“I’ve got proof of that,” Stev said quietly. “Every child who shows signs of Mind-magic is sacrificed to their god. Every child who shows signs of your sort of magic is conscripted into the priesthood, and failures are sacrificed to their god. All that is quite apart from the fact that they enforce their rule with demons, which kill indiscriminately.”

“Good to have my intel confirmed,” she replied. “That just moves my motives around. Money’s nice, but nobody kills a child on my watch.”

The look that passed over her face at that moment literally set Abi aback. She’d never seen that look on anyone’s face before. It was absolutely murderous.

What in the nine hells is her story? she thought.

But even as she thought that, she knew she would probably never learn the answer. Jicks would never let a relative stranger have that kind of hold over her. Not even Abi.

•   •   •

Korlak and his bird emerged from the wagon when they stopped for lunch and to water the hinnies. He rubbed his head with a hand encased in his voluminous sleeve as he walked toward them. “How long did I sleep?” he asked.

“Just till noon,” said Stev, and offered him trail biscuit. “Hungry again?”

“Actually—I am! Thank you!” he replied, and shared the biscuit with his crow, holding it up for the bird to stab a bite out of it, then taking a bite of his own.

“Where did you get that crow?” Abi asked, fascinated. “Will he let me pet him?”

“He just showed up at my shop door one day,” Korlak told her. “He just decided to adopt me. He’s a lot bigger than any crow I’ve ever seen before. He’s almost raven-sized. I didn’t think I’d be able to feed him, but he seems to keep himself, and sometimes me and Zac, fed.”

“Zac?” asked Stev.

“My cousin. The boy in the shop. Albemarle was sane the other day and I asked him if he’d take Zac as an apprentice because I’d already decided to go with you if you let me. He said yes, so Zac went to him.” Korlak sighed. “I don’t know how much or how little he’ll learn, but his grandmam had the same troubles as Albermarle, and Zac took care of her until she died. He knows what he’s getting into—but he also knows he’ll get plenty of food and a good bed with the old man, which is more than he was getting with me, and that was more than enough to make up his mind. I should have sent Zac to him a year ago, but his mother probably would have had a cat.”

Jicks looked thoughtfully at her half-eaten biscuit. “That’s as good a bargain as most people would ask for,” she said, mildly.