Harmione was not what I expected.
She was warm. Easy to talk to. The kind of person who made conversation feel like it had always been happening and you had just arrived at the part that mattered. I understood immediately why Vince kept her close and why he had never let her past a certain point. Some people are kept precisely because of what they make a room feel like.
"So you're from the Stray town?" she asked. "Heard most Hogsby people grew up there."
She was smiling. The kind that might have been her nature or might have been the specific warmth of someone who was genuinely enjoying where the conversation was going. I couldn't tell yet. I was going to find out.
"Not the Stray town," I said. "I come from worse."
"Worse?" She tilted her head. "What's worse than the Stray town?"
"Outside the walls."
