Zaeryn watched Leia climb the stairs, and he listened to her footsteps until a door closed somewhere above him and there was nothing left to listen to.
The smile went out of his face. He had thrown that last line at her as a jab and she had walked off before it landed, which meant it had cost him the effort and bought him nothing at all. Now that she was gone, he found there was very little reason left for him to be sitting in this lounge. The project was finished.
The account could be written from anywhere in the sector, and the woman who owned this house had told him plainly to get out of it, and he had never been in the habit of staying somewhere he had been told he was not wanted.
He was already turning over how to excuse himself when Rhenna spoke from the seat beside him.
