Arc 5: Chapter 15: The Brazen Woods
One we were back out in the hall, Catrin reached out to grab my arm. Her fingers curled around my left elbow, an almost unconscious habit she’d kept for most of the time we’d known one another.
“Hey big man, slow down. You look pissed.”
I stopped, gritting my teeth. “I am pissed.”
Catrin stepped up to my side, pressing close. It seemed a very intimate position, one she didn’t usually take in front of others, but when a heavyset lordling passed us with a woman on either arm I understood.
I calmed down, getting myself under control. People are watching.
Even still, I couldn’t quite keep the bitter edge from my voice. “That man is sick. The way he talks about you and the others, like…”
I couldn’t even put it into words.
“Like we’re pieces of meat?” Catrin asked in a quiet voice.
I glanced at her serious face, then nodded sharply.
“That’s every pimp across the sphere of the world,” Catrin told me with mild reprimand. “And he was probably playing it up to get under your skin. He’s a creep, Al, but he’s no Orson Falconer. Don’t let him shove you around.”
“He had this woman with him,” I said. “She almost seemed the worse of the pair.”