SIGRID

He straightened up from his leaning position, one eyebrow raised, giving me a once-over—I could’ve sworn, even with disgust.

"You can sleep easy, I don’t have the slightest interest in you." The way he said it, so direct and knowing his future, convinced me even more.

"Did you bring what I want?" I asked, watching as he finally pulled out the runes from his pocket, the ones I needed to assemble the artifact. I actually had everything else, that was the only thing missing.

"Here are your pearls," I said, taking off the necklace I wore around my neck, where I’d cleverly hidden them before the fight.

"On the count of three, we make the exchange."

He nodded, stepping closer, one step at a time.

"One… two…" I stared at his hand, waiting to see if he'd pull some trick. "Three!"

I snatched the rune map from him while he quickly grabbed the pearls.

We both sighed, having achieved our goals.

"I’ll get dressed and leave. Pleasure doing business with you," I told him, though honestly, I di