Chapters (46)
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
“It was very clear.”
He sat down on a fallen log, still watching her as if he expected her to panic again. “I gather that Flick and Bella are not your real family.”
She shook her head. “In my earliest memories, I’m alone on the streets. Flick and Bella didn’t find me until later.”
There was a familiar flash of sympathy in his eyes, and she waved it away. “Don’t pity me. I was luckier than most of the gutter rats. And Bella and Flick were as good as any family once I found them.”
“They do seem to care about you.”
Kyra pulled her blanket tighter, as if by doing so she could pull her memories close. “Bella’s son died before I met her. I think she needed someone else to mother.” Now Kyra was dead too, as far as Bella knew. One more heartache to add to Bella’s long list. She pushed the thought aside. “Flick and I also bickered a lot. We still do. But he never took my coin or my food, though many times we needed for both. At least until I learned to earn my own coin.”
Kyra stopped when she remembered how she’d earned more money and that she was talking to a Palace knight. She braced herself, waiting for him to call her a lawless thief. She’d had no choice in the matter, she thought fiercely. If he’d been starving, he’d have done the same.
To her surprise, he gave a gentle chuckle. “You think I’m going to say something about you being a thief.”
“You didn’t mince words about me before.”
“I was angry.” He paused. “It was unfair of me.”
Kyra didn’t know what to say to that.
He leaned forward, looking first at his hands in front of him, and then raising his eyes to hers. “Do you ever wish you knew more about your real family?”
She searched him for any sign of mockery, but he seemed sincere. “What gutter rat doesn’t? I was jealous of the serving girls. They were always gossiping—this one grousing about having her mother’s hips, the other about her father’s complexion. I thought they were so lucky just to know how tall they’d be, how they’d turn out.” She smiled wistfully. “I would have liked some warning that I would be so small.”
Tristam had a way of listening that made her feel like he really took in what she said. She’d resented it in the interrogation room, but out here, it was kind of nice.