At sunrise, Phaut and I reconvene to discuss our next steps. I’ll spend the day preparing the shamanborn so that when she creates a distraction at sunset, they’ll be ready to run. That should leave us a full day to make it back to Sab Hlee before Ronin returns to Spinner’s End.

Once we’re agreed, Phaut returns to the docks to barter with the only captain willing to take passengers. She hasn’t outright stated the passengers would be shamanborn, but she’d spotted shamans among the crew, tucked safely aboard their ship and off Evewynian soil.

I’m happy to leave the bartering to Phaut. As she explained it, she spent much of her childhood haggling over the prices of her father’s vegetables at their local market. While she’s busy ensuring the shamanborn have a means of travel, I return to the night market, which transitions seamlessly with the dawn.

The streets fill with waves of new customers, many of them having only disembarked that morning. I steal a pair of hairpins off a table and push them into the lining of my drawers where the additional fabric should conceal them.

If I’m to help the shamanborn escape, I’ll first need access to them. There’s no better way than to join them in the guardhouse.

In the market, I can’t take two steps without spotting a guard. Some scan the crowd for the flash of jeweled eyes, but most loiter in clusters of three or four. As I draw near one such group, I duck my head sharply and tug jerkily at my hood. I wring my hands and hunch my shoulders, crossing and uncrossing my arms. I walk too fast and then make an abrupt turn, shuffling my feet.

Part of me hopes Kendara will notice and swoop in to assure me she already has a plan.

But while my behavior is certainly noticed, it’s not by Kendara. One of the guards breaks away from the others, his hand going to the sword at his hip. I lift my head in a quick glance. Our eyes meet for the briefest of moments.

It’s enough. He sees the glimmer of amber. “You! Stop there!”

I turn and run, straight into the corner of a stall. My cloak tangles around my legs as I crash into the dirt. Others around me exclaim in surprise, backing away. Scrambling with the folds of my cloak, I try to stand, but by then, the guards are on me. Two grab my arms and haul me to my feet. My hood falls back. The people nearest us gasp as my eyes are revealed to the sunlight.