章 167: It's a world class menagerie

"Tell me, Dragonslayer, what is THIS?" Avarice made a broad gesture that could've been pointing out at either Ghost, Panda or Andrey, or maybe all of them at once. "I asked you to come. I expected her to be there," she jabbed her finger at me, "because for whatever reason the two of you appear to be closer than it's wise, but what is this… menagerie?"

"Mistress, please, calm down. You have to keep yourself together," her loyal bodyguard Alexey spoke from Avarice's side. One of his hand laid on Avarice's arm in a supportive gesture that invoked in me thoughts of "appearing closer than it's wise". These two certainly did right now, as weird as it was to imagine.

Neither of them looked their best, I had to say. Avarice's homely dress was crumbled and torn in several places. Her demeanour was a complete opposite of the well-composed and self-assured loan shark I knew. She kept clenching and unclenching her fists, and her jaw was clenched tight.