Starglow Basin phantasma

she says nothing.

no lodging complaint. no protest.

but he can sense she is shaken all the same, as she sweeps away in a gown of bridal whites almost too pure to be sullied by the carnal mess of childbirth.

soto watches her go.

juarez eclipses his thoughts.

you could fuck her, you know. he offers sagely, picking at something between his crooked teeth. soto ignores the apparition, but it does not leave. put babies in her yourself. raise them; teach them the omerta. finish what we started. his brother leans close with a hideous grin.

none of that shit like with marciela.

a fresh start.

soto snaps his head back in an abrupt shake that sends juarez's shape disintegrating into smoke. no mas, he thinks. no mas phantasmas.

he decides to return to the stone quarter; verapaz needs a fresh well.