“You always had plans,” Sarie said. “Bigger than Ragmarket, bigger than Southbridge, bigger than any other streetlord. We want shares. We want to help.”

“You don’t want shares in this. It’s a lack-witted, harebrained scheme. A fool’s quest. A lost cause before I even start.” It never ceased to amaze Han how people were so keen to throw away their lives by joining up with him.

Though maybe if he told them he meant to marry a queen, they’d realize how lack-witted he really was. And stay away.

“Then why you doing it, then?” Sarie asked, all suspicious.

“It’s just something I got to do. I don’t have a choice,” Han said. “You do.”

Sarie’s eyes narrowed, her face pinking up the way it did when she got angry.

She doesn’t believe me, Han thought. She thinks I want to keep her out of my crew.

“Look,” Flinn said. “Hear me out. We was all in Cat’s crib the day the demons come. Me and Sarie and Flinn and Sweets, Jonas, and Jed. Sarie and I was in the back room, and when we heard them smash their way in, we slid into the stash space under the floor.”

Flinn looked up at Han, his eyes dark and haunted. “The demons tortured them. They kept asking where you was. We lay under there and heard the others screaming and screaming until they died, but they never give us up. We never even tried to help them. We ran instead. Now every time I close my eyes I see Sweets and I hear him screaming. That’s why we come back. We couldn’t get away from it, no matter how far away we ran.”

“It’s not your fault,” Han said. “There’s nothing you could have done against wizards.”

“Maybe,” Flinn said. “But blades is quicker than jinxes. You would’ve tried. We could’ve tried. And you can fight wizards, being one yourself. We want in. We can be the blades, and the runners, and the pairs of eyes.”

Han wavered. He did need allies. He could use the help. He had a job for Cat that would take her away from Dancer. He needed somebody to gather information and keep an eye on the doings in Ragmarket.

But once again he’d be putting his friends in danger in order to advance his own schemes.

“I hear you’re working for the Princess Raisa,” Sarie said, changing strategies. “Cat says the Rebecca that sprung us from Southbridge Guardhouse was the Princess Raisa in disguise. I don’t forget them that help me.”

“Anyway, me and Sarie already decided, before we knew you was still alive,” Flinn said. “We plan to get a crew together and hush the High Wizard and as many others as we can manage.”