Set sometime after the Royal Menagerie, except Zenos lives, and the whole Elidibus possessing his body thing doesn't happen. Instead, he is held in Ala Mhigo until he is suitably recovered to stand trial. Karma has terrible taste in men.
The door slams shut with enough force it rattles on its hinges. Karma tries very, very hard not to sigh. He doesn't succeed because staring up at him is Zenos, his amusement obvious in the slight upturn of his reddened, kiss-swollen lips, the narrowing of his eyes.
He's so unbelievably smug. It's infuriating.
"I hate you," Karma tells him genuinely, muttering choice expletives under his breath as he climbs off of Zenos' lap and makes for the door. Zenos has nothing to say for himself—then again, he hasn't been able to speak since he awoke restrained to a bed in Ala Mhigo, bandages wrapped so thick around his neck they threaten suffocation, the wound underneath still on the mend, not yet fully healed.
Surprise, surprise, slicing open your own throat has consequences.
(As does keeping secrets you shouldn't be keeping.)