"Really?" Koltira said. "You looked like you minded quite a bit. You looked like you thought I was ..." He paused, because he didn't really want to say it, but he'd never been one to mince words. "A monster."

He shoved the empty glass away, to the edge of the table, and said, "Given our phone conversation, I'd say you still think that way."

The surprise in Bariyan's tone when Koltira had said he was in the city. His obvious agitation, then and now. They suggested one unavoidable, bitter conclusion, at least to Koltira's mind.