Robert Asprin – Thieves World 09 – Blood Ties

He watched her quick flash of anger with amusement. Chenaya was indeed a Rankan noble, unused to being told that her actions were a matter of indifference to anyone. Jubal half expected her to throw the wine in his face and stalk off… or at least try to. The girl proved to be of sterner stuff, though. Either that, or she wanted this meeting more than Jubal had realized.

Defiantly, she raised the bottle to her lips and took a long pull. It was the coarse red wine given to gladiators.

“Red Courage,” she said, using the gladiators’ nickname for the drink as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, letting the blanket slip to expose one bare shoulder. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not shocked. I’ve had it before… and liked it. In fact, I’ve developed a taste for it and drink it often with my men.”

Jubal shook his head.

“I’m not disappointed. Puzzled, perhaps. Arena slaves drink that swill because they can’t get any better. That or they’ve never had anything to compare it to.

Why someone who is highborn and raised to finer things would choose to drink Red

Courage when there are more delicate beverages to be had is beyond me. Of course, you’ve always been one who preferred being coarser than is necessary.”

His words were intentionally insulting, but this time Chenaya seemed unmoved.

“I bow to the master,” she smiled. “Who knows more of crudity and coarseness than Jubal?”

Unknowing, her riposte stuck Jubal in his most vulnerable spot: his vanity.

“I was born a slave,” he hissed, leaning forward angrily in his chair, “and in that station crude living and no morals are a way of life. I learned to lie and steal and eventually to kill as a means of survival, not as a sport. I didn’t like it, but it was necessary. Once I won my freedom, I did everything I could to rise above my beginnings… not far by noble standards, but as high as I have been able. I’m told I have a contempt for those below me who have not matched my efforts, let alone my success. That may be so, but I have more regard for them than for one who is highborn and wallows in the gutter by choice!”