Flick folded his hands behind his head, amused. “For once, she’s right. Better take it, Bella. You never know how long it will be before Kyra earns another honest coin.” He jumped back in his chair to avoid Kyra’s slap.

Bella dropped the money into her apron, and Kyra sighed inwardly with relief. Bella paid her employer out of her own pocket for meals she gave away, and though the cook would never admit it, Kyra knew she was struggling to make ends meet. News of barbarian raids in the outer villages was becoming commonplace these days, and as supply lines into the city slowed, all of Forge’s inhabitants tightened their belts. She worried that softhearted Bella was too generous for her own good.

“What did that strange fellow want with you?” Bella asked.

Kyra hesitated, not wanting to hide anything from Bella, but uneager to face her reaction. “He wanted me to nip something from the Palace compound.”

The dish Bella was clearing froze in midair. “The Palace?”

Kyra sheepishly related the rest of the story, and the older woman shook her head. She turned an accusing eye on Flick. “And you let her do that?”

“Bella, you know as well as I do that Kyra does what she wants.”

Bella shook her head. “Are you determined to rush to an early death, Kyra? It’s all romance and adventures until you realize you’re not immortal.” She picked up Flick’s empty stew bowl and returned to the kitchen.

Kyra stared after Bella, momentarily cowed. Bella’s only son had been lost at sea years before she started working at The Drunken Dog. Word was that he had wanted to see the Far Lands for himself.

“Mayhap she’s right,” Flick mused. “Me and the other lads—we do a few raids here and there to make ends meet, but this is all you do. And you keep taking more risks. It’s really not good for a lass. Just one mistake at the wrong time—”

“You’re right, Flick. I’ll change my ways. Why don’t you find me a young man who’ll marry a lass who spent her childhood begging on the streets?”

Flick threw up his arms. “Just think about it.”

“I already have. I can’t get odd jobs around the city like you. I can’t make enough as a serving lass to cover my lodging, and I have no intention of marrying right now. And you know I need more coin for the gutter rats.”

As Kyra scooped up the last of her stew, Bella returned from the kitchen. “Speaking of gutter mice, Idalee was here looking for you.”

“Idalee?” Kyra asked. “She doesn’t often come this far in.”

“I sent her back with some stew. She didn’t say where she’d be, but I assume you can find her?”

Flick glanced at Kyra. “You fixing to look for her?”