Chapter 2 is out!
Professional Courtesy
dav; lucanis/rook
Illario ignored him blithely and rattled off a list of sharp but no less obnoxious observations: "You're more clean-shaven than usual, your hair freshly trimmed. Your clothes are still all-black and boring, but that is one of the nicer shirts meant to accentuate, not just to look professional; the cuffs hit just right to reveal your wrists and the collar is freshly starched. Why, you've even left an extra button undone!" Illario pounded the table with his fist triumphantly. "You've met someone." A feeling of dread came over Lucanis. Illario was a fool and a philanderer but he read people surprisingly well, and his own cousin even more so. Lucanis said evasively, "We meet many people in our line of work." Yes, they were usually dead after, but this didn't make it less true. Illario took one look at his mostly stoic expression and, damn him, a look of incredulity broke out across his face. "You've met someone you like, someone you want to impress."