until she made it back to the bridal palace to find the girls and Barteset snoring softly in their deep sleep. A strip of envy blazed in Hesi's stomach. For someone in the midst of demons who could tear them apart and with one almost doing so, they sure could sleep and have been doing better and better at it.

Hesi climbed into her cushion and drew her blanket to her chin. She looked up at the bare stone ceiling on top of them. Reckoning would come shortly like it must. The next time she sees the Prince, she needs to get it into her head that she's going to drive that dagger into his heart. She closed her eyes and turned to the side when her breath turned erratic and her heartbeat quickened.

She didn't like one drop of it compared to the first time she first stepped foot inside this fortress. Because the next time she would look into the Prince's slitted eyes and the next time she would hear his gentle voice, she would have to kill him.