Still, he wished Luc would say a bit more about his ability to fling knives at stuff. Maybe after lunch he’d take Anaya into the alley behind the apothecary for a demonstration. If she thought reading was impressive, wait until she saw him stick a dagger through a knot in a fencepost a block away.
When they were done eating, Evaine began assigning chores. A shockingly docile Luc stood at the wash basin and scrubbed pots, while Rolan hauled a bucket of scraps out back for Evaine’s small flock of chickens. It was afternoon now, the rain a slight drizzle that misted Rolan’s hair and shoulders.
He made his way down the alley behind the apothecary. It was a narrow space that Evaine had somehow made beautiful, with potted herbs and a small hen yard at the end. He headed for the chickens, his belly full and warm. He was so focused on remembering the way Luc had commended his quickness with spelling that he didn’t notice the man standing at the end of the alley until Rolan ran smack into him, nearly spilling the scraps all over his shoes.
He stepped back with a gasp as the man’s teeth flashed in a wide, crooked smile. He had a bald head and a scraggly beard and a low, paunchy belly that swayed over his belt.
“There you are, my boy,” he said, spreading his arms. “What? Haven’t you got a ‘hello’ for your dear old pa?”
- CHAPTER 20 -DEAR OLD PA
Rolan froze. It didn’t feel real: his father standing there, leaning on his cane and grinning at him. A part of him wanted to hug the man. A part of him wanted to run away as fast as his legs would go.
“So,” said Rabb Strider. “You’re the Arcanist’s boy now, are you?”
“I’m not hisboy,” Rolan said. “I’m his apprentice.”
“Psh. You thinkyou’regoing to fight Cryptics? He’ll cut you up and feed you to them as bait.”
Rolan glanced around. They were alone in the misty rain. “He won’t. He’s not like that. Everyone is wrong about him, Pa. He’s good and brave, and he protects the city.”
Rabb scoffed. “Hefeedsoff the city, boy. If we don’t pay his toll,he’ll set the Cryptics on us. He drinks their dark magic and they obey him. Everyone knows it.”
Rolan frowned at this twisting of the truth. But he couldn’t tell him the real way the Arcanist worked, not without betraying Luc’s trust.
“Why didn’t you come for me?” Rolan asked. “Hoff was going to put me in the duke’s prison. I waited for you. Two nights I waited.”
His father’s smile faded. He plucked a wad of mint leaves from Evaine’s little herb garden and stuck them in his teeth, slowly chewing. Finally he drawled, “I heard.”
Rolan sucked in a breath. So his fatherhadknown. “But you didn’t come.”
“I thought you needed to learn a lesson. A good father makes sure his son learns hard lessons. Such as, if you get caught trying to steal a lamp—”
“You’vedestroyed lamps before!” Rolan cried.
“Yes. But I didn’t getcaught.” His father rapped his cane, making Rolan jump. He could still feel the sting of that hateful stick on his legs, his back. He took a step backward, just in case.
“What’ve I told you a thousand times, boy?” said his pa. “A true son of Rabb Striderdoesn’t get caught.”
Rolan looked down at the scraps in his bucket. The warm, full feeling in his belly was starting to turn sour. “I would’ve been locked up for ten years or more.”
“It was all a trap anyway,” his father said. “Hoff wantsme. You know that.”
“I know, but—”
“Would you have had me stick my head in his noose?”
“Well, no, but—”
“Stop stammering, boy, you sound like an idiot.” His father shook his head, then spat out the chewed-up mint leaves. They made an ugly dark splotch on Evaine’s clean, swept cobblestones. “You can’t even see how you’re being used by that Arcanist. He’ll chew you up and spit you out. He’s a monster.”
“No,” Rolan whispered. He wanted to shout it, but his voice was curled up somewhere in his stomach.
His father reached out. He put a hand on Rolan’s shoulder, making him flinch. “Come home, son. You belong with the crew. With me.”
Rolan lifted his chin. “You never wanted me to be part of your crew before.”
His father shrugged. “Can you blame me for wanting to spare my boy, my only boy, from the dangers of a life of crime? But maybe you’re right. Maybe youareready to take on more responsibility.”
