Okay, if Lili wasn't going to be subtle about sizing her up, neither was Verity. Her grip was strong, but not obnoxiously so, with callouses in very weird places if you didn't know about some of her other extracurricular activities.

"Hopefully just enough to keep me firmly on the 'can't wait to meet her' end of things and not the 'oh god not her again,'" she said lightly.