“Anytime.” A tingling sensation swept through her ankle like a gust of wind, but before she could so much as twitch, it wasdone. The Urchin healer stretched to his full height and glanced around the room. “Anything else?”
“No,” said the man at her side. “I appreciate your quick response.”
“Captain.” The healer nodded toward him, a slight bow to his upper body, and then he was gone through the door.
Alora didn’t move. She continued to stare in an unseeing haze at the closed door, disbelieving she’d shown even more of herself to the Urchin she so distrusted and feared. Because she did, didn’t she? Distrusted and feared him so much?
She came back to herself when leather gloves enclosed the backs of her knees, shifting her until she faced the front. Her feet met the floor. She glanced up to the dark shape of the Urchin captain’s eyes before he dropped his head. Her shoe was slipped back onto her foot, simple and painless.
“I’ll take you home.”
***
Alora could see nothing. Less than nothing, if that were possible. But she could feeleverything.Cobblestones clacked beneath her heels, uneven and familiar. Cool, night air brushed her skin. Her hair fell down her back, strands of it brushing her face with the push in the breeze. And her hand. Herhand.She twitched her fingers to be sure it wasn’t a dream. Or a nightmare.
The Urchin tightened his grip upon them.
He’d held her hand once before, just like this. She couldn’t remember where exactly, or at which point in their meeting, but she remembered this feeling. Her heart must have fallen out of rhythm. It was the only plausible explanation for the sensation in her chest now.
“Are you managing?”
“Yes,” said Alora, the word clipped. He’d tried to carry her again.Her.With two perfectly adequate feet.
There was so much to say. Of what he’d witnessed between her and the lost man. Of why he’d been there to begin with. What he planned to do about her after all, if anything. She wanted to confront him over Timothy Lofte’s allegations, and William’s actions. She wanted to confront him over so many things.
“Could you—”
“Is William—”
They both sucked in a breath.
“After you,” said the Urchin.
Alora exhaled, then began again. “Is William truly your brother?”
She’d counted to thirty before he answered. “I’d forgotten he called me that in front of you, I was so furious. Stupid of him.”
“So it’s true?”
“It is. In name over blood, but brothers all the same.”
“He was adopted?”
“We both were.”
“Both? Goodness. And you were raised together as children?”
“Are we questioning my past now or his?”
Alora ignored him. “Is he an Urchin as well?”
“No.He’s a performer, as I’ve said.”
Adopted brothers.“Do your adoptive parents live nearby?”
“Near enough.”
Alora could feel it, the tension building and now rolling off him. His fingers flexed around her own, and it was a warning to her even if he didn’t mean it as such. “What did you wish to ask me?”
