Rolling his eyes Konstantin dismissed the threat easily. Quite apart from the fact that Skeeter would be reporting him to a department where he was a senior member, all it would take is for him to deny it and he would be believed. He did not doubt there were any number of people lining up to take a pop at Skeeter, it was a wondering he only walked with one cane.

But, despite himself, Konstantin would not beat a man who was already on the floor. He had tracked Skeeter down over a matter of honour so it would be a fine thing for him to throw away all his in an instant. Besides which the blood was coming rather quickly now and he did not want to get it on his cuffs. It would make it harder to deny if Skeeter did report him. (Would he? Would he want to admit he had been so easily felled by a paper-pusher from the Ministry?)

“You’re a joke, Skeeter. Go back to whatever rock you crawled from and stay there.”