“You’re not?” Paa stared at him skeptically, and Rina knew instinctively that he was focusing on those powerful arms and shoulders, although not for the reason she would have. “You certainly look the part.”
“It is necessary to stay in shape in my line of work,” Vipin said. “Because of where I go and what I do, I may have to defend myself, or hire on as a farmhand in order to get to the truth.”
“I hear a ‘but’ coming on,” Maa said.
“But, ultimately, I’m a scholar who happens to know how to hunt and kill Oldbloods. I don’t like to party in the evening or hit up the bars, and I rarely get propositioned by strange women. I don’t like short-term relationships, and I don’t have a job that lends itself to long-term relationships, as a rule.”
“And is my daughter an exception to that rule?”
“P
