I’d never make a good thief, I thought wryly, because the guilt factor would always get me.

Cynwrig headed into the laundry to turn off the boiler and electricity. I grabbed my phone and the charger, tossing them into the backpack before I slung it over my shoulder and followed him out. The howling wind showed no sign of abatement anytime soon, but it also said no one showed undue interest in this end of the street. Nor were there any watchers in the sky—though in truth, the near gale-like wind would have had all but the most determined bird shifter seeking shelter.

As Cynwrig relocked the door, I tugged on my hat and said, “I’m thinking it’ll be safer if we don’t suddenly appear on the street together.”

“I agree.” He motioned toward the end of the garden. “Which is why we’ll use the graveled path beyond that wall. It skirts the forest’s edge and leads into the road where the Uber will meet us.”

“And if the forest is being watched?” I had no indication that it was, but I was very new to reading the nuances of the air and was too far away to hear the song of the trees.

“If it is, we’ll deal with it.” Though he touched my arm lightly, I felt it through every fiber of my being. “Let’s go.”

I followed him down the yard. The path lay several feet away from the half-height wall dividing the yard from the park. Alders lined the edge of the forest, and their song was sweet and strong. I lightly connected to their network, listening for the sounds of intrusion as we hurried along the old path. A slight vibration of movement echoed across the outer reaches of their song, but it wasn’t moving in this direction.

Even so, I didn’t fully relax until were well out of the park. Thankfully, the Uber was already waiting for us. I charged my phone on the way to the airport, and once it had rebooted, discovered missed calls from both Sgott and Lugh.

I glanced at Cynwrig. “Did you happen to call Sgott last night?”

“Didn’t have time.”

I raised an eyebrow. “No time, or no inclination because you wanted to give your people a head start?”

His expression was cool and unrepentant. “She is family—”

“And probably behind the attack on your twin sister.”

“Which is why she’ll face Myrkálfar justice rather than the courts. Trust me when I say she will fear the latter more.”

His flat tone sent another chill through my body. I suspected Seryn’s fate would be less about “justice” and more about retribution. About doing to her what she’d now done to many others.

It might even involve those pits he’d mentioned to Vincentia.

I fought the urge to edge away from him a little. He’d never physically hurt me—I was unreasonably certain of that—but that didn’t mean I had to throw all caution away.

My hormones, of course, had other ideas when it came to distance.