Oh, no. No wonder that had gone horribly. Valdis had, effectively, threatened Bakura's family. Raine covered her eyes briefly with one hand, sighing. "Yes, I'm not surprised," she said, resigned. "I would recommend that you avoid him in the future. He will have taken that personally, I think."

But the other woman had likely already come to that conclusion. "Doubly fortunate, then, that the confrontation didn't devolve."