Re-l found his defensiveness irritating - as though he were better than her because he'd allowed himself to become even more entangled in this stupid world than she was - but she pushed the feeling away. Gabriel was suffering, and that made people say things they didn't mean.

She wondered how long that excuse would last.

"Of course you would pick the option that allowed for the most life-endangering stupidity. But that's fine. If you want to be left alone, you only have to say."

She stood up, and the kitten scrambled after her, pinning its claws into her coat and climbing up her back to coil around her neck.