She drew a shaky breath and continued. “After he—after I killed him, I knew I had to leave the Guild. And when I told James, he told me not to bother. He said I wasn’t a talesinger’s heroine, that I was a former gutter rat who stole for living. I thought I’d prove him wrong by working with the Palace, but everything kept getting worse. He’d sent me to kill Malikel, but soon, I was the one volunteering to poison him. After that, the Makvani found me. The way they killed people in cold blood—it confirmed everything that James had ever thought of me. The feelings that I had when I was a cat, the bloodlust—it wasn’t pretty.”

“But you didn’t give in, did you?” asked Flick. “You captured James—alive. You saved Tristam’s life. And you’ve stopped the demon cat invasions of the city. Aye, your bloodline got you in trouble, but it was also what got you out of this mess in the end. And now that you have one foot in with the Palace, and knowing what you do about the Guild and the Demon Riders, I think you could do a lot of good, if you wanted to.”

Kyra grimaced and smoothed out the wrinkles as best she could. She wanted to believe him.

“Do you think Bella would have loved you any less if she knew what you were?” asked Flick.

“I suppose not. Bella loved everyone,” said Kyra.

“And Idalee and Lettie, if they knew?”

“No, they would trust me even if it wasn’t good for them.”

“And does Tristam trust you less, knowing your secret?”

“Well, I did risk my life to save him.”

“Exactly. And what about me? Do I show any signs of running for the hills?”

Kyra smiled. “I guess I’m blessed with foolish—and forgiving—friends.”

“Mayhap we’re wiser than you give us credit for.”

Flick rooted around in his belt pack. “Here,” he said, taking out a scrap of parchment and a piece of charcoal. “Use these.”

Kyra accepted them with gratitude. Taking a deep breath, she wrote Bella’s name in clear, large letters. She knelt down to place it beside the others, but drew her hand back and looked at Flick. “She said she was proud of me, you know. As she lay—” She couldn’t bring herself to say dying. “Why would she say that, after I had just ruined everything?”

“She loved you, Kyra.”

Kyra lowered her eyes. She supposed that was all she needed to know. “Would you like to place it with me?” she asked.

Flick knelt and took a corner of the parchment. Together, they tucked it between two stones. They stood without speaking for a long time, lost in their own thoughts, before finally turning for home.

Acknowledgments

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