Asher’s smile had a bite to it. “I’m not defending him. I’m trying to understand your motives. Is Emmaline Grimshaw my friend? Or a puppet in her brother’s blood-stained hands?”

  Em punched him. Or tried to. Asher smoothly caught her punch, meeting her glare with a cool one of his own.

  She tried again with the other hand. It was awkward, but it still would have given him a good bruise if he hadn’t snapped his other arm up to block.

  With a yank, she freed her arms from his hold, spun on her heel, and stomped out of the shed.

  Todd scrambled to his feet, and a chain of daisies fell out of his lap.

  Where did he get the daisies?

  And was he making a crown?

  She brushed off the question and forgot it immediately.

  “I’m going for a walk,” she snapped.

  “Did something happen? Was that guy being a jerk?”

  “Yup!”

  She didn’t see Todd shoot a murderous look toward the shed.

  A puppet? For her brother?! She fumed and stomped. And that jerk-! Now that she was thinking, she knew he wouldn’t let her hit him. But it would have been so satisfying to land one.

  She stopped walking abruptly at the end of the garden. Staring at the pitiful patch of wild daisies taking over the pitiful plot.

  Her lip trembled.

  “He isn’t.”

  “What?”

  Todd leaned around her. Trying to see her face.

  She looked at him, eyes full of tears. “Flint. He isn’t a murderer. He’d never hurt anyone if he wasn’t trying so hard to care for everyone he’s responsible for. You know that, right? Or does everyone think that way about him?”

  Todd opened his mouth, face twisted between conflicted and bewildered.

  Em snapped her chin in the other direction. “Don’t answer that. You don’t have to.”

  I know the answer.

  Marquis Grimshaw. The Emperor’s loyal dog. The one he sends whenever he has something particularly bloody he wants done.

  Her brother. Working, working, working. Unable to sleep. Drinking when he had nothing else to do. And here she was. Just another burden on his already overwhelmingly heavy load.

  She sobbed.

  And all Todd could do was watch helplessly. He tried to comfort her by putting a hand on her shoulder. But she didn’t respond.

  Because that would make her a burden to her best friend, too.

  It was as though all her pain went straight to her stomach. It protested worse than usual, and she had to go inside and beg for a glass of milk to calm it down.

  Then, unwilling to return to the shed, she waited outside with Todd. Making daisy chains and piling several crowns on Todd’s head. Good-naturedly, he pretended to be a ‘refined lady’ and swept around with his hand held out like he was holding up a dress.

  Em was nearly in tears laughing by the time Sager came outside.

  Even his crankiness couldn’t end her amusement.

  “Where’s your veil?” he snapped. Then, without waiting for an answer, he shooed her into the shed.

  Why had the man done so many appointments today? He was probably too tired to be doing the delicate surgery they planned. However, he seemed to become more and more energized and fascinated the longer they went.

  And it turned out it was a good thing Em came late. Because it took longer than planned to cut into Asher’s chest and remove the scar tissue from his lung. It was nearing eleven o’clock before Sager said it was done, and they could end for the day.

  Em sagged against the wall.

  “He lost a lot of blood,” Sager commented. Washing his hands in the sink, which was attached to the wall between the shed and the building. “Even with the stimulant and your abilities, it will probably be another two weeks before we can do any more. But the worst of the injuries are done. The rest are odds and ends that are more for comfort than function.”

  In other words, what was left were aches and possibly resolving future health problems before they appeared.

  So, as he said, that was optional. For now.

  Em grinned to herself. Even with a two-week delay coming up, everything was going smoother and faster than she expected. Hurrah!

  Sager didn’t look it, but he was strong. Or maybe just knew how to heft dead weight? Either way, Em watched him pick Asher up and stagger the lycan to his cot. She clapped teasingly.

  Sager pretended not to notice. He stepped back and crossed his arms, smiling in satisfaction.

  “In the worst-case scenario, we can cut off all the superficial scarring. Then send him back to his master as a perfect-looking specimen.”

  Or we can make him pretty instead of comfortable, Em translated to herself.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  She rolled her eyes. Rubbed wrong by the doctor’s attitude.

  “Who is his master, anyway?”

  “I’m not allowed to say. Now, it’s late. You best be going.”

  Em smiled but didn’t leave until she returned to Asher for a moment.

  Would he have talked to me the way he did today if he knew I was Angel?

  Would he hate ‘Angel,’ too, if he knew it was me?

  She pulled the blanket up to his chin. His face was too white in the mage light, so impulsively, she put her fingers against his neck. There wasn’t much mana left in her after the long surgery. Still, she gently tugged on what was left.

  Pulling out as much as she could without going dry.

  It wasn’t enough to improve his color.

  She would have removed her fingers right away, except… except… She felt a pulse of mana against the edge of her senses.

  Puzzled, she tried to follow it. Find its source.

  Was it residual mana from her efforts? But that didn’t seem possible. When you infused something with mana, you could usually sense the mana you infused into it. If you made the effort.

  But it was different with something living.

  The living thing usually absorbed it until it was gone. Or caught up in the natural mana flow of the living thing.

  And no one could feel the mana flow of a living thing until that thing pushed it outward. Not unless there was so much mana normal boundaries didn’t apply.

  It’s probably this.

  She touched part of the tattoo on his neck.

  As a child, she hadn’t known what it was. Now she knew it was a curse, probably two curses as far as she could see, that kept him bound. First, as a slave. The second to suppress his ‘other’ form.

  However, since she wasn’t a trained mage, even sensing mana in the curses was unusual.

  Curses…

  She continued to trace the symbols with one finger. Thinking.

  It would be so easy to remove the curses… She wouldn’t have to be a sorceress. Just a couple layers of skin and poof! Gone.

  No. She wouldn’t suggest it. Sager would never cooperate. And anything less than a skilled surgeon and a healer would probably kill Asher. Considering where the curses lived on his skin.

  This was why such curses were almost always put somewhere hard to remove physically without killing the subject.

  Realizing she was lingering too long, she quickly snatched her hand away and grabbed her bag.

  It was time to go.

  Hopefully, Aunt Eileen was already asleep.

  Em winced

  Aunt Eileen. That was yet another conversation she wasn’t looking forward to.

  She and Sager parted ways outside the shed door. Delaying a little longer, Em pretended she didn't notice when Todd joined her. Instead, she watched the doctor go to the house and lock himself inside.

  Todd pulled on her hair, and she glared at him. With a cheeky smile, he held up her veil. Where and when had he gotten that?

  “Come on. Before the old sow sends her guards.”

  “Don’t be rude.”

  “I don’t hear you denying it.”

  Em rolled her eyes and took the veil, putting it on. “When we get back, we’ll use the garden gate.”

  “We should go over the wall. They said in the guard barracks that they're supposed to watch that gate more closely.”

  “Why?”

  He shrugged and opened the clinic’s gate. Using a key Sager gave her. And which she’d then entrusted to Todd.

  “Do you think someone noticed my meetings with Ben? Or do they suspect that’s how I’m getting out?”

  “Most likely.”

  “Ugh!”

  Todd locked the gate behind them, and they walked toward the road.

  “Why can’t things go right for once?” she complained. “In stories, even the villains win occasionally.”

  “This isn’t a story.”

  “I know that!”

  She huffed.

  They stepped into the street, turning toward the park. She noticed a carriage sitting outside a dark house two buildings away. But since it was in the opposite direction, Em ignored it.

  “Anyway, I don’t think I can climb a wall.”

  “I can carry you.”

  “Oh, no! Absolutely not!”

  “I’ll be careful.”

  Em shot him a glare. Which was sadly lost in the dark.

  “There is no way in all the underworld I’m riding up a wall on your back.”

  “What about up and down?”

  She smacked his shoulder, and he laughed.

  “Ok, ok. What do you suggest?”

  “Maybe you can climb over and distract the guards?”

  “That might alert the old sow too soon.”

  “Don’t be rude, Todd Gardener,” said a voice behind them.

  While Em froze, Todd immediately spun around. Drawing a sword with one hand and a dagger with the other.

  The intruder didn’t react except to drop his tone to chilling.

  “What is the point of heightened senses, boy, if you let people sneak up on you? What if I meant Em harm?”

  “You aren’t just anyone.” Em slowly turned around. Glad for the night and her veil, which hid her sheepish grimace. “What chance does he have against your training?”

  “And you. Didn’t I tell you that wandering off with just the lycan was no longer acceptable? Did you have to leave Chez behind?”

  Todd shifted. Putting away his weapons and bowing.

  “I apologize, my lord. This was my doing.”

  The shadow sighed.

  “I appreciate the effort, boy, but I know very well who's doing it was. Join Chez on the driver’s seat. Em, to the carriage.”

  Meekly, they both did as they were told.

  As soon as the carriage door closed, it started moving. Em fiddled her fingers and glanced furtively at the other passenger.

  “I’m sorry, Flint.”

  He grunted.

  “Don’t give me empty apologies. You’d do it again if you felt the need.”

  Em didn’t answer. After all, he was right.

  “Do you understand just how much danger you put yourself in?”

  “I-I had Todd. And a disguise.”

  Flint sighed. It almost sounded like a groan. Wearily, he rubbed his forehead.

  “You’re not a child anymore, Emmaline Grimshaw-”

  “I-”

  “And you’re smart enough to realize that being the Emperor’s newest woman puts a target on your head. What was so important you would risk your life? Not just yours, but Mister Gardener’s as well?”

  “I… just wanted to finish my last project with Sager.”

  For a long time, there was silence. Em squirmed, wishing she could see Flint’s face.

  “How did you know I came here?”

  Flint grunted. “A guess. I have knights watching the other two places.”

  “Oh.”

  Flint sighed again and leaned forward on his knees. Even in the dim light, he could stare her into squirming.

  “Em, I need you to tell me everything you’ve been up to.”

  Em looked at her lap. Silent.

  “Are you… Do you perhaps find me untrustworthy?”

  Her chin snapped up. “That’s not it!”

  “Then what is it?”

  Em chewed on her lip. Chest constricting.

  “If you don’t tell me, I will assume I’m the problem.”

  “It’s not you! It’s just… just…” Tears filled her eyes and caused her speech to become hoarse. “I just… wanted to be useful. I wanted to be less of a burden.”

  There was a long silence, during which she wiped away several tears and fidgeted. Crumpling her skirt in her fists.

  “You wished to avoid being a burden… by making yourself a burden?”

  “What? No!”

  Flint sighed and rubbed his face.

  “What did you think would happen? You sneak around, make a mess, and get caught. It all ends up on my head anyway. If you’d asked for help from the start, I could’ve at least saved us some trouble.”

  Stunned, Em opened and closed her mouth. Unable to think of anything to say.

  Was that really how it was?

  Was she so obsessed with not being a burden that she made herself into one, anyway? Did she do that to Maddie, too?”

  For an instant, her mind went back years ago to her other body. A vivid memory of a time she’d tried to clean the bathroom… only to end up helpless on the floor until Maddie came home two hours later.

  And how much Maddie struggled to get her off the floor and into her walker chair.

  Em wiped away more tears as they leaked again.

  Stupid tears. Why did she have to be such a crybaby?

  Flint leaned forward to press a handkerchief into one of her hands. Then he grasped the fingers of her other hand. Holding gently.

  “If you don’t find me untrustworthy, I need you to trust me now. Can you do that, Emmaline Grimshaw?”