China's loyalties are to herself, first and foremost; she has no real reason to stop. Except that tiny, niggling shred of what Skulduggery would call human decency and she would call the practical side of maintaining ties with other Foreigners. It does stop her, is what matters, and her otherwise businesslike steps take a slight detour to the corner in which the tall and rather unthreatening Foreigner is being harassed.

"Really," she says, pitching her voice to carry, and there's almost a radiance about her beauty for all that her expression looks distinctly irritated. "This is a pathetic choice of hobbies."