Total pages in book: 222
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
“I wanted to take care of her, but Dad took me to Sart’s house.”
“Who was he?”
“A tailor.” His tone dripped hate. “He borrowed money from Dad. Dad told him he had to take me as an apprentice. Sart didn’t want to, but Dad said the debt was registered so if Sart didn’t take me, he would take his shop. I didn’t want to stay there. I didn’t want to be a tailor, but Dad said he had to take care of Mom and he would come back for me in five days. He said not to worry. It would be fine.”
“He didn’t come back,” I guessed.
Kaiden shook his head. “I waited five days, then I waited three more. Sart would get drunk every night. One night he forgot to lock the room, so I snuck out and went home. The door was boarded up, so I had to get in through a window. It was gone.”
“What was gone?”
He met my eyes. “Everything. Mom, Dad, all of our things. Everything was gone. And then our neighbor came out and said Mom and Dad died. The city had burned our things to stop the plague. She told me to go back to Sart because that’s what Dad wanted for me. He signed a contract, and he wouldn’t want me to be a runaway apprentice. She said I had to honor my father’s dying wish.”
Oh god. His father had realized what was coming and he had gotten his son out before Kaiden either got sick or the city quarantined him in some cell while all of their belongings were destroyed. Kaiden would’ve come out an orphan with nothing to his name. Awful things happened to beggar children on Kair Toren’s streets.
“If you had stayed, you would’ve died, too,” I said gently.
Kaiden stared straight ahead at the wall.
“How long were you with Sart?”
“A year and a half. He was a shit tailor. He would drink and then he would beat me. I tried. I really tried because that’s what Dad wanted, but I got tired of him hitting me.”
“You fought back?”
He nodded. “He sold me to Derog in the morning.”
And we had rescued him. We were his new family. He wasn’t just stealing.
He was collecting pieces of us.
I was looking at the chest of Kaiden’s fears. He probably opened it and looked at his little treasures when he felt unsafe. If we disappeared from his life, at least he would have something.
He knew we were about to do something very dangerous. We had included him in the Butcher talks. Excluding him wouldn’t have worked—he would’ve just eavesdropped until he figured it out and it would’ve made him worry even more. But he was only twelve years old.
How to handle this . . .
“Your father didn’t want you to be a tailor. He didn’t want you to get beaten either. He just wanted to keep you safe, and he was out of time.”
“I know,” Kaiden said.
“Reynald is very skilled. Yesterday we went to confront Drugh. He brought two huge men with him. And then Reynald showed his face, and they fled.”
Kaiden glanced at me. “Fled?”
I nodded. “They were very manly about it, but yes, they escaped as fast as their dignity let them.”
My brother, who thought military slang was funny, would’ve called it a “rapid advance to the rear.”
“And he will have the Magnars with him. And me. I will be there and even if I die, I will come back, Kaiden.”
He looked down at his feet again.
Stealing was a coping mechanism. Taking it away cold turkey could do more harm than good.
“I will need my pen back. It’s the only one I have that won’t make holes in the paper.”
He handed the pen over.
“Stealing is wrong. It makes the people you stole from feel unsafe and vulnerable.”
He still wasn’t looking at me. “Will you tell Reynald?”
“No. I won’t tell anyone.”
Some of the tension went out of his shoulders.
“A good thief steals without getting caught, but a better thief can return what he stole without being discovered. It takes more skill because the target is looking for their belongings, so they will be more alert.”
Kaiden didn’t say anything.
“When you steal things from us in the future, you must return them after two days.”
His gaze snapped to me.
“If you get caught, I won’t help you. If you are going to be a thief, Kaiden, be the best thief you can be. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Just for the record, you aren’t leaving fish in my study?”
“What fish?”
“That’s what I thought.”
I got off the bed. “Would you like a hug?”
He shook his head.
“Well, if you ever need one, you know where to find me. Two days, Kaiden. Don’t get caught.”
Half an hour later Reynald found me on the floor of my study. I’d heard a noise in my bedroom when I returned, so I had moved the plate with the meat to the floor and leaned against the wall.