Page 54 of Reap & Sow

“The imp was staring like he meant to eat me in my sleep!”

“Tripp would never foul his tongue with horrid human meat. Nasty gristle and chewy bits, it is.”

“How exactly would you know that?”

Sharp teeth flashed in a grin.

“Enough.” Robin shooed Tripp off the table as though he were a fly, earning a growl. Nothing about the demonic seemed to unnerve her. “Where’s your wayward lord this morning? Haven’t seen him since I cleaned up his leg.”

“My patron keeps to his own affairs, crone.”

“Ah. So you don’t know either.”

“Tripp is Lord Kit’s most trusted vassal! Always kept in his confidence.”

“I thought he dismissed you from his service?” Eda posed, enjoying the way he seethed.

“Tripp has watched over m’lord since he was a youngling in the cradle and will die at his side! When he takes back his family seat, Tripp will be there too.”

Eda considered him. There was a fierceness in his expression that she could only interpret as genuine affection. Strange to see it upon such a monstrous little face. “You’d die for him?”

“Tripp is Kit’rath Ansellis’s familiar.”

As if that explained everything. “You care about him.”

Tripp opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. Puffed out his chest. “A mere mortal would not understand.”

That’s almost sweet.

Robin asked, “What about you, lamb? After yesterday, it seems to me you need this bishop taken care of. Unless you want to spend the rest of your days running from the Faith…”

“That’s the least of my problems. Once I get Ben and Lawrie out, we need to get Severin Lich his damned Gateway. If we fail, we’ll have to leave Wesland. Go to Forisia, maybe. Or the Isles.”

“Penniless criminals hunted by clerics and crime lords alike don’t tend to live very long.”

“I’m not going to live long anyway,” Eda snapped. The words hung bitterly in the ensuing silence. “Sorry. I just—I can’t think about what comes after. If I can even rescue them, my brothers and I still need to find Mr. Night his last ten years. After that…I don’t know. At least we’ll be free.”

“Perhaps. But for how long?”

Eda misliked this particular tone of voice—soft and pitying. She misliked even more that she had no good answer. Any future beyond getting her brothers back was indistinct as smoke. To think that her last precious years might be spent scurrying from the Faithhood’s clutches or Severin Lich, like a fox down a hole…Robin was right. It would only be a matter of time before they were caught, or killed, or starved to death as beggars on some foreign street. Was that to be Ben and Lawrie’s lot after everything she’d done to save them?

Florian Fane’s visage swam behind her eyes. Her fingers curled into her trousers. I want him to regret ever shadowing our door. More than that, she wanted Ben and Lawrie to live. Even if Eda wouldn’t be there to see. Even if she wouldn’t get a life of her own.

The bishop, exposed. Would it be enough to clear their names and win back their freedom?

A breeze rushed into the cabin. Kit appeared at the door and leaned against the jamb. “Ready for another ride, darling?”

“Can’t you turn into a mule? Something not so tall and…fast?”

“Learning to adopt any form takes years of study and practice. I know only five. You think I’d waste the effort on a damned mule?”

Eda counted on her fingers. “Cat. Mouse. Horse. Bird. What’s the fifth, then?” She hesitated to count Kit’s human visage, so alike his real one. If Mr. Night was capable of the same, it could not be an illusion exclusive to shape-shifters.

“Cease being nosy.”

“You still haven’t told me who this ‘friend in a high place’ is.” Then, because she felt snide: “Didn’t think you had any friends.”

“It’s a strong word, I’ll grant you. He and I have a Pact.”