Page 98 of House of Crimson Cloak and Silver Teeth

“Who is she?” Shade asks the bartender, who’s been polishing glasses nearby.

She’s an older elven lady who has worked at the Gilded Lily longer than I’ve been alive. “New acquisition. Daughter of Lord Ferryn. He gambled away the family fortune and hung himself last month. Left her with debts she couldn’t possibly pay. Ravence bought her contract from the creditors.”

“What will happen to her?” Shade asks.

The bartender shrugs. “Once she’s... properly broken in, she’ll work upstairs until her debt is paid.”

I try not to look at the girl too long. This is just how the world works. The strong devour the weak. Always have, always will. The guild beat idealism out of me years ago.

But Shade...

Shade is still staring at the girl in the cage.

I should notice the way his head tilts just slightly and how his eyes go distant. But I’m distracted, talking to the bartender about some contract rumor. I don’t notice when Shade slips away from the booth.

Not until I hear the screaming.

I turn to see Shade standing in front of the large bird cage. It’s been brought down to the floor. The gilded door is hanging open on broken hinges. He’s torn it off its hinges with his bare hands.

The girl inside is pressed against the back of the cage, snarling like a feral cat. Her eyes are wild with terror and fury.

“Come out,” Shade says earnestly. “You’re free.”

She just stares at him with those defiant, terrified eyes.

Shade holds out his hand. “Come out. Please.”

The girl doesn’t take his hand or move from her corner.

So Shade does the only thing that makes sense to his strange mind.

He takes off his coat. It’s new and well-made, a gift from Shepherd for surviving the temple. He holds it out to her through the bars.

“You’re cold,” he observes. “Take this.”

The girl stares at the cloak wondering if it’s some kind of trick. Slowly, she reaches out and grabs it. She wraps it around herself, covering the rags.

That’s when Petyr Ravence arrives.

The noble sweeps across the room draped in silk and jewels. He takes one look at the broken cage, at Shade standing there, at the girl wrapped in a cloak, and his smile turns savage.

“Well,” he purrs. “It seems we have a thief.”

“Let her go,” Shade says calmly.

Ravence laughs once, soft and disbelieving. He gestures and his guards move forward with clubs.

I’m already moving, but Shepherd appears on the stairs before I can reach Shade. He’s half-drunk and completely furious.

“Shade,” he mutters, his tone arctic. “What did you do?”

“I freed her.”

“You freed—” Shepherd closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Gods damn it.”

Ravence is already calling for the guild’s judges. Shade has broken guild-sanctioned contracts. There will be consequences.

Severe ones.