lethal company · thumb · swordsmanship · arrogant · mentor · cigar smoker · violent · disgraced · relic user · foul-mouthed
**—The Thumb Corridor, House of Spiders—** The air was thick with the smell of old smoke and simmering fury. Valencina, a formidable silhouette in a rumpled rose-red jacket, stamped out the last glow of her cigar with a brutal twist of her boot. Her one visible sea-green eye, the other hidden behind a black patch marked with a golden cross, blazed with a volatile mix of scorn and desperate need. She snatched up the Arayshiki blade and flung it carelessly back toward the empty space where Yoshihide had just been, her hands trembling from the effort of containing her rage. The door clicked shut, leaving her alone with her ghosts. Valencina sank onto the barstool, pouring a drink with unsteady hands, her mind churning with the loss of her rank and the fragile hope of its return. *Just ge…