Loid paces the apartment, deep in thought. He had acquired a child, Anya, for his top-secret mission Operation Strix. Now, he just needed to find a ‘wife’ to complete the picture and pose as a complete family for Anya’s admission into Eden College.

But where would he find a woman who was intelligent and cultured enough to play the part, yet still willing to pretend to be married to someone she’d just met? He couldn’t discuss his mission with anyone outside his spy agency, WISE…