Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
“ Y ou grew up in Kardonan?”
I glanced at Kason, noting that color was high in his cheeks again, ahead of schedule. He showed no sign of wanting to stop, though, so I didn’t mention it. “Yes. Why?”
Kason shrugged. “It occurs to me I don’t know much about you.”
“You know all you need to know. I’m a witch. I’m half-sprite.” I rolled my eyes. “That’s usually more than enough for people.”
“I highly doubt that’s everything I need to know.”
I couldn’t imagine what Kason expected from this line of conversation, but I decided there was no harm in indulging him. “Born in Kardonan and lived in the Slipshod…at least until my mother died when I was eight.” Ugh, I hated thinking about that pisspot of a district.
“Did you move, then?”
Scoffing, I shot him an incredulous look. “Well, of course. I couldn’t pay rent on my own.”
Kason stopped. “What do you mean?”
I turned with a sigh. “When my mother died, I was alone.”
“No one took you in?”
“Why would they? I was just another mouth to feed.”
“That’s…” Kason obviously struggled to find words. “I’m sorry.”
I frowned. “Why? I wasn’t the only orphan on the street. There was a group of us, and we took care of each other as best we could.”
Shaking his head, Kason started moving again. “That isn’t right. Children should be cared for, protected?—”
“In your world, perhaps. Not mine. In mine, children are burdens more often than not.” How often had I heard that in the slums?
I couldn’t recall my own mother saying words to that effect, but it had been a common sentiment among the other adults who struggled to put food on the table for their own offspring.
Perhaps she’d felt the same, perhaps not. At this point, it didn’t matter.
“So that’s why you started stealing,” Kason surmised.
“It was that or starve.”
“But when you got older, surely you could have found honest work?—”
Laughter burst from me at the righteousness in Kason’s voice. I pulled on one of my ears where it emerged from my heavy fall of hair. They weren’t as large as a full sprite’s, but prominent enough to proclaim my half-blood heritage. “These assured I could not.”
“That’s nonsense,” Kason said, bristling. “I’ve seen plenty of sprites working in Kardonan.”
“Uh-huh. Doing what?”
“Well…in the shops.”
“The shops pay a pittance.”
“They’re required to pay the minimum wage of six silver a month, by order of the queen.”
“Oh, they do. But the shops themselves require sprites to rent a room from the shopkeeper—to keep them out of trouble, you see. They must also have appropriate new clothes for each season—which the shopkeepers take care of for them, for a price, of course—and then there is the insurance the shopkeepers require in case the sprites’ well-known fondness for shiny things is something they can’t control.
At the end of the month, a sprite working in a shop might have a silver left. More likely half one.”
“That’s not the intention of a minimum wage.”
I waved a hand. “Whatever.”
“What about those I’ve seen on the docks?”
“They’re the pretties the captains keep for their long voyages.”
Kason stopped abruptly again, his boots skidding in the loam of the forest. “That’s absurd! Such a practice was banned before I was born.”
“And therefore you think it ended?” I shook my head. “Oh, Kason, you are truly na?ve. Or perhaps deluded.”
“I’m not?—”
“You are .” My eyes narrowed. “You’re a lord.
Nobility. Your world is full of luxuries.
Full of choice . Shall I have the beef for dinner or the lamb?
Shall I wear the red tunic or the blue?” I mocked, my voice sliding into an approximation of Kason’s upper-class accent.
Terrible imitation, yes, but it made my point.
“My choice is: Do I steal a loaf of bread and risk losing my hand, or do I starve?”
“That’s not—” A muscle in Kason’s jaw flexed. “You know nothing about my life.”
“True. And I don’t care.” I turned my back on Kason and continued.
After a moment, I heard Kason’s steps resume, along with a muttered curse. “It’s not all frivolous choices, you know.”
I snorted.
“It isn’t.”
“I don’t care.”
“Mo—”
“Are you fucking deaf, mate? He said he don’t care.”
I barely had time to register the unexpected intrusion into our discussion before a figure was pressed against Kason’s side, a blade at his throat. I couldn’t see the woman’s face, but I recognized that blue-streaked hair. A smile spread across my lips.
“Imalfi! What are you doing here?”
“Friend of yours?” Kason said dryly, his chin lifted to avoid the sharp edge glinting against his skin.
“Shut up, you.” Imalfi shot a grin at me, even as she edged the blade upward enough to make Kason arch his neck at an uncomfortable angle. “Heard my favorite witch-thief was acting a mite strange, so I thought I’d come take a look for myself. Time to take a break off the road, I think, yeah?”
“Whatever the lady wants,” Kason grunted.
I practically bounced off the road in their wake. It was so damned good to see Imalfi again. We’d bonded over the fact that we were both half-sprites, though she was a better brawler than thief.
“I thought you were on a job in Wekkartt?”
“Yeah, well, like I said, word got ’round that you’d been acting weird,” Imalfi said over her shoulder.
Some of the bounce left my step. “I haven’t?—”
“I tried to tell him his behavior had changed recently, but?—”
“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” Imalfi smacked the back of Kason’s head. “Keep moving.”
We crashed deeper into the woods. The fact that Imalfi made no effort to be quiet, when I knew she could move soundlessly in any environment, led me to wonder who might be waiting for us.
Sure enough, we rounded a group of trees to see a clearing with other familiar figures standing at the ready. Berkay, a brute of a man whose fists resembled boulders. My favorite picklock, a waif of a woman named Herat. And Gemm, the finest courtesan to ever court. I ran forward to greet them.
“Lovely to make your acquaintances,” Kason said, even though no one introduced themselves.
Imalfi shoved Kason forward into the ring of her associates and eyed me as Berkay caught Kason, none too gently. “Good thing we came to check things out. Finally got caught, did you?”
“He wanted to get caught,” Kason said.
Berkay spat at Kason’s feet, tucking his latest volume of poetry back into his sack. “I’d recommend you shut your hole.”
“Good luck with getting him to do that.” I laughed.
“Zat so?” Gemm sauntered closer, the picture of grace and sexiness—until he flicked his wrist to summon a concealed blade. Then he was graceful and deadly. “I could just cut out his tongue, hm? Tough to talk then.”
“No— Hey, hold on.” I jumped forward between Gemm and Kason, my hands lifted to ward off my friend’s aggression. “He’s not so bad.”
“What the fuck?” Berkay grabbed one of my wrists. “You’re not bound?”
I jerked out of his hold. “Uh, no. I’m not.”
“That makes no fucking sense,” Berkay growled. “If you’re not bound, why are you still with him?”
“Ha. Yeah. See, it’s kind of a funny story.” I rubbed my half-marked wrist nervously.
“Not that funny,” Kason grumbled.
“You’ll laugh about it in a few years.”
“If I live.”
Imalfi rolled her eyes. “Just tell us, Mo. By the gods.”
“Kason accidentally married me.”
She blinked. Then blinked again. “I’m sorry. He what ?”
I launched into the story. My eyes flicked between Kason and my friends as the whole tale came out.
Kason looked tired, almost bored, though that could have been an affectation to avoid showing weakness among enemies.
At least for the moment. My friends’ expressions, on the other hand, ranged from fearful to amused to indignant.
All valid responses, as far as I was concerned.
Hells, I felt all three of those emotions.
“By the gods,” Imalfi whispered when I finished, then shook her head, chuckling. Her beaded braids clinked together musically. “Only you, Mo. Only you.”
I held up my hands. “I’ll have you know, it wasn’t me at all this time. This is all Kason’s fault.”
“He’s not wrong.” Kason’s stance wavered, and without even thinking about it, I was at his side, helping him to sit down. Kason shot a small smile in my direction. “Thanks.”
I didn’t return it. “It’s wearing off quicker.”
“Yes.” Kason sighed.
“Eat something. I’ll set out your bedroll.”
I ignored the stares as I helped Kason get ready for the crash that was about to happen.
Thankfully, they said nothing. In moments, Kason’s bedroll was stretched out near the fire, mine next to it, and Kason was finishing a paltry meal of jerky and cheese, his eyes already drooping and his movements sluggish.
I helped him to his feet and held on to his elbow as he staggered over to the sleeping pad.
He lay down, murmured a thanks, and a second later, his eyes were closed.
Only then did I meet Imalfi’s gaze. She was frowning, her brown eyes dark with concern.
She jerked her head away from the fire, and I took it for the invitation it was.
Night came more quickly in the forest, with the trees blocking the sun as it inched toward the horizon, and the shadows grew more pronounced the farther away from the fire we got.
Not too far—I loved my friends, but I also knew them.
I made sure Kason was never out of my sight.
After a moment, that precaution didn’t matter, as Berkay, Herat, and Gemm came over to join us.
“What are you doing?” Imalfi asked.
I couldn’t keep my gaze from straying to the fire and Kason’s supine form on the other side of it. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t play stupid, Mokido. I know you’re not.”
“You’ve been dodgin’ him for nearly two years, and suddenly, you’re…what, companions?” Herat shook her head, her shaggy blond hair rippling around her human-shaped ears. Her voice was rough—she rarely spoke. “It’s nonsense.”
Berkay grunted. “We can go. Leave ’im here. Imalfi’s always been good at guiding us on paths after dark. We can get at least five leagues ahead of him before he wakes.”
I was shaking my head even before Berkay finished speaking. “I can’t leave him.”
“Sure you can.” Imalfi clapped a hand on my shoulder.
“You said yourself, this is a mess of his own making. Let him fix it himself.” She shot a glare at the fire.
“You know what’ll happen as soon as this is resolved—you’ll be back in cuffs and marched off to Kardonan, your aid completely forgotten.
He’s got a duty .” She said the last word mockingly, a sentiment I shared.
Or had.
“He doesn’t deserve this.”
“He does.” Gemm shrugged. “How many lives has he ruined, hm? How many witches has he caught and put away?”
I bit my lower lip as I considered that question.
Gemm wasn’t waiting for an answer though. He tossed his red hair over his shoulder. As usual, he wore it half-up and half-down. “Even one is too many, in my opinion.”
The harsh reality was that he wasn’t wrong.
Most witches I knew had few opportunities to make a life for themselves, and half-sprite witches even fewer.
But there were some stories I’d heard, of witches who had crossed far too many lines, mad with power or close to it…
those witches did need someone like Kason to keep them in check. Didn’t they?
I rubbed my temple. “Whether or not I should leave him is moot. I gave my word I wouldn’t.” To a goddess, no less, but my friends would scoff even harder at that. “So, can we abandon this conversation? Please?”
Imalfi pressed her generous lips into a thin line. “Fine. But if you change your mind…”
“I won’t.” For better or for worse.
Gods, now I was even thinking in wedding terms.