No. She had to stop thinking like that. She had to stop letting the thief guilds control every aspect of her life through force and fear. So she sat at her desk, pulled out an inkwell and piece of parchment, and paused. She’d sent Nathaniel away to protect him, to be fostered with a good family. Not so long ago, her father had done the same, and she remembered her anger, her loneliness, and her feelings of betrayal. Once more she understood her father in a way she never had before. He really had hidden her because he loved her, not to get her out of the way like she once thought.

Still, how angry she’d been when she returned…

Her decision made, she dipped the quill in the ink and began writing.

My dear lord Tullen, she began. I have a request for you involving my son, Nathaniel…

2

Biggs kept watch at the door while the rest of the Hawk Guild cleared away the bodies.

“How many will be with him?” asked one as he wrapped one in its dark gray cloak.

“Depends,” said Biggs.

“On what?”

Biggs rolled his eyes. “On who is coming. If it’s Veliana, only a handful. If it’s Garrick, though…maybe twenty.”

The other thief’s face twitched at that. There were only ten of them weaving through the empty tables and quiet furnaces of the smith’s workplace.

“So what do we do if it’s him?”

Biggs turned, grabbed his shirt and yanked him close.

“I didn’t betray my guild and execute my friends so you can turn tail and run,” he said. His knife was in his hand, and he pressed it against the shaking thief’s belly. “We hide, and we kill. You know how to do that, right?”