6

After I left Silas’s room, I asked around and found out what had happened.

Silas loved the apple tree in the garden. It was in blossom now, and whenever he had nothing to do, he’d go wander under it.

He’d had the bad luck to run into Kane. Kane was on edge and needed to vent, so he took it out on Silas.

The only thing Celia valued in a beastkin was how well it could fight. But once a beastkin learned to keep its wild side in check, it lost a lot of its fighting edge. So she’d never taught Kane how.

She trained him almost to death, then tended his wounds with all the gentleness in the world.

Over and over, until Kane was hers body and soul.

If I hadn’t been so blinded by Reynard’s charm magic in my last life—if I hadn’t poured my whole heart into him until I’d lost even basic judgment—I’d never have died the way I did.

Tch. I wondered how Reynard was getting on at the Tanners’.

I asked around, and what I heard made me laugh.

Mr. Tanner was using Reynard’s charm magic to make him please and wait on all kinds of guests, men and women alike.

Reynard had a pretty face and charm magic on top of it. Plenty of people had wanted him in my last life too, and he had no way of protecting himself at all.

I’d paid a lot to keep him safe.

And every time, all he’d ever said was, “That’s the least you can do.”

The least I could do, my foot!

A plan suddenly came to me.

In my last life, Celia had never had any use for Reynard. Apart from his charm, she’d sneered, he couldn’t fight at all. This time would be different. Kane was half poisoned. Father had just humiliated her in front of the whole household for failing to rein in her own beastkin. A woman who’d just found out her wolf wasn’t enough would be very easy to comfort.

All I had to do was get Reynard out of the Tanners’ cellar and into Celia’s arms.

The trouble was the two people in my way. Mr. Tanner, who wouldn’t let go of Reynard until he’d squeezed every cent of his money back out of him. And Daisy, who’d sworn at Marina’s that this wasn’t over.

I was humming on my way back to my room when I heard voices from Silas’s room and couldn’t resist leaning in to listen.

Celia sounded full of remorse. “Silas, I’m so sorry. I didn’t keep Kane in line today.

“How are you feeling? Do you need your dressings changed? I can help.”

I raised an eyebrow and pressed my ear closer.

Silas’s voice was hard and cold. “Get out.”

“Where’s Ivy? Isn’t she going to stay and look after you? You’re so badly hurt.”

Silas snorted. “Wasn’t it your future husband who did this?”

I nearly laughed out loud and clapped a hand over my mouth.

Celia must have seen what Silas could do in a fight and decided she wanted him on her side.

When Silas didn’t bite, Celia offered a few more empty words of concern and got ready to leave.

I scurried back to my own room.

But the very next second, there was a knock on my door.

Silas stood in the doorway, his eyes dark and heavy on me.

I was a little surprised. He’d looked so badly hurt. He could already get out of bed?

I knew beastkin healed fast, but I hadn’t expected them to heal that fast.

“Do you need something?”

“You said you’d teach me to read.”

“…”

I’d completely forgotten.

“Sorry. Let’s start now.”

Silas pressed his lips together and came in.

I started him from the very beginning, with the alphabet and the sounds of the letters. When I sat down across from him, he suddenly spoke. “Did you enjoy it?”

I had no idea what he meant. “Hm?”

Silas looked up. “Just now. Did you enjoy it?”

He was asking why I hadn’t come in.

I smiled. “Very much.”

At that, Silas frowned. He looked distinctly unhappy, and there was an edge of accusation in his voice.

“Do you have a score to settle with her?”

Silas was sharp. He must have noticed that Celia and I didn’t get along.

I lowered my eyes. “Yes. I do.”

He was quiet for a moment. “I could kill her.”

That was the last thing I’d expected him to say.

“And then my father kills you to avenge her?”

Silas pressed his lips together, his eyes sincere. “You said it. Trust has to go both ways.”

For the first time, I saw that he meant it.

But.

“Why?”

Trust going both ways was all very well. But I hadn’t actually done anything for him yet, and suddenly he wanted to make the trade?

I didn’t believe he had no reason.

A trace of nervousness showed in Silas’s eyes. “I want Thea to heal me.

“If I had a whole body, I could deal with Kane easily, instead of ending up like today… a mess.”

He lowered his eyes, hiding the frustration and hatred in them.

I smiled. “You were pretty impressive today.”

That must have been how he’d survived the pit in my last life, too.

Play weak. Then coil and crush. Then one bite through the throat.

Thinking about it, I touched my own neck without meaning to.

Tch. What a feeling.

“Learn what you need to learn first. Thea… I’ll find a way.”

“Okay!”

The boy who was always so cold smiled for the first time, full of anticipation.

That night, I did the one thing I’d been putting off. I messaged Lucas Lancaster.

We hadn’t spoken since he left school. I kept it short: I had a beastkin with a congenital defect, Marina Moore had sent me to Thea, and I would pay whatever Thea asked.

His reply came in under a minute.

Thea doesn’t sing for anyone but me. Not even for you, Crane.

Then a second message.

Don’t bother asking twice.

I was still staring at the screen when Father knocked on my door.

“The Tanners’ matriarch is turning eighty on Saturday. You’re coming with me. Celia stays home.” He paused in the doorway. “And behave yourself. The Lancasters will be there. These days, that boy doesn’t go anywhere without his merfolk girl.”

The door closed behind him.

Saturday. Three days.

Wherever Lucas went, Thea went with him. And Reynard was chained up in the cellar under the very same house.

One house, and everything I needed was inside it. The only problem was that the two people guarding the doors—Lucas Lancaster upstairs and Daisy Tanner downstairs—would both sooner slam them in my face than let me in.

I turned my phone face down on the desk, next to the alphabet I’d written out for Silas.

Then I started working out how to get past both of them.