He waved off the denial. She tried to continue, but her insistence only seemed to make the situation worse. It certainly drove Ronan to silence, eating his meal as she struggled for something to say, something worldly and interesting.

She was gazing around at the other diners, looking for a comment to make, when Ronan said, “I know you’re bothered by what happened last night.” He paused. “Well, obviously, being kidnapped would bother you, but I mean the . . . girl. What she did. Helping you and then demanding payment.”

“I’d have happily given her the dagger,” she said. “Even a ring, if it wasn’t this one. But . . . I helped her, too. Perhaps I couldn’t kill that man, but it was my dagger she used and my distraction. Without me, she would not have escaped.”

“You felt betrayed.”

Ashyn considered that. “I think, in some ways, I would rather feel betrayed. Then I’d be upset with myself for getting tricked, but this . . . I’m just confused. She didn’t seem angry. She just expected the ring, no matter how important it was to me.”

“Her own family cast her out; she would not understand that your mother’s ring would hold any importance. It is”—he waved his eating sticks—“beyond her comprehension. Demanding the ring was not an insult to you. It was not even an expectation. She was simply seeing if you would give it up. If you did, that was your loss and her gain.” He ate another mouthful. “You said she was casteless. They must take everything they can get. They have no choice. The empire allows them no choice.”

“You know people who are casteless.”

He made a noise in his throat and ate a chunk of sticky rice, swallowing before answering. “On the streets, you cannot help but know some.”

“How do they make a living?”

“Begging. Thieving.”

“Belaset said she worked in a, um, brothel. Doing odd jobs. That’s employment, isn’t it? Better than beggary or thievery.”

“I don’t know.” He met her gaze, his dark eyes serious. “Would you find it more honorable to steal for a living? Or to clean shit buckets for whores?”

Her gaze dropped.

He sighed. “I’m sorry. Again. I didn’t mean to be so blunt—”

“No, it’s not that. I see your point and I feel shamed for not knowing more. There’s no one . . . like that in Edgewood.”

He grunted and took another bite of pork. They ate for a few moments in silence, then he said, his gaze still on his plate, “There’s something I ought to tell you.”

“All right.”

“I . . .” He looked up. Indecision flickered in his eyes. Then he blinked, pulled back a little, and cleared his throat. “When we get to the city, I’m going to leave. Before we enter the gates.”

“What?” Ashyn tried to hide her surprise. “Do you think that’s necessary?”