The curtain was pulled back. Liss was carrying a small lantern. “Leave me alone,” she said, her voice thick and embittered. “Please. I don’t talk to pinks or reds. I’m sorry, I just don’t. You’ll have to find other jackets, okay?”

“I didn’t kill Seb.” I offered the Sterno and the aspirin. “Look, I got these from Duckett. Can I just talk to you?”

She looked from the items to my face. Her forehead creased, and her lips pursed. “Well,” she said, “you’d better come in.”

I didn’t cry when I told her about the test. I couldn’t. Jax hated tears. (“You’re a ruthless street trasseno, darling. Do act like one, there’s a good dolly.”) Even here, where he could never get to me, I felt that he watched my every move. Still, the thought of Seb’s broken neck made me sick. I couldn’t forget the shock in his eyes, the scream of my name. I sat in silence once I’d told the story, keeping my stiff leg stretched out in front of me.

Liss handed me a steaming glass.

“Drink this. You’re going to have to keep your strength up if you want to avoid Nashira.” She sat back. “She knows what you are now.”

I sipped. It tasted of mint.

My eyes were hot and my throat still ached, but I wouldn’t cry for Seb. It felt disrespectful to cry with Liss sitting next to me. Her face was swollen, her neck bruised by fingers, and her shoulder dislocated—yet she’d still put my welfare above hers. “You’re part of the Family now, sister,” she said, and treated my brand one-handed with a warm poultice. The raw burn in my skin was easing, but she said it would definitely scar. That was the point. To remind me, every day, to whom I belonged.

Julian was asleep under a discolored sheet. His keeper had gone to meet with her family, the Chertan. I’d given him some aspirin before he drifted off. His nose looked a bit better. He’d come looking for me after my no-show at dawn, and Liss had taken him in. The two of them had patched up the shack as best they could, but the place was like an icebox. Still, Liss had invited me to stay for the whole night, and I had every intention of doing just that. I needed to get away from Magdalen.

Liss cracked open the Sterno with an old tin opener.

“Thanks for getting this. Haven’t seen canned heat for a while.” She took out a match and lit the jellied alcohol. A clean blue flame appeared. “You got this from Duckett?”

“For a price.”

“What did you give him?”

“One of my pills.”

Liss raised an eyebrow. “Why would he want one of those?”

“Because I get a pill that no one else gets. No idea what it is.”