Author's Note: After reading a bunch of fics about these two, I've decided that Anna/Gaius is my new favorite pairing. Seriously, the merchant and the thief—what's not to love about them? Too bad they don't have any supports...
Clairvoyant
.
The coins slip through her fingers as smoothly as water, their jingling like a melody to her ears. Her lips move silently, counting the money with a voracious sort of desire. This is her paradise. She hums a little to herself and leans back into her chair, admiring the way the coins twinkle in the dim light of the candle.
All of a sudden, the river of money stops, and the last coins fall to the table with a clatter. The redheaded girl is jerked to reality, abruptly torn from her daydreams. She frowns with dissatisfaction.
Not enough.
Not even half of yesterday's profits.
Brushing off her pants, Anna gets up and lets out a deep sigh. She has some work to do.
.
They know her as the friendly, perky merchant girl, also a more than capable fighter, who owns all the best merchandise. Not a bad image at all. In fact, it always works to her advantage when she's selling her wares. Trustworthiness, while superficial and intangible, is an essential quality for a merchant to have.
It's a good thing, then, that they never catch the mischievous shine in her eye, the sly quirk of her lips, her trademark finger to the chin whenever she's planning something.
More than anything, her success depends on trust.
Too bad she's not very trustworthy.
.
"Thanks for shopping!" she calls with a smile to her latest customers. "Come again!" She never imagined that skin cream and body wash and perfume would be so lucrative—they've been selling by the dozens today. There are only a few more jars left, so now she can raise prices.
Probably because of the war, she guesses. The whole army is stressed out, and nobody has had much time to worry about his or her appearance lately. That makes Anna's "magical" skin cream all the more appreciated. Profits are soaring today! She bounces a little on her toes, unable to contain her excitement.
"Rip people off much?"
Never mind.
A familiar whisper tickles her ear—bold, shameless. As the mystery person's lips slightly brush her earlobe, the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and a tingle goes down her spine.
She doesn't have to turn around to know who it is. Inwardly, she glowers. She hates when he does this to her, but puts an effervescent smile on her face anyway. Merchants have to be cool, charismatic.
"Oh hey, Gaius!" She whirls around and beams up at him, finger resting on her chin. "If you're in a shopping mood, I have just the kind of stuff that you'd love!"
A lollipop dangles from his lips, moving as he opens his mouth to speak. "Sorry, not interested." On his face is the usual smirk he wears whenever she talks to him, the one that always makes her want to punch him.
"You sure?" she persists. "We just got some new items in!"
Gaius doesn't reply, just twirls his lollipop in a phlegmatic manner. He's the only one who can see through her sales gimmicks, something that annoys her to no end. Finally, Anna can't stand it anymore and scowls at him, letting her perky face drop.
"What do you want? I'm in the middle of something, if you can't tell."
"In the middle of cheating people out of their money? Gotcha, Red."
"Ha, you're one to talk." Practically nothing fazes her, so she doesn't miss a beat. "You're probably just jealous that I'm not paying enough attention to you, or something."
He snorts. "Jealous? Yeah, right."
Anna just glares at him.
Gaius puts his hands up in mock surrender. "Whoa there. I know I'm incredibly sexy, but you don't have to check me out so much."
This renders her momentarily speechless, and she scrambles for words. "Shut up." She tries to hide her rapidly reddening face, and instead flashes another radiant smile at him. "Are you positive you don't want anything?"
A diversion, but he doesn't fall for it.
"Hey, stop lying to yourself. You want me—you know you do." Gaius grins his infuriating grin, and Anna can feel herself melting like chocolate in the sun. She shakes her head vehemently, gripping her bag of money all the more tighter, imagining it's his throat that she's choking.
She hates him, can't stand looking at him and his stupid face. Only he knows who she really is, the wily girl beneath her peppy, cheerful facade, and he doesn't fall for any of her tricks. Way to ruin a merchant's reputation.
She can't lose her composure, not now. Anna scowls, and stalks away with a huff, knowing that he's smirking at her behind her back. She seriously can't stand that guy. She despises the way everyone else in the army whispers about the two of them being an item, because they're so not. She hates how he always teases her about it, how utterly annoying he is.
No doubt about it, she does not have feelings for Gaius. Not at all.
So why is her heart pounding so hard?