“Dunno.” she shrugged. “An’t seen her for days. Velvet neither. Thought she was with you maybe,” she said hopefully.

Han shook his head. “I’ve been sick. Anyway, when Cat comes back, tell her she can have the place in Pilfer Alley.”

Sarie blinked at him, then took his arm and led him away from the others. “Why? An’t you staying?” she demanded.

He shrugged. “I’m going away for a while.”

She searched his face. “But. You’ll need it later, right?”

He shook his head. “No. I won’t.”

Her grip on his arm tightened. “You not going to do nothin’ crazy, are you?”

“Nah.”

Sarie cleared her throat and stared at the brick wall. “We thought maybe you was going to come back, be streetlord again. With your family gone and all.” She looked at him, then away. “We’d all swear to you, Cuffs.”

“You have a streetlord. Cat’ll come back.” But Han had an uneasy feeling. Streetlords didn’t live long in Ragmarket. Could the Southies have found her on her own? If there were any Southies left.

Once again he felt the knife of guilt in his gut. It was like he was the sole survivor of a terrible plague. Why did he deserve to live when everyone around him died?

He looked up at Sarie, who was still waiting, as if hoping for a different answer. “Cat doesn’t come back, maybe you can be streetlord,” he said. “You want to stay away from me. There’s still wizards hunting for me. I don’t want anybody else to get hurt.”

Sarie chewed on her lower lip. Han knew she had something to say, but she’d never been very good with words. “Look, Cuffs, I’m real sorry about what happened to your mam and sister,” Sarie said. She untied the rag around her neck and tied it around Han’s. “Anyways. Once a Ragger…you know.”

There wasn’t much to add to that, so he left.

Later, Willo found him standing in the rain on South Bridge, looking past Fellsmarch Castle to where Gray Lady brooded, shrouded in mist.

Willo loaded him onto a horse, and they rode back to Marisa Pines. He climbed onto a sleeping bench in the Matriarch Lodge and slept for three more days.

C H A P T E R  T W E N T Y - S I X

SECRETS
REVEALED

Dancer came and sat with him most days, not saying much, just being there. They were brothers in grief, each mourning multiple losses, each an exile of sorts. Dancer, at least, had some grip on the future, even if he wasn’t happy about it. He didn’t have to feel responsible for the death of his family, for ruining his own life.