I heard Shayat before I saw her. The door to the attic creaked open and slammed shut. “Papa, I’m in the middle of…” She saw me. She frowned. We stared at each other for a handful of seconds, and then she waved for me to follow her up to the attic. When we were in her room, she closed the door and leaned against it. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Sorcha’s in trouble. I’m sorry, I am, but I have no money. He’s locked up in the 23rd.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “The 23rd?”

“I know.”

“Really?”

“Yes! Yes, I need money for bail. Shayat, he’s been there for hours.”

She chewed her lip. “How much?”

“I need two hundred thirteen marks.”

“Lewd acts?”

“And indecency. Will you help? I’m sorry to barge in like this, I am, but he’s there, and I have thirty-seven marks. I can’t, Shayat, I can’t just leave him there. He came here for me, and now he’s at the 23rd!”

She held out her hands. “Ariah!”

“I knew this would happen. I knew it. I never should have asked him to come with me.”

“Ariah!”

“Mercy knows what they’ve done to him. I’ve…I’ve heard stories about the 23rd, and…”

Shayat took me by the shoulders. “Ariah, we’ll get him out. I have it; I have enough for bail. You can have it. You’ll get him out. All right?”

I nodded. My heart beat bloody and wild in my chest. “All right. Thank you. Thank you very much.”

She unlocked a chest and counted out the coins. She dropped them into my hand and curled my fingers around them. I thanked her again, breathless and pathetic. “Get him out,” she said. “Make him be more careful.”

“I’ll try. Thank you. And I’m…I’m sorry for coming here. I am.”

“Just get him out,” she said.

“Thank you,” I said

I ran to the 23rd precinct with Shayat’s coins rattling in my pockets. I was covered in sweat and panting like a dog when I got there. The stitch in my side made it hard to speak. I stumbled up to the main desk. The Qin clerk sitting at it cast a wary look to the lawmen milling around behind me. I threw the notice and the money on the desk. “Get him out,” I said.

The clerk watched me for a second. He smirked and plucked up the coins. I grabbed him by the wrist. The air went very still. I felt the shadows of the lawmen lurch to attention, felt the burn of their eyes as they turned to look at me. “Do not steal from me,” I said. It came out a scratchy growl. “Call the keeper before you take it.”

The clerk wrenched his had out of my grasp. “Let me see your papers.”