Pine Keep held a meeting for the public that night. Local merchants were invited to hear what the sector officials were doing to protect their businesses in the midst of their ‘cockroach infestation.’ Galen had the charge of Andon and his brothers and he was particularly pleased to learn that Taryn would be spending another night at the Kebar home. The boys ran ahead, swinging wooden blades against each other’s shields, joining forces to defeat invisible enemies, then splitting again to battle over imagined treasures. Galen spent the entire walk begging Taryn to act as caretaker in his place so he could enjoy this time with Rai while Mama Kebar was away.

He offered her poetry, which she didn’t care for.

He offered her meals, which she knew would be Rai’s chore.

He offered her coin, which she didn’t need.

It wasn’t until Kem made an offer of his own that she finally agreed.

“I can help you,” he said, sidling up beside her. “There are some challenges in my yard that I think they’ll enjoy.”

Disarmed by his grin Taryn soon said, “Sure.” She always had trouble saying ‘no’ to the boy.

She craved a quiet moment to herself, but walking in the light of the early summer night turned the blue shirt he wore into a stretch of brilliant sky. It brightened his face, it brightened his eyes, and she wanted…

Taryn looked away before she said something else she’d regret. And spent the rest of the trip avoiding his gaze.

“Listen up, you little monsters,” Galen said when they arrived. He set himself up in the sitting room and gathered the boys around him. “Taryn and Kemmy are in charge of you for the next hour. Whatever you need, whatever questions you have, they’re the ones you’ll ask. I don’t want to hear any of your voices or see any of your faces until then. Is that clear?”

“But I’m hungry,” Gerrie said. “When do we eat?”

“Not my problem,” Galen said, then pointed at Taryn.

“When do we eat?” Gerrie asked Taryn.

“Come on,” Kem told him. “There should be some fruit in the pantry.”

“Not the apples!” Rai called after him. “I’m making a pie.”

“Well, we don’t need anything,” Andon said, speaking for Kaz and himself. “Can we just go home?”

“Why?” Galen said. “So you can sneak off somewhere and get us all into trouble? No. Keep both eyes on this one,” he added to Taryn.

“I wasn’t asking you,” Andon said. “You’re not in charge.”

“No one is leaving,” Taryn said. “We’ll go outside and do some training.”

Kaz perked up. “Really?”

“We don’t need training,” Andon said. He turned his weapon on Kaz and charged with a barrage of wild cuts and swings. Kaz swung and moved to meet him but was driven back until he lost his footing and tripped, his sword knocked from his grip. Andon went for the final blow, a two-handed downward strike, and Galen lurched forward to stop him. But Andon stopped the blade before it actually hit, several inches from Kaz’s unprotected head.

“You’re dead,” he said, then bent to help his friend back to his feet.

“Please get them out of here,” Galen said after a deep breath. “Before I really kill them.”

“You see?” Andon said. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Fine,” Taryn shrugged. “I was going to teach you how to win a duel with a real sword. But if all you want is to keep swinging sticks, I won’t stop you.”

“I want to learn,” Kaz said.

“What can she teach us that we don’t already know?” Andon asked.

“I don’t know,” Kaz said. “She beat the King’s Arsenal.”

“That was a lie,” Andon said. “She said so herself.”

“You’re right,” Taryn said. “I didn’t fight any Weapons. But I did fight four Infantrymen. They had weapons, I didn’t. By the time it was over, they were covered in bruises. I wasn’t.”

“That’s true,” Rai offered. “I was there. I saw the whole thing.”

“Will you teach us?” Kaz asked.

“I don’t know,” Taryn crossed one arm over her chest and stroked her chin. “This kind of training will require discipline and obedience. I’m just not sure you’re ready for it.”

“I’m ready!” Kaz said. “We both are.”

Taryn looked to Andon, who stood with his arms crossed.

Kaz nudged him in the ribs.

“Fine,” Andon finally said. “One hour. Then we go home.”

“Come with me, then.” Taryn marched the boys away. They met with Kem in the kitchen, four apples cradled in his arm and a fifth in Gerrie’s hand.

“Don’t give me that look. I know you’re hungry too,” Kem whispered. “It’ll just be a really thin pie.”

Taryn wrapped her hand around Gerrie’s to stop him taking a bite.

“Hey!” Gerrie said.

“A smart thief doesn’t sample the goods at the scene of the crime,” Taryn said quietly. She didn’t want to face Rai’s wrath so early in the evening. “Wait until we’re outside.”

“You heard her,” Kem said. “Everyone outside! Don’t touch anything until one of us shows you how.”

“I don’t want to eat,” Kaz said. “You said you would teach us how to duel.”

“I will,” Taryn said. “One of the most important things every swordsman needs is a full belly,” Taryn said.

“Go on.” Kem distributed the plunder and ushered them out. “We’ll be out before you’re done and your training will begin.”

Taryn turned to follow the boys out.

Kem grabbed her wrist. “Wait.”

Yesterday’s close encounters began to cycle through her mind; the aching guilt that still racked her mind, the shattered expression on Kem’s face. The wanting that smoldered wherever his skin touched hers. The thought of repeating any of those moments filled her with a mix of excitement and dread.

“You don’t need to worry,” Kem said, seeing her panicked expression. He released her and held his hands open in front of him. “You asked me to leave you alone and I will. Until you don’t want me to anymore.”

Then he grinned at her, a sly, mischievous little curl of his lips and Taryn’s breath caught. And she hated it. She wished she could make up her mind about a thing and have all of her feelings follow. Then she could decide that she just wanted to be his friend and everything she felt when he smiled at her – or laughed out loud – or spoke her name – all of it would just stop. Then she wouldn’t feel the foolish hope that sprung up at his words.

“I just… I wondered if you’d agree to spar with me again,” he said.

“That may not be the best idea.”

“We are friends, aren’t we?”

She nodded.

“Then this is something we should be able to do. You can use me as a demonstration for the boys. But it has to be real this time. I don’t want you to hold anything back.”

Taryn shook her head. “If I held nothing back, I’d kill you.”

Kem looked her up and down and chuckled. “In a friendly practice match?”

“I’m stronger than I look.”

Her solemnity sobered him and he nodded his assent. “But you wouldn’t actually kill me, would you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then that’s good enough for me.” He smiled, so wide and full of glee.

Taryn wondered if he knew what he did to her when he smiled at her like that. She wanted to ask him.

He led her out of the kitchen and down the hall, stopping at the door to his bedroom. “I’ve got a few wasters in here and we can change into some padded vests if that’ll make you feel better,” he said, pushing the door open.

The room was dark and filled with familiar silhouettes. A month ago, she’d climbed through that window. It was cracked open now, letting in a whistling breeze. Underneath it was the desk she’d landed on. She’d been surprised by how tidy it was – how tidy the entire space had been. When she’d lain in that bed, all wrapped up in the warmth of him, she’d been surprised at how safe she felt. Enough to quiet her fears and sleep in peace. She’d been so sure, then, that he would never hurt her.

She wanted to be back there, only she’d do it differently. She wouldn’t lie, she wouldn’t hide. She would wrap herself in his arms and tell him everything she couldn’t before. And all the things she’d thought about when she’d been scared and disoriented in the alley behind the bakery; all the things she felt when death loomed just moments away. Then he’d hold her and she would feel safe again. She wanted that more than anything.

“Kem.” Her voice was a quivering squeak. Her hands trembled as they reached for his arm and she felt tears stinging her eyes. “Can we –”

Something shifted on the bed behind him. Taryn blinked and saw a mental flame shrouded in a dark mass. It went over the side of the bed and landed in a thud.

“Ow!”

A soft, high pitched voice.

Kem’s eyes bulged when he heard it. He looked over his shoulder, then back at her, his face pale.

“I’m sorry,” he said, practically shoving her out of the doorway. He pulled the door shut behind him. “I, uh, forgot how much of a mess it was in there. Things are falling over and I think I should take a few minutes to, um, tidy up.”

A closed door and some bedding didn’t shield what she saw with her mind’s eye. Taryn knew what she’d heard. She knew there was a person in Kem’s room and he couldn’t even look her in the eyes when he lied to her about it.

“You should… go on without me,” he said. “I’ll… I’ll be out soon.”

Taryn turned away and blinked her eyes clear. She reminded herself that they were only friends. She had been the one to insist on it and she didn’t have the right to feel… anything about the fact that someone else was sneaking in through his window at night.

“Take your time,” she made herself say, then hurried out to round up the boys.

She coached them through a few of the challenge stations she understood. She taught them how to support each other when they practiced chin-ups; loaded them with light sandbags and made them lunge across the yard; held their legs as they hung upside down from the bars and touched their elbows to their knees. All while making them run a lap around the yard between each exercise. And Kem still hadn’t joined them.

She gave them a few minutes’ rest before she let them take up their swords again. She didn’t bother going through the different guards, stances or cuts. After what they’d endured, they were sure to lose interest if they didn’t feel like they were actually fighting. Instead, she taught each of them a piece of one her more basic dueling sequences. They drilled it over and again; swinging at the air until their arms tired, stepping around imagined enemies until their thighs quaked.

Their hour was mostly gone by the time Kem finally joined them. Taryn kept her eyes on the boys as she watched Kem’s flame move across the yard to stop at her side. He smelled like fresh water and soap.

“How is it going?” he asked.

“This is stupid!” Andon said. “You said you’d teach us to duel but we’ve been swinging at the air for hours.”

“It’s not as fun as I thought it would be,” Kaz said. “Can we learn something else?”

“I’m sorry you’re not having fun,” Kem said. “I can take you through the challenges – if that’s alright with you, Taryn.” The long sleeves of his pale blue shirt had been traded for a shorter, black piece and he carried neither waster nor padded vest.

“Let’s go through the drill one more time,” Taryn told the boys. “If you don’t want to do it again after that, I’ll let you learn something else.”

The three boys reset themselves and raised their weapons to start.

“Andon and Kaz only,” she said. “And I want you to do it with your eyes closed.”

“Why do we even –” Andon began.

“You promised me discipline and obedience, remember?” Taryn said. “Well, let’s see it. Gerrie, you’ll stay here next to me. Andon and Kaz, close your eyes and go on my count. I’m going to move you to your starting places but I don’t want you to open your eyes until the sequence is over.” Taryn took each boy by the shoulders and positioned them so that they stood three feet apart, facing each other.

“I’ll count off the moves and I want you to do them exactly when I say, and exactly how I showed you. This will be the last time. Then we can move on to something else. Ready? One…”

Each of them stepped forward and swung. Their swords met in the close space between them and they each opened their eyes in surprise.

“Eyes closed,” Taryn reminded them. “Now reset, and we’ll start again. On my count. Remember to breathe.” She could see their fingers twitching around their grips, their eyeballs moving behind their lids as they began to piece together what it was they’d actually been drilling. “Ready? One…”

Clack! Kaz had the biggest grin on his face.

“…two…”

Clack! Andon was fighting against his.

“…three…”

Gerrie gasped with glee as Kaz spun away and barely missed Andon’s straight cut.

“…four…”

Andon ducked under Kaz’s swing and came up to meet his downward cut.

“…five!”

The two stepped away, drawing back into defensive positions and opening their eyes. Once again they stood three feet apart, facing each other. They shouted. They jumped. They checked themselves for bruises. But neither weapon had made contact and they marveled at this. All this excitement over a simple dueling sequence. She could imagine what it could be like for young mutants; to master a skill and know that they didn’t have to be afraid that a careless gesture would wreak havoc in their lives or bring harm to their loved ones.

“That was amazing!” Kem said. “You taught them all of that in only one session?”

“Combat is an art,” Taryn said. “Learning the individual steps may not be much fun, but when you put them together, you get a glorious dance.” She placed a hand on each of the boys’ shoulders to halt their celebration. “I know its boring to do something over and again but when you get into a fight, you may not always have time to think. And if you’ve done something over and again, your body will remember what to do and you won’t have to think. Now, if you never want to do this again, Kem can show you his course.”

“No!”

“Maybe we can do this a few more times,” Kaz said. “But with our eyes open. Then he can show us the course.”

“I want a turn, too,” Gerrie said.

So Taryn gave them more turns. She’d taught the brother the same half of the sequence so they took turns against Andon. She encouraged them to continue practicing throughout the week. Once they felt comfortable, they could teach each other the opposing half. Then she turned them over to Kem.

He was a good task master. Careful for their safety; kind in their failures; patient towards their frustrations. He was the same tenderhearted boy who’d spent the better part of the last year carving a place for himself in her heart and Taryn was torn. Part of her wanted to rip that place away; to turn it over to someone else or let it grow cold. And the other part wanted…

What she couldn’t have. She had to remember that she had given him up. She’d told him to move on and he did. Now she had to do the same.

Taryn made her way inside, leaving Kem and the boys to their mud-wrestling squeals. The flame still hid in Kem’s room, its shape shifting as it’s owner battled sleep.

“She continues to live,” Galen greeted her. He and Rai were stoking fires in the kitchen; stirring pots and adding spices. “Does that mean you’ve managed to turn them into civilized human beings or have you only nurtured their savage tendencies?”

“I enjoyed my time with them,” she said. “Kem is running them through his course now. By the time they’re through they’ll need a meal and a bed.”

“Thank the gods,” Galen said. “They’re so much easier to deal with when they’re tired. Better still when they’re asleep.”

“They’re not that bad, Galen.”

“Don’t misunderstand,” he said. “I love my brothers. And that other hells-spawn has grown on me. But sometimes they are so annoying that I wish I could just–”

“At least you have brothers!” Taryn snapped.

Galen and Rai stared at her, the expressions on their faces a course of surprise and confusion, understanding and pity.

Taryn wanted to apologize. She wanted to say that she hadn’t meant to snap at him, but she was not sure if that would have been the truth. Galen was a hard pill to swallow at the best of times and Taryn was not in the mood to indulge his sentiments.

His brothers annoyed him and he bought himself a reprieve by foisting the responsibility of them to another. Well, Taryn didn’t even remember her brother. Her annoyances were high level monarchy officials actively seeking ways to murder her. Armed with poisons, blades, and a piece of paper that was supposed to protect her, they’d come for her life and there was nothing she could do about it.

His only challenge with Rai was finding time to be alone together. He didn’t have to push her away to prevent himself telling her secrets she could potentially reject him for; secrets that could rob her of her freedom and devastate her family if the wrong people learned that she knew. His future did not rely on the support of a monarch too consumed with the fate of his potentially traitorous lover to notice that the anonymity they’d spent the last seven years crafting together had eroded into an infamy that caused strangers to run from her in the street or seek her out at the bakery to do her harm. That caused the city’s most dangerous criminal entity to branch out and threaten the one part of her life that made her feel the most human.

Everything in Taryn’s life was spiraling off course; she did not want to hear why Galen was annoyed with his brothers.

Taryn felt she was on the verge of another emotional outburst – one she wasn’t sure she could curtail. It was a pulse in the back of her mind, a boiling in her blood, an ache in her chest; all at once brewing a savage storm that dragged and pulled at her power. She tried to clench her teeth against it; balled her hands into fists to distract it; squeezed her eyes shut to blind it. But when she thought she’d managed to silence one, another rolled all the more freely and the dangerous dance began again.

She was losing. She felt it. She felt the subtle thread of relief that came with release, slow and steady. It stitched together the ache and the boiling. It bound them to the pulse and she was a lonely flag drawn away in the wind. It felt satisfying to let it take her and she didn’t want to stop it.

Then she felt arms around her, tender and warm. Strings of hair tickled her face.

“Breathe,” Rai said in her ear. “It’s alright.”

Taryn shook her head. Nothing was right and she was tired of pretending that it was. Her emotions wanted to run wild with her power and Taryn wanted to let them. Rai had managed to soothed them before and Taryn thought perhaps she could do it again. So, no. She didn’t want to breathe.

“Let me help you,” Rai said.

Taryn felt a hand on either side of her face. She felt a forehead pressed against her own.

“Please.”

Slowly, Taryn opened her eyes. She thought she’d find carrot peels and potato skins dancing in the air. She thought she’d see a panic-stricken Galen ducking flying knives, or using a wooden spoon to weigh the cauldron down so it wouldn’t join the disarray and spill its boiling contents all over them. But the only disarray she saw was in the worried lines of Rai’s face.

“You’re not alone,” Rai said.

Taryn blinked stinging tears from her eyes and saw another piece of her life spiraling off course. If she let the winds of emotion carry her, if she let her feelings command her power, then Rai would know what she was. If Rai knew what she was and accepted her, then she could have a friend. A real friend, whom she could laugh with or rage with. Someone who could hear all the secrets she’d locked away and still look at her the same; who would help her when she was hurting because they wanted to. Like Rai was trying to do now. But if Rai rejected her, what else would she have to hope for?

So Taryn forced herself to obey. She took a breath. The scent of flowers and spices filled her nostrils. A rattled sob broke from her lips.

And the storm swelled.

She tried to pull away, for this felt worse. The wind tore at the flag until the boiling and the ache and the pulse were at war again. The satisfied thread sailed away in the tumult and she couldn’t find it again.

“No.” Rai hugged her tighter, her voice a whisper in the violent wind. “I’m staying here. I’m not leaving you alone.”

And Taryn was trapped, breathing out choked sobs as that small kindness dissolved the banners of boiling rage and aching sorrow into oblivion and the storm inside of her calmed.

Until the desperate pulse stuttered and died and Taryn remembered how to breathe and pretend that things really were alright.

Rai helped Taryn wipe the tears from her face. She found a kitchen towel and Taryn blew all the mucus from her nostrils. “Better?” Rai asked.

Taryn’s breaths were no longer ragged. Her shoulders had stopped shaking and she had her power well in mind. But she was not better. Her control over her abilities was the entire proof she’d offered Vares of the need for acceptance. It was her entire argument against the LAAMP’s lies and her most prized accomplishment. Now she had nearly lost it, twice in as many days. She was not better.

“No, Taryn, don’t disappear again.” Rai took Taryn’s face in her hands again. Her eyes filled with tears as they moved across Taryn’s face. “I don’t know what’s wrong. I don’t know why you don’t want to talk to me about it. But whatever this is, it wants to come out. You need to let it.”

But she couldn’t. All the frustration she’d buried in the last two days, the anxiety she’d hidden over the past week, the fear that had crept into her over the last month; she wanted to let it go. But there was no safe place to let her emotions free, to lend voice to her secrets and her fears without losing everything she’d worked so hard to build.

“It doesn’t have to be with me,” Rai said. “It doesn’t have to be with anybody. But holding onto this… It’s hurting you. And it’s breaking my heart to watch it hurt you.”

“I’m… not okay. Nothing is. But…” Taryn knew that she couldn’t keep doing this. The last time she’d buried uncomfortable feelings, they’d twisted into a knot of pain and bitterness and lashed out in childish tantrums and rebellions. This time it went out in her power and she couldn’t abide that. “I will be.”

“You’re sure?”

“I promise.” Taryn didn’t know when and she didn’t know how, but she would find a way to regain control of herself. To make herself… better. She had to.

“Quickly.”

Taryn tensed at the sound of Kem’s voice. It carried into the warm room from the hall, followed by the trudging of small feet against polished wood, a gaggle of exhausted breaths, the jilted scrape of wood against wood. Rai squeezed her hand as the boys flooded into the kitchen. The sweat on their skin was mixed with dirt and it left streaks of mud caked on their hands and faces.

“Mmmm. That smells so good,” Gerrie said.

“What’s for supper?” Andon asked.

“We’re having rice and beef stew,” Rai said. “It’ll be ready in a little while.”

“Show some manners,” Galen said. “You’re not eating anything until you’re clean. The wash room is back that way. ”

“Not yet. I need–” Kem was as filthy as the children were. He brushed the sweat soaked hair from his forehead and spread more mud onto his face. Taryn must have still been exhibiting signs of distress because he forgot his words when his eyes met hers. He stepped towards her. “What’s happened?”

Rai stepped between them. “What do you need?”

His eyes remained locked on Taryn. The concern that furrowed his brow felt like a cruel joke. Then he looked away, and it was gone. “I need everyone to stay in here a while,” he said.

Taryn recognized the hard set of his jaw, the anxious twitch in his fingers, the focused gaze he turned away from her. He was alert. “Something is wrong.”

Kem nodded. “I saw someone on the roof.”

Everyone glanced up, as if they could see.

Taryn couldn’t read a flame so she said, “There’s no one up there,” then immediately felt like a fool.

“I saw something move,” Kem said. “It may have only been a shadow but I wanted to make sure these three were safe before I went to be sure.”

“Then I’ll go, too,” Taryn said. It was still light out. If he’d seen something that made him corral three rowdy children from a muddy game, it wasn’t a shadow.

“I’m fine, Rai,” she added when her friend tried to protest. The absence of a mental flame meant the lurker was someone with a shielded mind. She didn’t know if it was a member of Kol’s castoff army out to do more mischief before the sun set or something more sinister. In either case, the path before her was clear: do whatever was needed to keep her friends safe. Nothing else mattered in light of that. “Stay inside.”

“They didn’t take the stairs,” Kem said. “So they must have climbed up some other way.”

“The patio,” Taryn said. The overgrown trellis would have provided ample hand and foot holds. The parapet that lined the balcony above could have boosted any intruder the rest of the way. “Watch the stairs. I’ll see if I can chase them your way.”

Kem looked as if he wanted to protest but Taryn was already on her way. She crossed the hall to the patio doors, to the end of the paved space where the wide trellis opened to the tangled lawn. She noticed slight signs of disturbance as she climbed, where leaves had already been bent or ripped off altogether. She kept a careful watch on the seven flames within the property limits; five huddled together in the hall, one asleep in Kem’s room, Kem at the stairs.

When she reached the balcony, she didn’t climb onto the roof completely. Better to hang from the edge and see what she could before she allowed herself to be seen and ended up the prey.

Smoke billowed from one chimney, the other remained dormant. There was the trunk of picnic supplies. A couple of dark feathers. Surely Kem wouldn’t have mistaken a bird for a person. Three times Taryn swept her gaze across the roof. She didn’t see anything that didn’t belong.

“I don’t see anything,” she called down.

She heard someone parrot her words among the flames gathered below.

“He’s coming down the chimney!” one of the children yelled.

Two of the flames raced into the sitting room.

“He’s there! I can hear him.”

Taryn dropped down onto the balcony. She vaulted over the parapet and broke through the trellis to land in a deep crouch on the mouth of the stone pit. Her knees screamed at the sloppy landing and she nearly lost her footing as she teetered near the edge. But she flexed her toes and swung her arms to launch herself into a backflip. One head injury a day was more than enough for her liking.

Kem arrived in the sitting room before Taryn did. She found him kneeling before the fireplace throwing kindling onto the cold logs. He stood to light a match as Galen stood across from him with a poker in hand, ready to swing at whoever emerged. Rai stood with the boys in the dining room. Far enough to be out of immediate danger yet close enough to see the action, they set themselves around her like a guard, swords at the ready just as Taryn had taught them.

Taryn tried again to identify the intruder. She cast her Sentry into the chimney and frowned when the only minds she reached were Galen’s and Kem’s. She always thought that throwing her power into the physical space occupied by a shielded mind would be enough to read it. Yet her probe returned nothing, even though she could clearly hear someone scratching and scuffing down the walls of the chimney.

“Gods, he even breaths like a maniac,” Galen said. “Do you hear that?”

Though it was muffled, Taryn recognized the distinct sound of air being forced from the lungs. Not breathing. It was more like a cough, or a huff. Almost as if –

“No, wait!” Taryn lunged for Kem. She knocked the lit match from his hand and stomped it out.

“Why did you do that?” Kem asked.

Then a small black mass landed in the cold embers.

“Its a kitty!” Gerrie said.

Galen stared down at Hunter in surprise. Hunter hissed up at him and attacked. He leapt at Galen’s face, hissing and yowling and scratching and sneezing. Galen dropped the poker and recoiled, screaming and slapping and wincing and pulling.

“Stop it, Galen! You’re hurting him,” Taryn shouted. “Hunter, hold!”

Hunter leapt from Galen’s chest with a yowl and landed on the couch. Galen scrambled back until he stumbled over a chair.

“On me!” Taryn snapped.

After a final hiss at his prey, followed by two rapid sneezes, Hunter dropped from the couch and made his way back to the fireplace, leaving a trail of sooty paw prints in his wake.

“Why is he limping?” Taryn knelt to pick him up. “Galen, what did you do to him?”

“What did I do? Look at my face! That thing attacked me. Its lucky I don’t have a pot of boiling oil handy or I’d drown it!”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Taryn cradled Hunter in her arms. He was covered in so much soot he wouldn’t stop sneezing. She tried to wipe his nose clear with her sleeve but he kept batting her away and licked at it himself.

“Taryn,” Rai said. “Do you know this creature?”

“His name is Hunter.” She didn’t have to inspect his legs to know that it was his left rear paw that was causing his limp. He hissed at her for touching it. She held him against her chest with one hand and used the other to massage the muscles in his weak leg. It felt hard and knotted beneath her fingers. “Shhh,” she whispered as he whined and squirmed to be free. “You came all this way just to find me. I’d never forgive myself if you were crippled for it.” She kissed his head and stroked his fur. “I’m sorry I didn’t think of you when I decided to spend the night here. Can you forgive me?”

He sneezed and rubbed his face into the crook of her arm.

“I need to get this dust off of you. Rai, do you have a brush I can use?”

Rai just stared at her. They all did.

“What is it?” Taryn asked. “What’s wrong?”

“You have a pet?” Rai asked.

“Can I hold him?” Gerrie moved to crouch next to her. He brushed a trembling hand across Hunter’s back. His movements smoothed and he smiled as his trepidation faded.

“But you hate animals,” Kem said. “You think they’re either food, or something that steals your food.”

“You have a pet,” Rai said again. She joined Gerrie on Taryn’s other side, and reached to pat Hunter’s head.

He hissed at the violation and swiped a paw at her. Rai snatched her hand back. Gerrie flinched.

“A mean pet,” Rai added.

“He isn’t mean,” Taryn said. “He just doesn’t like people very much. I hand-fed him through his nursing weeks and I’m still only his second favorite person.”

“Who is his favorite?” Gerrie asked.

“Himself, of course.”

Rai tried again and Hunter only hissed this time.

“Be nice,” Taryn told him. “This is Rai. We like Rai. She’s my human best friend.” Taryn was sure he’d lash out if she didn’t make that distinction. She introduced the boys as they took turns petting him. Galen grumbled into the kitchen in search of some salve for the scratches on his face and Kem relaxed into a chair and kept his distance.

“Can I hold him?” Kaz asked.

“I need to clean him first.” Taryn rubbed the dark grime from the plaques on his collar. It nested in the lines of the carved scenes. She was going to have to remove it and wash it in soap and water. “This dust and soot isn’t good for him.”

Gerrie looked at the dirt on his own hands. “Can we hold him after we wash?”

“If he agrees,” Taryn said.

The boys raced each other into the washroom.

Rai went to retrieve a towel and a brush, then settled in to earn Hunter’s trust. She smothered an excited squeal when he left Taryn’s lap for hers.

“How did he find you?” Rai spoke softly, so as not to frighten him away. “Have you brought him here before?”

“No,” Taryn said. “He must have scoured the city looking for me after I didn’t come home today. Poor thing is exhausted.” She scratched behind his ear and he rubbed his head into her hand. “Well, now you know how it feels.”

“What does that mean?” Rai asked.

“Nothing. Just… Well, he disappeared on me once. It was a year ago,” she continued when they didn’t say anything. “He had started spending more and more time away from me and one day I just couldn’t find him in any of his favorite hiding places. I was so sick with worry that Wendar had the entire staff searching the grounds for hours.” Now that she thought of it, Taryn remembered nearly getting emotional then, too.

“They must have been some pretty extensive grounds,” Rai said.

Taryn froze and she considered everything she’d just said. She was so relieved to have him she forgot that their story was a part of her secret life. Had she given anything away? The looks on their faces weren’t awestruck, merely curious. Thankfully, the name of the King’s steward only held fame within the palace proper so she hadn’t revealed anything to betray the connection. Still, she had to cover herself. “Well, he was half this size and very skilled at hiding.”

“How did you ever come to own a pet?” Rai asked. “For as long as we’ve known you, you’ve always hated animals. But it sounds like you’ve had him for longer than we’ve known you.”

“You should tell her about your own experience as animal caretaker,” Kem said.

Rai’s face flushed red. Her eyes grew wide as she started to panic. “She doesn’t need to hear about that.”

Kem grinned. “But you look so comfortable. She should know what to expect if she ever decides to leave you alone with him.”

“I was five years old.”

“We’d just come from a visit to the animal park. She decided she wanted a lizard.”

“It was an accident.”

“She drowned it within the week.”

“I was giving her a bath!”

“Lizards don’t need baths,” Kem said. “Which is something we’d learned at the animal park.”

Rai looked around and grabbed the brush at her side to hurl at Kem’s head.

He caught it and laughed. “Maybe if you’d tried to brush her, Lizzy would still be alive.”

Rai growled at him, then turned her wild gaze to Taryn. “I was devastated when that happened. I cried for months. I would never – never – do anything like that with Hunter. Or any animal.”

“I know you wouldn’t,” Taryn said. And she smiled. Listening to Hunter soothe himself after his ordeal, watching her friends bicker and playfully assault each other; this was better.