With Greta, everything had changed; with Greta, he had someone with him, someone to lean against, someone to catch him when he fell: a partner to share his days and nights with, to rely on, to trust.

His general pattern of behavior in earlier phases of his existence had been predicated upon moving every few years once he’d sufficiently enraged the populace to bring on the torch-and-pitchfork brigade; he’d find somewhere new to settle down under a new name, buy an expensive house, throw money around, and start harassing local maidens all over again.