That won her a laugh, whether she'd been trying for one or not. "More than you might think, actually." Though the line of work in which he'd needed to pass through high society unremarked, a faceless gentleman in a tailored suit, was so far distant from him now that he'd nearly forgotten what it was like to inhabit that life. He'd learned manners, languages, all the trappings that were necessary to disguise him from the men he hunted— and now he was using them to gamble for pocket change against a girl barely Raven's age.

"And you? I wasn't under the impression that biochemistry and billiards had much of an overlap." Though until he'd met Charles, he hadn't thought scientists knew how to drink, either.