‘I imagine Malik and I going at it on his desk in the Bureau. We’re new lovers, and it’s finally sunk in that I chose HIM over anyone else, so he’s half-smug, half-stunned. Suddenly, Altaïr bursts in, having not bothered to knock. Malik gets mad, but then has an idea. He asks me, ‘Do you mind an audience, habibti?’, then after I say I don’t if he doesn’t, snarls at Altaïr ‘Either stay and watch or leave, Novice, but choose swiftly!’. He stays, and Malik proves I had good reason to choose him.’

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