Chapter 2

"Mama."

Nell's voice was small. I turned my head against the stone and found her eyes. Still open. Still a little gold in them.

"I'm here, baby. Keep looking at me."

I quit fighting the men and begged instead.

"Somebody call the guild clinic. Anyone. She's six — look at her hand. I'll pay whatever it costs, I'll owe whoever makes the call. Please."

The front of the crowd stepped back. A mother pulled her boy behind her, as if weak blood were something he could catch.

The gray-haired woman by the counter took one step toward us. The man beside her caught her arm.

"Leave it. That's the Captain's woman. You want your name on his duty list?"

She stepped back too.

So nobody was coming.

I lifted my head.

"Then all of you, listen. I don't care whose man clocks off at six. If my daughter's wolf goes out on this floor, I will dry this pack out. Every dose, every vial, every jar behind that counter — gone. And when it's your pup lying on stone, you can stand around and watch, the way you're watching now."

For a second, nobody made a sound.

Then somebody laughed. "She can't hold on to one vial, and she's going to dry out the pack."

The two men pinning me didn't laugh. Their grip had gone loose without them noticing.

I ripped an arm free and had my phone out before they caught me again.

It rang once. "Emory. Ashvale supply hall. Bring the wardens, bring my kit, and call Garrick—"

Sabine's heel came down on the phone, twice, and ground what was left into the stone.

"Emory," she said. "Your lawyer? Your boyfriend? Send them all. I'd love to meet the kind of people a seal-forger keeps."

I got my coat off and wrapped it around Nell. She'd stopped shivering. People think that's a good sign. It's the opposite — it means the body has quit trying to warm itself.

"Now," Sabine said. "About that mouth of yours. Here's my price. Knees on the stone. One knock for the seal, one for the lies, one for my daughter's trouble. Do it right, and maybe I'll call a healer for yours."

A hall healer couldn't wake a wolf, but he could slow the fade. Buy hours. Hours were everything.

"Call the healer first. Then you get your knocks."

"Knocks first. Beggars don't set prices."

"You get them when she's breathing easier. Not before."

Sabine looked at me for a moment. Then she smiled.

"You made your phone call," she said. "Let's make mine. See whose counts."

She dialed, put it on speaker, and her whole voice changed — soft, sweet, half a sob in it.

"Roark? Baby. Someone's making trouble at the supply hall. Two of them, with a forged seal, and when I caught them the woman threatened me. Me and Tilly both."

His voice filled the hall, warm as anything.

"Nobody touches my girls. Hold them there — I'm off at six. And don't cry, you know I can't stand it."

"Hurry," she said, and hung up.

Nell's cold fingers found my arm.

"Mama," she whispered. "That's Papa. Is Papa coming?"

I put my hand over hers and didn't answer.

The hall had gone quiet in a new way. People weren't watching a thief anymore. They were keeping clear of whatever the Captain was going to do at six.

Sabine's phone buzzed. She read the screen and her smile got wider.

"The Captain's aide," she said. "He's sent a little recording for the thief. By name, no less — they pulled it off the register that quick. Shall we?"

She held the phone out flat and pressed play, loud enough for the whole hall.

"Maeve. I just got a report from the hall — a woman and a kid making a scene over a dose, throwing my name around. If that's you: whatever this is, stop it. Take Nell and get home before I'm off shift. You're embarrassing me."

The message clicked off.