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The young man heaved a shaky breath, even as he crossed his arms in a vain attempt to appear larger. “N-no, you won’t.”
This wouldn’t end well. If the child persisted, he would get hurt. “We will be gone by morning,” Nava said, hoping her calm tone would ease him. Unlike the other two brutes, she was used to dealing with teenagers. “Much like you, we need shelter tonight.”
His arms loosened as his shoulders dropped, and for the first time, his eyes landed squarely on her, taking in her dirty features. His face softened somewhat. Perhaps the person he was protecting was a sister. Or a sick mother.
Devon made a move toward the hallway. The young man attempted to step in front of him, although the fight had clearly left him. “You’re always the voice of reason, Cat,” Devon said as he pushed past the boy.
“Are we going to follow Devon to the back?” Nava asked Arkimedes. Did she even want to? The stranger had claimed this shop as his home, right? It seemed rude to impose like that.
“I know it seems wrong.” Arkimedes reached for her hand, pulling her down the narrow corridor, the floor creaking beneath their feet. “But it’s better if we keep our eyes on our new friends while we rest. I’m uncertain who they are and what they are capable of.”
The room turned out to be a kitchen. It was larger than the front room, with a clay oven in the corner and a large sofa in front of it. Tables that must have once been used for making pastries and bread were now propped up against the walls, broken and with chunks of them missing.
A family lived here. Used these tables as kindling for fire. Two heads of raven hair peeked out from behind the couch, hiding away from their inquisitive eyes. Children.
Devon prowled to the far end of the room, ignoring the young man’s protests. He shrugged off his coat and draped it over a pottery rack.
“They are very young.” Nava’s horrified tone matched Arkimedes’s expression as he too realized what they had stumbled upon. “Hardly anyone we should worry about.”
Why was man, no older than eighteen, alone in this place, protecting them? Were they his siblings—or perhaps his offsprings?
Her brother, Cameron, instantly sprang to mind. He wasn’t so little anymore. At fourteen years of age, he was a young man who would try to protect her if he needed to. Oh, how happy she was that he wasn’t here with her and safe instead, traveling to Pearl Island with her friends Gavin and Violet.
Tears blurred her vision as she took in the little ones. How could she help them? She stomped toward Devon, rage burning through her.
“Why did you do that?” she accused. “You knew there were children in here!”
“Don’t look so alarmed. I never claimed to be a good guy.” Devon’s smile deepened, although it didn’t reach his eyes.
Nava faked a laugh, a strained sound that echoed through the large room. “You didn’t have to be the monster I thought you would be.”
“If only I cared about what you thought of me, Kitten.”
Maybe Nava would have believed him a month ago, but not anymore. Working together to save Arkimedes from his evil father had revealed layers beneath Devon’s cold exterior. Devon desired to appear as an all-powerful villain, but Nava was no longer buying it.
“I don’t like deserters.” He ran one of his hands through his hair and glanced over her head toward the family, who were huddled by the warmth of the oven. “A household who run away with their young usually cause more harm than good to the innocents. That man’s cowardice and selfishness have left them starving in this dump.”
“You have it all figured out, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. Unlike you, I haven’t lived a sheltered life. I’ve seen suffering like this before. Every time the Society of Crows takes a child for the Crown, the families get paid a handsome sum they can use to feed the rest of them. The Crown values all magical children, so they’re fed and clothed.”
“How do you even know that’s what they are?” Nava narrowed her eyes. And where was Arkimedes, so he could talk some sense into his brother? “Being poor doesn’t automatically make someone a fugitive.”
“Use your eyes, Nava.”
Nava drew a deep breath. Although she’d never seen his face so serious, she didn’t want to get into a nasty argument with him—even if he was baiting her like this.
“I’ve set some wards around the shop’s front. It should give us time to escape through the back if we need to.” Arkimedes rejoined them, seemingly unaware of the tension brewing in the room. Or perhaps he was choosing to ignore it.
Nava studied the family more closely. A smokeless blue fire burned gently underneath a pot in the clay oven. The only fire with that color was the magical kind. She had seen it a year ago when Devon’s army burned the homes of the deserters on Grey Island.
Was that how he knew what they were? The fire?
She swallowed, blinking away more tears. She wanted to go over there and promise help she couldn’t offer. What would she have done if that had been her and Cameron? Would she have allowed him to live in these conditions?
And underneath all these what-ifs, another question arose. Had the city fallen into ruin because of Arkimedes’s absence? Had the businesses failed during that decade he’d spent waiting for her, far away from here? Was this all her fault?
They were safe from the guards for now. But what about the male Nava had encountered in the portal, back when she’d escaped from the castle? He’d looked just like Arkimedes.
