When Shade approached with a frown, the stranger beckoned, signaling for him to sit. Only then did Shade notice the white bone ring shaped like a skull on the man's loose, waterlogged, peeling fingers of his right hand. A small section of a snake head protruded from the skull's mouth.
"I've been waiting for you."
The stranger's eyes lit up. Though his voice was thick with exhaustion, his tone became somewhat lighter:
"Sit down. It'll be easier to discuss things once all three of you are here."
He spoke with an exceptionally standard Tobesk accent.
Careful.
"Her" voice sounded beside his ear. Shade hesitated, glanced at the two princesses, and then sat across from the strange man.
The man tapped the table and stared into Shade's eyes.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Victor Fanni."
He tilted his head slightly to one side.
"I know you've been investigating me. You found things quickly, so don't investigate me again."
After a brief pause, he added softly:
"Otherwise, I'll kill you."
Dorothy and Princess Margaret both looked displeased. Shade stared into his pitch-black eyes.
"Oh?"
It was merely an interjection.
The man calling himself Victor Fanni nodded.
"If you're willing to do business with me, I would be delighted. But if you dare investigate me again, I'll make everyone in this world forget that you ever existed."
He spoke as though preparing to stand, apparently unwilling to waste any more time here, but Shade stopped him.
"Is your true name really Victor Fanni?"
His half-risen movement abruptly froze. The man calling himself "Victor Fanni" stared at Shade with those strange eyes.
"I am very skilled at manipulating people's emotions, usurping power from self-proliferating desires."
He spoke softly, then sat back down.
"Greed, lust, immortality."
His eyes remained fixed on Shade.
"But