Chapter 101: Wild (3)
"How many other women do you know to go around stomping on a man’s foot, and then there is the way you dress. That is perfect," Nigel said, giving her a thumbs up after he noticed Rafael’s gaze. Like a predator that set its eyes on its prey it was ready to tear apart.
Nigel pulled on his collar to help himself breathe. "I apologise," he said, his words becoming lost in his throat. He thought nothing could beat the sight of Rafael angry with him, but the little lady in front of him caused pain in his chest.
If there was anything to stab him with on the table, she would be killing him right about now.
"What is with the two of you and these glares? You are perfect-"
"Come with me," Rafael said, grabbing a handful of Nigel’s shirt to pull him off the chair. Nigel was not seated for long, and yet he managed to insult Annalise and make her upset. More upset than the drunk man who held her hand.
Annalise banged her hand on the table. He should not have gotten her so angry so quickly because of two words. She needed to do better at controlling her anger when she heard the word wild being used for her. Barbarian was another issue, but for some reason, hearing wild always upset her. Even if it was being used playfully by one of the other maids.
All she heard were the men back home retelling the stories of the Blackwell guards using those words to insult them.
Annalise took a deep breath to calm herself before Rafael could return. She did not want to explain why what Nigel said had upset her. Annalise looked down at her hands as she relaxed them and spread out her fingers.
For the moment, her anger had passed, and if she were to hear those words again, she would not react. Annalise did not see how someone who did not know where she came from could take one look at her and refer to her as wild. She wasn’t dressed like everyone else in the room, but she was dressed like the common servants on the outside.