He calls for his Master, Lenoir, and says, “Fetch my whip.”

They tie me to a chair and huddle behind me, their muffled voices pitched in confusion.

“She insults a Lord.”

“Yet did she say anything that was untrue?”

“She attacked a Lord before the whole Court.”

“We cannot allow it. An example must be made.”

The Tiger is not with them; he stands in front of me so I can see him. He studies me, fascinated, as if he’s never seen me before. He ignores the blood still dripping from his shoulder. He knows I could have stabbed him in the heart, that I could have killed him. He knows I wanted to do something much worse: Humiliate him. Speak the truth in front of the entire Court. No matter what happens to me now, they’ll whisper about it forever. My words will chase him day and night, and he’ll never escape from them. The Cat who looked the Tiger in the eye and called him Lawless before his brethren, something the other Lords have never dared to do.

Montparnasse murmurs something to Corday. She speaks to Orso, and fury crosses Orso’s face. He steps toward the Tiger.

“Where is she?” he asks.

The Tiger looks away from me, meeting Orso’s face with confusion.

“Where is the child Ettie?”

The Tiger looks from Orso back to me. “I’ve no idea. I don’t have her.” Then he shakes his head and asks, “Where’s Thénardier?”

Femi is at Tomasis’s side; he whispers in Tomasis’s ear. Tomasis shakes his head; Thénardier isn’t here.

The Tiger throws back his head and laughs. The sound of it echoes around the Court and bounces off the walls.

“Left early, did he?” he spits. “And so he got his price in the end.”

“Kaplan …,” Orso says. His voice rumbles a low threat.

“I didn’t take her,” the Tiger answers.

“Liar!” I cry.

He turns back to me.

“I’m many things, little kitten, but a liar is not one of them.”

The room is silent, because everyone knows he speaks the truth. The Tiger has never lied. He’s never had cause to. He says whatever he wants because he’s not afraid of anything or anyone.

“If Thénardier has anything to do with this,” Tomasis says, swallowing his rage as he speaks, “then it was done without the knowledge of the Guild of Thieves.”

Orso, tense and watchful, looks from Tomasis to the Tiger.

“The Thieves would not touch one of your children, Orso,” Tomasis insists. He’s worried about what might happen if his Master conspired with the Tiger to take my sister.

Orso fixes him with a hard stare and then finally nods.

The Tiger comes back to me, crouches, and smiles so wide the scars on his face are stretched taut.

“If Thénardier did this, then the jackal has played us both,” he says to me.

I growl in response.

He stands, raises his good arm, and in a loud voice says, “Look well, O Wretched. Let all the Court be witness to my oath. If I had taken the girl, I’d have told you, Black Cat of the Thieves Guild. Because I would have wanted to see your face, knowing she was mine.” He pauses and looks at me. “Nonetheless, you’ve broken the Law that you so fondly speak of. You’ve insulted and attacked a Guild Lord here, in the Miracle Court.” His eyes flicker toward Orso and Tomasis. “It is forbidden,” he says in tones of glee. “An example must be made.”