Pate was midway through explaining how the ranking system worked in this world when the door slammed open hard enough to rattle its glass-and-metal frame.
Three men walked in.
Not thugs this time — bigger, better armed, moving with coordination that came from doing this exact thing more than once. The lead one scanned the room until his eyes landed on Pate.
"There you are."
Pate went pale.
"Oh no." He said it under his breath, mug forgotten in his hand. "Oh no, no, no."
"Friend of yours?" I asked, already knowing the answer wasn't going to matter.
"Debt collectors from the Serpentile Guild." He wasn't looking at me anymore.
He was looking for the nearest exit, calculating angles like a man who'd run this math before and lost. "I owe their boss. It's — it's a long story, I was going to pay it back, I just needed a little more time—"
