The Assassin (1)

The Viper.

If I wasn’t drinking a large cup of intensely caffeinated espresso, I would think I was dreaming. I was looking right at Romanos Giannelli—or at least what he would look like if he was a young woman. Lyra took after him nearly as strikingly as Angelika took after Hyacinth. She had her father’s looks and her mother’s personality. I had been in the diner for only half an hour but I could tell it from the way she interacted with customers.

Hyacinth had always been a bundle of joy with enough contagious smiles to melt the coldest of hearts. She was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dull universe. When I first met Angelika, I was dumbstruck by how cold and emotionless Hyacinth’s daughter had turned out to be. Now I saw where the genetic lottery cast all of Hyacinth’s joyousness.

“Can I get you anything else?” She asked out of the blue. I was staring at her so hard that I didn’t notice her coming nearer until she was right before me.

“Oh.” I glanced down at my coffee. “Ask me