The hope swelling within me was smothered.

"Um, I can't... my feet."

I wiggled my blistered, shoeless toes. Even if my feet weren’t injured, I didn’t think I could stand, let alone walk. The hunt had left me tired, starving, and sleep-deprived.

"Oh..."

She slipped her knife into a secret pocket in her skirt and leaned towards me.

"Hold on to me."

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, and she hoisted me in a one-armed bridal carry, leaving her left hand free. The fabric of her clothes was bone dry despite getting drenched with blood only a moment ago.

Outside the alleyway, men shouted. The dogs running loose in the streets must have raised the guards.

The moonlight above us blinked out. A gust of wind swirled in the alleyway, running through my matted hair and brushing against my wet, bloody skin. The next moment, my stomach lurched as the woman jumped one, two, three stories in the air!

The sudden force pulled my body down as she held my body up, the wind whistling in my ears. And then, weightlessness, as she reached the top of her jump's arc, floating down onto the rooftop of the neighbouring building. I didn't have time to catch my breath. She leaped forward, bounding from rooftop to rooftop with each step.

The wind wrapped around us, creating a pocket of air that made each footfall soundless and pushed her forward as she jumped. Bobbing up and down like a leaf caught in a summer gale, I was held tight in the woman's strong arms. Below us, the heads of torches danced as guards flooded the streets of the Lower District—all to hunt down the person who killed Lord Severn.

Where were these guards when that noble was hunting me and my friends?

The woman landed on the rooftop of a building overlooking the canal that split the city. The guards were blocking the closest bridge that led into the Upper District. She let me down onto the cool roof tiles and sat beside me. From the top of the roof's gradual slope, the city's skyline revealed itself. It was a sprawling view of steep rooftops and angular spires like rows of jagged teeth bared at the sky. And that sky. Was there anything more beautiful? The full moon washed the rooftops in its silvery light. A multitude of stars stared down at me, making me squirm.

I am nothing.

The realization came with the view, my station in life laid out before me. The alleyways of the Lower District that had become my world were small compared to the grandness of the capital, as seen by those at the top. The canal cut a neat line between the rich and the poor, the people worthy of respect and the people left to play in the trash. As I took in the view, the woman laid back, her hands behind her head.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Waiting."

"For what?"

She pointed at the bridge without looking.

"For those guards to leave."

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"Oh... how long will that take?"

She shrugged.

"I don't know. Sometime before sunrise. Rest while you can."

I shifted on the roof's surface. The slate tiles pinched my skin through my threadbare clothes.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For saving me... For showing me all this."

I swept my hand over the skyline.

"Oh, is that all?"

"Can I ask you something?”

“I can’t stop you.”

“What are you?"

She turned to look at me. Her veiled, expressionless face was unnerving.

"I am many things, nestling. I am the Claw, a warrior and a mage. Some call me Lady Sin; those close to me, just Sin."

A nervous giggle escaped my lips before I could catch myself.

"Hah! The Claw?"

She lifted one hand, curled her fingers to look like hawk's talons and grabbed my lips together.

"Enough, get some rest."

That made me laugh harder, my giggle coming from lower in my throat. Sin stifled her laughter, but it wasn't long until she broke, laughing with me in a way that mirrored my own.

As the laughter died down, my stomach sank. If only Kirk and the others were here with me.

"Was that noble a mage too?"

"Yes, a Landbound mage."

There was an edge of disgust in her voice.

"Why was he hunting me?"

Sin shifted on the tiles, uncomfortable for the first time since I met her.

"Don’t worry about that. What's your name?"

"Jacob."

"And your last name?"

I paused.

"I-I don't have a last name."

"Good. Now get some rest."

# # #

Sin shook me awake a few hours later. The orange hues spreading across the sky told me it was dawn.

As she predicted, the guards were gone.

"How did you know?"

"The guards of this city are easy to predict. To them, it's no fun waiting around while others get to crack skulls.”

She giggled.

“I agree with them. So, they focused on locking down the area until they had the numbers to do a full sweep of the Lower District."

I swallowed hard. I had seen the aftermath of these sweeps on the bodies of older beggars—the broken bones that weren't quite healed, the indents in the skin left by iron-tipped boots.

Sin picked me up and floated off the rooftop with a gust of wind. Holding me tight, she moved in silence across the bridge into the capital's Upper District. The tension left her body as we reached her destination: the front of a three-story mansion. She set me down on my feet, making me wince as one of my blisters popped.

Sin knocked on the mansion's mahogany door three times, looked at me and did a double take. She ran her jacket sleeve across my face. The dried blood crusted on my skin vanished into the red fabric.

"Follow my lead," she whispered.

Sin turned back to the door, arching her back to push her breasts forward while sticking out her butt. She clasped her hands together as if they would break under the slightest pressure. She held her chin so high it stretched the red stocking below her chin, adding inches to her height. With four simple adjustments, the killer died, and the noble lady was born.

The door opened, and a heavy-set woman with short gray hair peered outside with a lantern in one hand.

"Lady Sin! I thought you were already abed. Your nighttime walks are getting out of hand!"

Lady Sin stiffened at the older woman’s tone.

"Mrs. Dulldrey, my nighttime walks are completely safe. I only walk in the Upper District. Look, I brought a guest."

Mrs. Dulldrey looked down at me and frowned, the fat around her neck compressed into a double chin.

"An elf?"

Lady Sin raised one delicate finger.

"Not an elf. A half-elf."

She pushed through the entrance, shouldering the taller and broader woman aside with ease. Lady Sin walked half a flight up the staircase next to the front door before turning back.

"See to it that he gets cleaned. Ask Mr. Reeves for spare clothes and do something about his feet."

"Lady Sin, you can't be bringing in strays off the street! Look at him; he's all covered in blood. What if he's some kind of murderer?!"

Lady Sin held a gloved finger to her veiled lips.

"You will keep your voice down in my household and show the proper respect. That stray is now my ward, and you will treat him as such. Understood?"

Mrs. Dulldrey's frown deepened, carving grooves in her pale face.

"Yes, Lady Sin."

Without another word, my new, adopted mother disappeared up the stairs.

Mrs. Dulldrey turned to me, one hand on her hip.

"Well, you heard the Lady; get inside."

I nodded and winced as I took my first painful steps into my new home.

What did I get myself into?