Breaking Step (Dungeon Runner 3)

Tibs ran the roofs.

He ran hard without a destination. The need to escape the thoughts running through his head pushed him.

He'd left the party as soon as he'd made sure Lamberto was fine. He told himself he was going after the assassin, was ready to give that as explanation for his hurried departure if one of the noble demanded he stay.

He just wanted to be away from all of them.

Away from Lamberto; that idiot for throwing himself between Tibs and the knife meant for him. He'd have been fine! He didn't need saving! Especially not by some kid who thought Tibs was some grand hero that deserved protecting.

He ran harder.

He didn't care if the nobles complained to Tirania. Tibs had saved one of their lives. How much more goodwill did she expect from him? And it wasn't even needed.

He'd made it to his room without letting what Lamberto did crowd his mind, but as soon as he was on his bed. That, and how Tibs had treated him, rushed in and wouldn't quiet. He'd put on his armor and climbed to the roof and ran.

"I am not a bigot," he growled into the wind.

Of course he wasn't. Tibs had reasons to hate nobles. Good reasons. They were horrible people. They came to his street, his town, and took over everything. They forced people to defer to them for no other reasons than they were owed deferment for being nobles.

There. That was proof there was no such thing as a good noble.

Only...

Amelia wasn't all that bad. Not bad at all, when Tibs allowed himself to be honest. Her friends weren't horrible either. He didn't care for her brother; the man was too full of himself. But in the way of people who knew a lot, not in the usual noble's 'give me what I want' way. And he helped the town as much as Amelia did without asking anything in return.

A handful of them versus all the other nobles Tibs had encountered didn't mean he was wrong in thinking they were all bad.

He stopped running. His breath wouldn't come to him. How could he be having trouble breathing?

He wasn't a bigot, he told himself. He'd been under the heels of too many bigots to ever be one himself. He knew better!

Bigots were one step below nobles when it came to people Tibs considered bad.

"I am not a bigot!" he yelled to the sky.

Then why had he been so horrible to Lamberto? What had the young noble done to deserve that? Been born a noble?

Was his annoying over-eagerness justification for how Tibs thought of him? What he said? Had his enthusiasm at having Tibs meet people Lamberto considered friends made him such a horrible person?

Had the way the boy looked at Tibs, awe and hope, been the thing that made him irredeemable?

No. Tibs had looked at him, branded him noble, and that had been the end of it. Exactly how nobles branded Tibs as not worth of their attention without ever learning anything about him.

What had Tibs branded Don as?

Asshole, liar, opportunist, manipulator, irredeemable.

Base on what? Who the sorcerer used to be? On one manipulation Tibs hadn't been willing to let him explain? The lashing out the man did after the fact?

And how did Tibs act when he was hurt or angry?

Maybe if he'd cared while they shared a room, Tibs would have been able to see the lies and manipulations earlier and not find himself in this position. But he'd been iced and hadn't cared about Don's motivation beyond how the sorcerer could help him.