Page 1451

~~((The 12 Pages of Christmas + Double Monday = Page 5 of 14))~~
Yangéra tilted her avian head at him. ‘You’re surprisingly oblivious when it comes to this sort of thing, aren’t you?’

‘Oh, shut up!’

‘If it makes you feel any better, Elena Salamanca really was not good enough. Especially after what I’ve just learned.’

Diego just palmed his forehead.

‘Think about it. If she thought you wouldn’t be loyal and yet still went as far as becoming your fiancée, then she was obviously just after your money in the first place.’

Another horrible thought occurred to him, and he looked up at Yangéra. ‘Did you have something to do with her leaving me?’

‘Of course not.’

He didn’t stop staring, however. To his eyes, the reaper was a deceptively sweet-looking dove, glowing with a gentle white light, save her eyes, which smoldered with tiny black flames.

‘Diego, I would never do that to you.’

Still, he kept looking at her.

‘She couldn’t even see me. How would I have possibly been able to sabotage your relationship?’

His gaze narrowed. ‘By convincing someone else to do it for you.’

‘Diego, sweetie. You’re talking crazy. Your happiness is too important to me.’

That statement could be taken two different ways, he felt. ‘Yangéra,’ he told her. ‘I am going to look into this later. And you know me. I will find the truth, one way or another. So if you did do something, I’ll be much less upset with you if you tell me right now.’

Her beak twisted as if it were human lips being pursed together.

He tried one more push. ‘Yangéra?’

‘...Okay, it was me.’

‘I FUCKING KNEW IT!’

‘You were too smitten to see what a mistake marrying that woman would’ve been! I had to do something!’

‘You insane asshole!’

‘She didn’t even know how to cook!’

‘Lots of women don’t know how to cook, Yangéra!’

‘Yeah, well, not in MY day! It’s shameful and unbecoming of a proper wife! And she wasn’t even willing to learn, either!’

His anger was only matched by his utter disbelief. ‘That’s it?! Is that the only reason?! Because she couldn’t cook?!’

‘Of course not! That was just the example that epitomized the greater problem!’

‘Which was?!’

‘She treated you like shit! She had no respect for you as a boyfriend or potential husband!’

‘What?! YOU have way less respect for me than she ever did!’

‘Yeah, but the difference is, deep down, I still love you! She was just an ungrateful harlot!’

“Um, excuse me,” came a new voice, and Diego turned to see a Hun’Sho gentleman standing there.

“Yes?” he said almost too calmly, though he shot one last glare at Yangéra. ‘This conversation is NOT over.’

‘Oh, believe me, I can’t wait to continue it!’

“You are the one they call Diego Redwater, no?”

“That’s me. And to whom do I have the honor of speaking?”

“My name is Jasirok.”

“What can I help you with, Jasirok?”

“Forgive me if you have no idea what I am talking about, but I was wondering if you would like to discuss something called the Sosho’Diyu with me.”

Diego’s brow rose.