“Aren’t you a knight, Valor?” she asked, turning her frown to him instead of Finn. She didn’t like seeing that look from Finn and was glad for the excuse to turn away.
“I am, and your point is?” Valor answered with a raised eyebrow, looking unperturbed.
“Aren’t you supposed to defend the weak?” she asked. Her violet eyes narrowed and she did her best to stare him down.
“Weak yes, weak obnoxious perverts, no. It’s a flexible code really,” Valor replied and glanced over to Finn who was no longer attempting to prod her along. He wore a look of resignation instead.
“Fine. If you two won’t do anything, I will,” she said, glaring at both of them. “I’m not afraid of Cassia,” she added, turning to head toward the crowd.
“It’s not that we are afraid,” Valor began, sounding rather indignant.
“Don’t bother. Let’s just get this over with,” Finn said, cutting him off. She heard him fall into step behind her. His irritation washed over her through their link and her frown deepened.
The dark haired man turned to regard them as they approached and quickly stepped back from the crowd making his way toward Finn. He was dressed finely in black and gold and had the look of nobility about him, though Jala didn’t know of any houses that held those colors as their own. She barely spared him a second glance as Marrow cleared a path to the center. She tried not to smile as people scrambled out of the Bendazzi’s way. It was rather satisfying to see their discomfort, though. Most around the Academy tried desperately to ignore the Bendazzi from a distance, but once the cat got close their terror of him was obvious.
Don’t feel bad about wanting to smile. I’m having to fight down the urge to snarl just to see them run for shelter. I think it would be much simpler for both of us if I just eat Cassia, Marrow, said his amusement clear in his tone.
“Just tell me where he is, Madren. Stop lying. I know you know where he went.” Cassia’s voice cut through the crowd’s murmur like a whip.
“I don’t, though,” Madren said in a whimper.
Stepping around the last few people, Jala saw Madren hanging limp between two men she didn’t know. They held him firmly by the arms, preventing him from fleeing. Madren’s face was a ruin. His eyes were blackened and lips broken and bleeding. From the looks of him they had been at this sport for a while. A third man stood by Cassia with a smile stretched across his handsome face. He had the same delicate bone structure as Cassia and hair that was a deep gold. The sleeves to his red shirt were rolled up to the elbows and the skin on his knuckles was torn.
“You must truly be a masochist,” the man drawled, pulling his arm back for another swing at the helpless Madren.
“I thought brawling in Sanctuary held penalty of death,” Jala called loudly before the man could strike again.
All attention turned to regard her. Most of the gazes were cold but a few held curiosity.
“Is this the peasant whore who has been causing you such trouble, sister?” the man asked, looking Jala over as if she were a horse up for sale. He stepped toward her and smiled coldly, “Not a bad package,” he said in low tones.
“Release Madren. This is ridiculous. It’s like beating a child, Cassia,” Jala said, ignoring the man.
“Shall we question you instead, peasant girl? I have to say that would be infinitely more entertaining for me,” Cassia purred. As usual she was dressed impeccably and her every move drew attention to her beauty.
Num, num, dead bitch, full Bendazzi, there is no down side here, Marrow said as he moved forward to stand between Jala and Cassia’s far too attentive brother.
“I think you will find me much harder to subdue than Madren. He doesn’t fight back,” Jala warned. She felt Marrow tense beside her and knew if this went violent someone would die, the Bendazzi would see to that.
“Oh, and she is feisty too,” the blond man said with a grin and started to move toward her again, though he was keeping a respectful eye on Marrow as he did so.
“One more step, Nate, and I’ll send you back to daddy in pieces,” Finn’s voice came from behind her and he quickly stepped up beside Marrow who was now crouching, waiting the moment to pounce.
“And I’ll cover up the mess nicely so the Justicars never hear of it,” Valor said, cheerfully stepping up to stand on her other side. Jala contained her sigh of relief and smiled pleasantly at Cassia. “Please release Madren. He doesn’t know what you want him to tell you,” she tried again, keeping her voice calm.
“Finn dear, I really don’t think you want to be involved in this. Try to retain some of your reputation, please. When I offered you money to befriend the little whore I really didn’t think you would take it this far. I just wanted her away from Shade,” Cassia said, her voice dripping with contempt. A few whispers and muffled laughter filtered through the crowd and Cassia smiled with satisfaction.
“My wife is not a whore and I take great offense in you calling her that.” He paused as a louder ripple of chatter ran through the crowd at his words. “If you really want to talk about whores though, we can, Cassia,” he said, once the noise died down again.
Cassia smiled at him and shook a delicate finger at him as if scolding a child. “Be careful, Finn,” she warned, and then broke into merry laughter. “Oh, I’m sorry, I just can’t believe you married the peasant. How quaint, an exile and a peasant. Your children will be true gutter rats,” she said, her voice still choked with giggles.
“Better a peasant than a High born slut,” Valor said, bringing the laughter to an abrupt end and silence to the crowd.
“This has absolutely nothing to do with you Valor,” Cassia snarled coldly.
“No, it doesn’t Val. I’ll have to agree with her there. This has to do with Cassia and her unhealthy obsession with my wife,” Finn said with a sigh. Turning his attention to Valor he smiled wistfully. “In for a copper, in for a gold eh,” he said and drew a cigarette from the pocket of his coat.