'A trader comes by every few months. I got a new adze last spring.'
Calm's gaze wandered to a boulder at the edge of the woods. Almost as high as his waist, half sunk into the earth and covered in gray lichen, it had to weigh as much as a prize steer, if not more. He remembered watching Kas lift the boulder and toss something underneath before dropping the stone back into place. It had happened so long ago, and yet the memory was as sharp as a knife.
'You're thinking about your parents,' Kas said.
Caim nodded.
'You think you're strong enough to lift that stone yet?'
Caim considered the boulder, and the mountain of history heaped upon its craggy face. 'I don't know if I'll ever be strong enough.'
'I think about your father a lot,' Kas said. 'Your mother, too. I wonder if I should have searched longer for the ones who did it. Maybe I didn't try hard enough.'
Caim scuffed the toe of his boot in the dirt and kicked up a pebble. It landed beside his foot, flat and smooth like a river stone. A band of red twisted through the white surface. What could he say? Nothing. He had his own reservations about the past.
'But you know, Caim, I'm glad I didn't go back, because then I'd never have found you. Your father was a great man, the best I ever knew. He would have wanted me to take care of you until you were old enough to look after yourself.'
'What about what I wanted? What if I'd been willing to trade a few years on the streets in exchange for the knowledge that what happened to my parents had been made right?'
'You still want revenge? Boy, listen to me. I've seen war and more than enough killing for a lifetime, and I can tell you from experience, that's an endless hole. You can pour everything you got into it, but every morning it's still going to be empty. It doesn't matter how many men you send to their graves, what's past is never going to change. It's time you learned that and moved on.'
Caim ground his teeth together until sharp tingles of pain ran along his jaw. 'I still see him in my dreams, Kas. He dies again and again right in front of me, and he keeps asking for justice, but I can't give it to him. What am I supposed to do? Just let it go and forget they ever existed?'
Kas sighed. 'Caim, you've been walking a line between light and dark your whole life. Maybe it's time to choose a side and stick with it.'
Caim stepped away. A sick feeling uncoiled in his belly. Suddenly, he didn't trust himself. Was he doing the right thing? How could he know?
'There are no sides, Kas. Just everyone looking out for themselves. That's the truth my father couldn't face.'
'You don't see it, boy. You're in trouble.'
'It's nothing I can't handle.' He turned to face the man who had raised him. 'But I need a safe place for Josey to stay. It'll just be for a couple days.'
'Of course, she's welcome. What about you?'
Caim headed back to the cabin. 'I've got things to take care of.'
Josey stood in the tiny kitchen area. She looked over as he entered. 'I'm not staying without you,' she said as if reading his thoughts.
'It's for the best.'
She crossed her arms across her chest. 'You don't get to decide where I go and how I live.'
He waited for the anger of her outburst to subside. The blush of her cheeks faded, but her fingers were knotted now, into a hard, white ball. She looked like she was searching for something to throw at him until Kas stepped through the door.
'We'll have a grand time, lady. We can talk about Caim while he's gone. I'll tell you all his childhood secrets.'
Her eyes bore into Caim. 'What if you don't come back?'
'I will.'
'But what if-?'
He came around the table and wrapped his hands around hers. 'I will return. Believe that.'
She bobbed her head before collapsing against him. 'You better,' she murmured into his chest.
Kas cleared his throat. Caim gently pushed Josey away. He gave her his most sincere smile and a wink, and then he headed for the door. Kas stood in his way. Caim tensed, but the old man simply stepped aside.
'Hope you find what you're looking for, boy.'
Caim kept his head down as he stepped over the threshold.
'Caim!'
He turned in time to catch Josey. She clutched him hard for a moment, and then pushed a small object into his hand. It was cool against his palm.
'Take this,' she said, and stepped back.
He looked down into his hand. A golden key nestled there amid a jumble of leather string. Her necklace. With a nod, he wrapped the cord around his wrist as he went out to his horse.
Back in the saddle, he took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the scents of pine and maple, good earth and sweet smoke. Then he rode away and left behind the two people he cared about the most.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
thir's gates were barred when Caim returned, their wardens replaced by soldiers in the hunter green livery of the Nimean army.
So he entered by the underground tunnel. After snuffing the lantern inside Pieter's mausoleum, he stood for a moment with his hand on the crypt's bronze door. If he failed, it was only a matter of time before they got to Josey. The girl was lovely, smart, charming, but she was also haughty and headstrong. She wouldn't be content to wait with Kas for long. And where had Kit gotten off to?
Taking her own sweet time getting over being mad at me just when I need her the most.
Caim shook his head as he slipped through the cemetery gate, and wondered how he had acquired so many responsibilities.
A wild wind whipped through his hair as he navigated the cemetery. With Mathias dead, there was only one person who knew he'd be at the earl's mansion that night.
The streets bordering the boneyard were quiet, but only a block away the clamor of fighting resounded. Though muted by the fog from the river, it sounded like a full-scale war. He turned onto Acacia Avenue and found the way blocked by a pair of overturned wagons. Beyond the barrier, soldiers clashed with angry citizens. Bodies clogged the street. The ululation of rage long denied, now suddenly unleashed, filled the humid air.
An explosion lit up the night as a firebomb landed amid a cluster of soldiers. Orange flames engulfed them. Their screams made an inchoate chorus to the cheers of their attackers. The citizens pressed harder, eager to get at the men who had previously protected their homes and property. Sparks swirled in the air and were caught by the wind until the bombers were forced to scramble to avoid getting singed by their own handiwork.
Caim stayed in the shadows and bypassed the brawl. After several minutes of skulking, he arrived in the merchants' district. The fighting hadn't reached this part of the city yet, but it was only a matter of time; the fires of Low Town would spread quickly.
On Silk Street, the Golden Wheel stood between a chirash den and a brothel to form a triumvirate of earthly pleasures. The confirmation linking Ral to the plot behind the earl's assassination stared Caim in the face: a squad of Sacred Brothers slouched on the stoop of the front entrance like they were paying rent on the place.
Caim avoided the street's tall lampposts as he slipped around to the back. A narrow wooden gate gave entrance to an alley behind the gaming house. Dim light reflected in the windows overhead. Three located on the top floor were secured with stout shutters. Those would be Ral's rooms.
Caim started his ascent with slow movements, conscious of the wound in his side as he pulled himself up. The amulet dangling from his wrist was an unfamiliar hindrance, but he didn't remove it. He focused on the task one
