Long Kiss, The

"The Long Kiss" was published in the anthology Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues.

About this story, author Clay Sanger says, "I have a special love for scoundrels. Where the line between hero and villain gets blurry, anything is possible. That's what makes them such compelling characters. When you root for the bad guy, you never know what you're going to get. 'The Long Kiss' is fundamentally a story about choices and consequences. Scoundrels by nature are well versed in that equation. Staying ahead in that calculation is how they pay the bills, after all. But sometimes ambition and deceit muddies the waters. Desire and desperation become perfect poisons. Duty and honor turn to guilt and wrath. Rising up and crumbling down, 'The Long Kiss' is a tale where all of these collide in gold and blood."