Tam sat on the couch, and lit the cigar wedged in his mouth before he leaned back into the comfortable cushions and let out a long rushing stream of smoke.

  Eli had been studying one of the paintings hanging on the wall when she smelled the burning, and swung round in alarm. Then her eyes widened in surprise as she spotted the vice in Tam’s hand.

  He held her gaze, not batting an eye.

  “I didn’t know you smoked,” Eli remarked stiffly.

  Tam stared at the lit cigar in his hand, and then back at her. “When inspecting brothels I do. And on special occasions. Or, apparently, highly stressful situations.”

  His somber face lowered as he proceeded to take another puff and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

  Eli fidgeted.

  He noticed.

  “Do you not like me smoking?”

  “I… I don’t mind it on occasion. The smell can be nice when it isn’t excessive.”

  She eyed the cigar again.

  “Have you ever tried one?” Tam asked slowly while trying to read the thoughts behind her eyes.

  She colored at the question. “I did. Once. Chin preferred a pipe, but she would occasionally enjoy a cigar when she was alone before bed. It was the Winter Solstice… The last one she was alive for. We shared one by the fire.”

  Tam smiled in spite of himself. “Did you like it?”

  “It made my head spin, but it was alright. It changed the taste of my tea which was interesting.”

  Chuckling a little, Tam nodded to himself. “That is true. It also changes the way wine and liquor tastes. It can be nice.”

  Eli rounded the couch across from Tam and sat down slowly. “Not too surprising that one vice compliments another.”

  Harris had gone down to one of the private rooms they had been given for a nap, and so the couple partook in another day of quiet in the brothel.

  They all had been sleeping soundly after the hearty hot meals, baths, and being reintroduced to clean, comfortable beds. And while there was an intangible restless tension in the day as the prince’s birthday celebration neared, they waited patiently for more news from the palace.

  Eli suddenly broke the silence. “Tam, you… You were right. I wasn’t approaching my concerns about you as a partner. I was approaching them already defensive, and I… I was dismissive of your side. I’m sorry.”

  Tam blinked then turned to set the cigar down in the porcelain ashtray before clasping his hands loosely as he listened to her.

  “I am worried about how far you will go when it comes time to take back Luca and Penelope. And I guess I… I thought I knew you well enough that I made assumptions. I didn’t even know you smoked cigars… Or that you had another name when inspecting brothels.” Eli’s fingers curled into loose fists atop her knees. “I’m on your side, Tam. You’re still the best person I know, and I… If I’m doomed to be anyone’s familiar, I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather be tied to.”

  Tam rose from his seat wordlessly, and rounded the low table that sat between himself and Eli before seating himself down on its surface and holding out his hand to his assistant.

  She stared down at it, then gingerly reached out and grasped his fingers in her own.

  “I will only dispose of anyone who attacks, or who has been explicit in their abduction. Civilians? Children? I’d never hurt on purpose.”

  Eli’s throat bobbed as she swallowed, then jerked her chin down in understanding.

  “I don’t know if you want to hear this, but I… I think I’ve thought of a name for you as a familiar.”

  At first, Eli froze, and a glimmer of hesitancy and dread rushed through her eyes.

  Until she chose to lower her walls, her shoulders easing down. “Okay.”

  “There is a constellation in the stars of a cat that protects the world from the people who have turned to evil. She was said to have originated as a house cat belonging to a beautiful young woman who lived alone… And one day, she was murdered by robbers who had broken into her house. Her cat, broken hearted, beseeched the Goddess to help her seek vengeance, and to stop such evil from ever harming another good person.”

  Eli visibly relaxed even more as she fell under the enchantment of Tam’s story.

  “The Goddess acquiesced to the cat’s wish, as it was around this time that the first witch had lost her powers and therefore could not do much to help humanity. And so, this cat prowled her village, keeping the innocents safe from those corrupted with evil. Even the devil is said to be scared of this cat.”

  Tam paused, but Eli was hanging onto his every word.

  “I have always thought of this story when I’ve seen you change, but I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

  “What’s the name of the cat?” Eli whispered.

  Tam smiled warmly. “Kasha.”

  A humming warmth spread through the air, and both Tam and Eli blinked in surprise as the room seemed to grow hazy, and an ethereal glow surrounded them.

  The couple stared in amazement down at their joined hands, then back up at each other in a daze. Both of them broke out in nervous smiles before Eli bent forward and wrapped her arms around Tam’s broad shoulders that had thinned a little in recent weeks, but were still firm.

  “I love you, Tam. And I’m imperfect, and I’m working through my issues, but I… I do not want to lose you.”

  Tam returned her embrace and buried his face in her neck. “I love you, too. Thank you for talking to me, and for your apology.”

  Giving her an extra firm squeeze, Tam proceeded to release Eli and lean back, though he still held her hands. “You and I, Eli? We’re going to get the kids, and we are going to be happy after everything. Together. I promise.”

  ***

  Kat kept her face lowered, as she stalked through the streets of Gondol. The dark hood she wore covering both her hair and her eyes.

  Her mother limped at her side with a sickly pale Sir Hugo Cas following along. The knight appeared to be a light breeze away from collapsing, but his blue eyes that were normally bright and warm, had turned to steel. Much the same way they turned when he wielded a sword.

  Kezia was in Kat’s arms, but she was covered with blankets and a coat to appear like nothing more than a pile of laundry.

  They’d had to stop twice on their journey away from the palace so that Kat could go and dispatch those that attempted to follow them. The first group had been human, imperial soldiers. The next two groups had consisted of witches.

  Kat didn’t bother hiding the bodies.

  By the time they had reached the door to the Opulent Opal, the sky burned with orange and red.

  Annika was the one to knock on the door, her own hood drawn up.

  A guard built like a brick outhouse opened the door.

  “I am the Dragon. You will take me to the madam and the Shadow, or the brothel will burn.”

  The man let out a snorting huff, but stepped aside without a word of objection. His overall attitude suggested that he had experienced this sort of interaction rather recently…

  Kat hefted Kezia in her arms and hunched her shoulders, hoping to the Gods that she was not imagining the steady breathing of her friend.

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  It had been incredibly fortunate that Kezia and Sir Cas had been wearing their traveling cloaks when they’d gone to visit Katarina and her mother, and that both Kat and her mother’s cloaks inside the wardrobe were undamaged, as more and more people flooded the streets lit with lanterns strung up between the houses to celebrate the prince’s birthday.

  Regardless of the cloaks, they swept into the inn hurriedly. They couldn’t risk being seen.

  Sir Cas closed the brothel door behind them.

  The doorman stalked ahead of them and called gruffly over his shoulder. “Mung is dealing with important customers. You lot come up. The madam is with the Shadow and his company upstairs.”

  No one said anything. But they proceeded onward and upward, passing the narrow corridors, catching swaths of voices and music, scents of liquor and sizzling meat…

  Until at last they came to the top of the stairs.

  Annika leaned heavily at the bannister once she’d rounded the main spindle to allow the others past her, while Sir Cas lunged toward the small span of wall across the top of the stairs, his knees buckling and his eyes fluttering from the climb.

  Only Kat walked forward without so much as a boot scuff toward the Zinferan woman seated behind the ornate desk.

  She wore a black lace dress and a leather corset. Her hair was in a low bun, and her eyepatch was made of leather with gold detailing.

  She puffed on a pipe as she surveyed the newcomers dispassionately. “It would seem I am a popular establishment as of late.”

  “We need a physician,” Kat growled. “I have a woman here in my arms. We were attacked by magic. She’s unconscious. The man behind me has a head injury, and my mo—the Dragon, has an injured knee and most likely fractured ribs.”

  The madam took her time reaching over to set her pipe down. “Once my assistant returns to my side I will send up our physician. Though I must say, I will need to start accepting payment for all of this charity I’ve been expected to give as of late. I was under the impression the Dragon did not demand much of her business associates.”

  “I’ll give you gold,” Kat snapped. “Where can I lay this woman down?”

  The madam rose to her feet and sauntered around the desk.

  “Probably on the couch where the Shadow is sitting. Assuming he is fine making some room.”

  Kat had been so focused on keeping track of Kezia’s breaths that she had completely forgotten that her brother was somewhere in the building, and so she whirled around.

  Her eyes widened.

  She watched as he stood from the couch.

  What… had happened to him?

  Kat watched as, with long steps, her brother… Her brother who had always slouched, her brother who had always lowered his eyes… Her brother who had been missing and reported dead came closer.

  She had expected him to be battered.

  Frail… frightened.

  He was not frightened.

  Kat stared up into his face.

  Had he always been that tall?

  His dark eyes stared down at her, and Kat saw something in them that nearly made her recoil.

  Shadows behind his brown eyes flickered like a dark flame. It was almost like their father’s ethereal white light that revealed his time spent in the Forest of the Afterlife. But whereas Finlay Ashowan’s made him seem heavenly, this darker flickering made her brother seem… Dangerous.

  “Kat?”

  His voice was low, and gravelly. His sharp face intent as his gaze bore into her.

  Why did he look so intimidating? He was in simple black clothing, and was a bit thinner than before, but Kat could tell there were even deeper changes than what she could see.

  Was this really her brother?

  Tam neared her. Loomed over her…

  “Kat, where are my kids?” His tone was deadly.

  It took Kat a moment to overcome her shock, but instead of responding straight away she ushered past Tam and lay Kezia down on the couch her brother had vacated.

  She spotted a lit cigar sitting in an ashtray as she uncovered Kezia’s face and checked on her breathing, but the sight of the vice her brother had obviously been partaking in only unnerved her more.

  So when she started to turn back around and found herself staring at Eli—who must have been watching the entire time from her leaned place along the wall ever since they’d arrived—she startled.

  Eli, too, was different.

  The young woman she had first met had been disguised as a boy, so of course there was the difference of longer hair that reached past Ei’s chin, and the fact that she had a distinctly womanly shape. But just like Tam, there was a hardness in her. A confidence and strength that made Kat’s senses prickle.

  “Dragon. Where are my kids?” Kat ripped her eyes from Eli to look at her brother with in outrage as he faced their mother who was gazing up at her son with a look so pained and uncertain that upon seeing it Kat froze in a state of indecision.

  “They were taken. By force. As you can most likely see,” Annika informed her son softly.

  “Where were they taken?” Tam persisted, his voice low.

  No one in the room dared to breathe.

  Even the madam wasn’t foolish enough to so much as roll her eye.

  “I do not know.” Annika responded, a slight croak entering her voice as she seemed to come to a conclusion while staring up at Tam.

  “Why are you being such an arse, Tam! I know we’re worried about the kids, but a lot of people nearly died!” Kat shouted.

  She half expected this new version of her brother to wither away and his regular old, silly brother to reappear.

  But when Tam locked eyes with Kat, she could tell he never would be the same again. This trip to Zinfera had done too much to him.

  His fierceness did soften a little when he met his sister’s furious stare, but the steeliness in his face did not fade for an instant.

  “Wait for the physician. Send word to Jiho Ryu when you can; he will help. Eli and I are going to be leaving now.”

  Kat watched dumbfounded as Eli pushed off the wall of the brothel and proceeded toward the stairs where Tam was already heading.

  “Tam! Do you have any idea how dangerous the palace is right now? Both covens are–”

  “We know,” Tam interrupted but didn’t stop for an instant.

  Kat persisted while moving after her brother and his assistant. “Kraken and Pina are on their way, too! Can we talk for a second here? And where is Harris?”

  “I need to go get my kids, Kat. We can talk later,” Tam was already halfway down the stairs.

  “Like hell we will,” Kat rumbled, her eyes cutting to her mother, who was staring after Tam, her face filled with anguish. “Mum?”

  Annika gradually turned toward her daughter, her mind obviously elsewhere.

  “Mum, I’m going with him. I think my brother got dumber while he was away. Can you please keep an eye on Kezia?”

  Annika nodded slowly.

  “Thanks. And you!” Kat pointed a finger at the madam who did not look impressed by the rude gesture, but when Madam Sao noticed the burning gold color of Kat’s eyes under the hood, she balked.

  “We are not a family you want to cross. Get these people help. You’ll get your gold. But if you betray us, I will be the last face you see on this earth, and I won’t make myself pretty for the occasion. Understood?”

  It took the madam a moment to regain her composure, but when she did she bowed her head magnanimously.

  “I understand… Your Majesty.”

  Kat let out a guttural noise at hearing the formal title. At times it was annoying how recognizable she was.

  However, she couldn’t complain about it just then, as she hurried after her brother and his assistant. Uneasiness burning a hole in her gut as she had the unpleasant notion that her brother was about to do something more than a little reckless that night.