The Thief King

24 | Bloody Withania

Hannah stepped away from the front door, keeping her eyes on the floor for a couple of steps, as if disappointed—sad. She must have woken from their argument, must have thought to chase her brother. Hannah's eyes lifted and met hers, silent shock widening them. Sera steadied herself against the doorframe of her room.

"Hannah?" Sera steadied her breath. Half her mind stayed with Kole, wherever he was, and the rest, the majority worried. What had Hannah heard? "Did we wake you?"

Hannah tilted her head, looking from the front door and back at Sera. "Where did Koltin go?"

The chains around Sera's heart tightened at the innocent question. Where had he gone and why couldn't she answer it, even if she wanted to. "To work." What a mockery. To work? A lie had never tasted as vile as this one did. Her tongue spasmed as if fighting to retrieve the lie and return, hide, and smother it in darkness.

Hannah pursed her lips. "Work?" She sounded surprised, her blue eyes widened before she rapidly blinked away what Sera assumed must be the pressure of tears. "Is something wrong?"

Was there? Sera was beginning to suspect something was very wrong, but she couldn't admit such things without revealing a secret so well-guarded it displayed thorns when threatened. The real question was, did it involve her? Would it involve her? Never before had she felt the prick of the thorns protecting Kole's double life and now she found herself at the pointy end, being poked and prodded until her skin felt bruised and raw.

"Sera? What's wrong?" Hannah's gaze searched hers, not understanding the turmoil, the hesitation.

"Something... I..." she forced a smile. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Koltin's just... worried."

"About?"

Sera shrugged, sighing audibly. "He won't tell me, but it doesn't matter right now. How long have you been awake? We were trying to be quiet for you."

Hannah scuffed her boots on the floor. "Not long, but I'm gonna... go. Now."

"You don't want to talk about what you heard?"

Hannah's face scrunched up. "Not really. I... you weren't very loud. It was mostly the door opening and closing that woke me."

Sera looked at the coat and boots and tilted her head. "So you weren't planning on going after your brother?"

"I was," Hannah corrected. Her lips pressed together until they were white before she spoke again. "To make sure he would meet us at the market."

Those words should have been the release of some of her chest's bonds, and yet it only managed to tighten the grip. Sera pushed down the tears, doubt, fear. It had no place beyond the prison of her heart. Hannah did not deserve such burdens. "He's always there, you know that."

"So that's why he left now?"

"Most likely." Sera forced a smile. "Come, you want to sleep in my bed until dawn?"

Hannah frowned. "No. I'm going to... I'm going to my room." As the little girl backed away from the front door, Sera smelt a whiff of a familiar, milk-curdling smell. She'd recognize it anywhere. Cabbage.

"Hannah?" she called before the girl disappeared into her room. "Do you have spare clothes you can wear, or do you need me to lend some to you? Those stink of Porter's broth."

Hannah's cheeks paled. "I'll find some."

Devil's Claw. A worthy name for a weed that offered you deals with sharpened talons and hidden consequences. A single dose numbed the pain from a limp and the suffering of a contusion, but, seductive as a siren, the weed is death in disguise. Like a fish on a hook, it tempts with the promise of flavor and fortune only to catch you in its snare, hook you on its point, and suffocate you with its coils. The only difference between Devils's Claw and Cob was the time it took to claim its victims and announce its rule.