Page 34 of The Swindler’s Daughter

“Are they still causing trouble?” I asked, though I hardly needed to. It was clear enough.

“Worse,” Wick answered.

I turned to look at him, needing an explanation.

“They’re demanding pay.”

I blanched. “Again?” I asked, shocked. “But just last week…”

“They say they need more, else they can’t protect us all,” he said with a barely restrained sneer.

My eyes widened. “Protect us? From whom?”

“Whatever thieves they’re hiring to make trouble.”

“They—” My shock cut my voice off, and it took me a moment to find it again. “They’ve hired thieves to make trouble for vendors who don’t pay?” Was that really the case, or was Rowan’s thieving the thing that justified the magistrate’s extortion? Laws, were Rowan and the other lads making things worse?

“Certainly seems that way,” Wick said, scrubbing a hand over his eyes. “They first started demanding payment two weeks ago. They called it a new tax, suggesting there was an increase in criminal activity and that the need to hire additional peacekeepers meant more taxes.” His voice was steeped in bitterness. “Only, none of us had seen any new criminal activity, not unless you count what the constables themselves have been taking without payment.”

The knot in my chest loosened a little. Perhaps the boys hadn’t caused this after all.

“Then today, from the moment we set up our stalls, there’s been petty theft after petty theft. The constables chase after them but don’t ever seem to nab ’em.”

“Does anyone recognize the thieves?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Nah. But they’re all small. I can’t help but think they’ve convinced a group of urchins to help them.”

I blinked in surprise. “So, they’re…children?” It felt like there was a rock in my stomach.

He nodded. “It’s how they disappear into the crowd so easy.”

I was intimately familiar with that tactic. If pursuers can’t see you above the heads of everyone else, it makes you difficult to track.

Children. It was children committing the crimes, not Rowan and the boys at all.

My nose wrinkled in disgust. I absolutely despised the idea of the magistrate using children for his crooked deeds. “I don’t understand. How can they do this?”

He gave a bitter shrug. “They’re the law. Now, you best be moving on. Gather what you need, then get home. Today ain’t the day to linger.”

I took his words to heart and did my shopping as quickly as possible then left straightaway. The walk home brought tumultuous thoughts. I didn’t understand how this could be happening. The flagrant abuse of power had to be noticed by someone who could do something about it. I wished for the hundredth time that Sir James and Princess Marilee were not away visiting Dalthia. They had connections and respect. They could have done something.

What about the shopkeepers? Were they also subject to this new tax? If so, did they have the influence to make a change? And if not, if Reeve continued to support them, then what recourse did the rest of us have? I was ashamed to realize that I didn’t know much about the political chain of command. I knew the magistrate was subject to the high magistrate and the duke, but was there anyone else? Anyone closer? Anyone who would listen?

***

I entered the kitchen, hung my cloak, unloaded the basket of goods, and started snapping beans before I realized that both Emeline and Hunter were staring at me.

“Oh,” I said as I took in their curious faces. “Hunter, I didn’t see you there.”

“Clearly,” he commented with a concerned raise of one eyebrow.

“How are you both today?” I asked, sounding odd even to my own ears.

Emeline shook her head. “Never mind us. What’s worrying you?”

I kept snapping for several moments, not knowing where to start. I wanted to follow the laws and had managed to do just that for years. But now? How could I support a system that was so very broken?

Hunter pulled a stool over and sat across from me. “Miri,” he prodded.