The lock had barely clicked into place on their room in the Broken Chair before Snitch started up again.

“Why did you even bother?” he snapped. “You should all be miles from here right now, not rescuing me from a cell.”

Kildare pressed his head against the door and closed his eyes. “You sound like you care, Snitch.”

“I don’t care. I just think it was a poxxed stupid thing to do, and I want to know why. You had Serene, and you had Fir. Why bother about me?” Snitch’s voice cracked, just a little, just enough to betray him.

Kildare turned.

Snitch slumped on the couch, cradling his head in his hands. “Stupid,” he muttered. “Stupid.”

“I appreciate the gratitude,” Serene said, leaning one hip against the desk. She played with the edge of her silk scarf, her eyes never leaving Snitch.

Snitch rolled his eyes. “Yes. Sure. Thanks for dragging me out into your problem. Happy?”

One corner of Serene’s lip rose in a grin that looked more snarling than friendly.

Fir flopped down on the couch beside Snitch. “It’s not that bad.”

“It is. And personally? I think we need to cut our losses and run.” Snitch gestured to Serene. “You’ve got your girlfriend—”

“Wife,” Serene snapped.

Kildare walked over and leaned against the wall in front of the couch, crossing his arms over his chest. “We can’t run.” He tugged the collar around his neck. “Taoh picked up Fir and me and took us to Basalt.”

Snitch sucked in a breath. “And why not me?”

“Maybe because you were busy cursing Kildare out, and he figured we might be through working together?” Fir suggested sarcastically.

“We are. We should be,” Snitch said.

“Basalt still wants the puzzle box.”

For a second, Snitch’s gaze was on Kildare, sharp and focused. Then he cursed. “He still wants that rotting box? Why?”

Kildare gnawed the inside of his lip. Did he dare trust Snitch again? A few days ago he wouldn’t have hesitated to share the contents of the box with him. But now… He looked up, caught Serene’s eyes.

She dipped her head in a slight nod.

If she thought he should, then so be it. Kildare looked back at Snitch. “I think there’s a ley artifact in the box.”

Snitch nearly choked. “You’re lying. That’s supposed to be impossible!”

Kildare shook his head. “You know wyverns are sensitive to large amounts of ley. I sensed it. If it’s not an artifact, then I don’t know what it could be. Nothing else that I know of holds that much ley signature.”

“And Basalt the broken Alfaren wants it.” Snitch cursed again. “And I suppose you want me to betray Mock’s plan to you so you can steal it back from her.”

Kildare shrugged. “That would be a nice first step.”

“You know where she is?”

Kildare turned to Serene. “You scouted while I was imprisoned?”

“Yes,” Serene said.

“Then you know as much as I do,” Snitch said. “All she told me was, Kildare’s been edgy lately, and you notice every time Serene’s name is brought up he starts acting weird, I think he’s going to betray the team, so we should get a jump on him.” He shrugged. “She just told me to come with her when we got into the museum. To just trust her.” He snorted. “See if I’ll ever do anything like that again.”

Kildare stared at him in disbelief. “And you just believed her?”

Snitch licked his lips and looked away. He rubbed his hands together, the rasp of his dry palms loud in the silent room. “For four years, you were open with us, Kil. With everything. Probably with too much. We got to where we could predict everything about you. And then a year ago, you suddenly started sneaking off. We believed you at first, gave you the benefit of the doubt, but there were times where we knew you were lying. And then she stopped hounding us.” He nodded to Serene. “So we knew something was going on. And we waited for you to say something, but you didn’t. All that openness, all that good faith…” His voice trailed off.

Kildare didn’t need for him to finish the thought. He could finish it well enough on his own. His stomach rolled into a tight knot. “You figured that at best, I’d gotten tired of you, and at worst, my openness had been a sham and I’d only been using you for my own means.”

“I never,” Fir said.

“Well, of course you didn’t!” Snitch growled. “You’ve been with Kil since you were kids. You always were blind, Fir. Too timid and blind to point out anyone’s faults!”

Kildare put his head in his hands, tuning out their argument. He felt sick. How had he missed this? How had he been so stupid as to think that he could hide Serene and get away with it?

He felt the firm pressure of a hand on his shoulder and looked up. Serene crouched beside him. He reached up and clasped her hand in his. Maybe he’d made mistakes, but Serene hadn’t been one of them.

He looked over at Snitch. “I’m sorry.”

The pickpocket raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.

Kildare got up, walked over to the door, and unlocked it, then stepped to the side. He pointed to the door. “There. Go, if you want. I’m not going to force you to help us. We’re in this position because I was too afraid to own up to both sides of my life. The truth of it, Snitch, is that I’ve been hoping to be done for a while now. One more big score, just enough to get Serene free of her contract, and then we were going to be done. I wouldn’t blame you if you walk out now. But I can’t, not with the threat of slavery hanging over our heads.” Basalt hadn’t threatened Snitch, but Kil was sure that was because he hadn’t expected them to free Snitch. Once the crime lord found out Snitch was free, he’d probably amend his deal to include the pickpocket.

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Snitch looked at the door, then back at Kil. He sucked on his teeth for a moment, then said, “Well, since ya went to the trouble of getting me out, I guess it’d be ungrateful for me to leave now, wouldn’t it?”

Kildare suppressed a frown. He glanced up and saw that Serene was openly glaring at the back of Snitch’s head. So she didn’t fully trust his words, either. Kildare pushed aside his doubts. Snitch probably thought the tide was turning in their favor—he wasn’t going to miss out on something if he thought it could get him a score.

“One thing, though,” he said quietly. “We’re not going there to get revenge on Mock.”

Snitch snorted. “Soft-hearted, Kil. Always have been.”

Kildare glanced up again at Serene and was satisfied to see a gentle smile tugging on one corner of her lips. “Maybe. But I think she gave me this for a reason.” He held up his wrist, letting the feather charm rest against his skin. “I think it was a plea for help.”

“Maybe it was an assurance that she was doing what she had to do,” Fir said. “Maybe she’s as much a victim as we are. The second night out from Rohondeish, I was out in the courtyard of the inn, and I saw Mock come out from the stables. She looked like she’d been crying.”

Kildare stared at Fir for a good few seconds, trying to process what he’d just heard. “And…you didn’t tell me this before, because?”

Fir looked at the ground, lips pressed tightly together. “Because the guy I owe money to tracked me down and had a chat with me, right before I saw Mock, and she implied that she’d seen us. She said if I didn’t keep her secret, she wouldn’t keep mine.”

Too many secrets. I hate this. Kildare sighed and looked at Snitch. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

Snitch shook his head. “Again, like I told you. All she said was that you had grown untrustworthy and that it was better to bail.”

Fir crossed his arms. “This didn’t happen to be while you guys were sleeping together, did it?”

Snitch’s left eye twitched.

Fir rolled his eyes. “Why did I even bother to ask?”

“Hey, you’d never been with her,” Snitch said. “Mock could wrap you around her little finger, the ways she had.”

“Funny, you’d think you would’ve been more faithful to her then,” Serene said.

Snitch ground his teeth. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand, wh—” He glanced at Kildare out of the corner of his eye. “Serene.”

Kildare sighed and rubbed his forehead. “All right. Fine. It’s almost dawn, so let’s get some sleep while we can. We’ll try to pick up supplies this afternoon, make a plan, and try to hit the place Mock’s staying tonight.”

“Tonight?” Snitch said in surprise.

“We have to move fast,” Fir said. “I agree with Kil.”

Snitch looked over his shoulder at Serene. “I guess there’s no point in asking you what you’ll do, because you’ll go with lover-boy.”

Serene smiled.

“Fine, fine.” Snitch got up. “Where am I bunking? I cannot tell you how excited I am about sleeping in a proper bed even after one night in the local jail.”

Fir hooked his thumb over at the door of the second room.

Serene turned and headed into the other bedroom as Fir and Snitch left, leaving Kildare standing in the middle of the living room, still rubbing his forehead. That had gone better than he’d hoped for. At least Snitch hadn’t stormed out. At least they had one more person when they went to talk to Mock.

He rubbed the bracelet around his wrist, letting the cool metal charm slip through his fingers. But before his mind could start spinning with all the questions, all the guilt, yet again, Kildare shook them from his mind and headed to the door of his and Serene’s bedroom.

She wasn’t there. She’d left the window open, though. Kildare sat on the sill and looked upward in time to see her legs disappearing over the edge of the roof. He grabbed the metal drainpipe at the edge of the wall and scrambled up after her.

Serene sat at the peak of the roof, knees drawn up to her chest, perfectly balanced despite the precarious perch. She looked down as he pulled himself over the edge of the gutter, and another soft smile curved her lips. Kildare crawled up and laid down on the roof next to her. The tiles were cool under his skin. He folded his arms under his head and waited.

Serene stared out over the town to the harbor, the dark, predawn blue of the sea reflecting in her eyes. She put one hand on his shoulder. Kildare reached up and covered it with his hand.

“Do you ever just find yourself wanting to drop everything and fly away?” she asked softly. “Go somewhere remote, somewhere where no one could ever find you, and just live?”

A pang shot through Kildare’s heart. He sat up a little, squeezed her hand. “Not before I met you.”

She turned to look at him, her eyes skipping back and forth as her gaze roamed over his face. “I don’t want to change who you are, Kil. You’re a good man, with a good heart. I’ve seen you sneak coins to street urchins. You rescued every member of your team and yourself from terrible circumstances. If we do break my contract—if Basalt accepts this job and whatever we can give him—what would you want to do? I know you just want to help people, but how can you do that if you’re hiding away because your wife is afraid?”

Kil smirked. “I’d be helping you then, wouldn’t I?”

“I just—I don’t want you to change for me.”

Warmth spread through Kil’s chest. The way Serene’s eyes gazed into his, the way she leaned forward earnestly as she spoke—even her words—all of it eased the fear that he’d felt deep down in his heart. She wasn’t playing him. Couldn’t be playing him. No one could be that earnest if they were lying.

He scooted closer and reached up, brushing a tendril of hair behind her ear. “We can still figure out ways to help people.”

She looked away as he rested his hand against her cheek, again looking out over the ocean. Serene folded her arms in her lap and bit her lower lip.

“It wasn’t supposed to be this way,” she whispered. “Basalt wasn’t supposed to know about you until we paid off the contract.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, but that’s all right. We can roll with it.”

“And I wasn’t supposed to split up your team.”

Knots formed in his stomach. So that’s why she was so worried. Kildare leaned over and wrapped his arms around Serene, moving her a little closer to him. He hugged her tightly, felt her tension as she leaned against him. He pressed his lips to her hair and breathed softly. She smelled like sea salt and burning embers.

“This is not your fault,” he whispered. “I was stupid. And Snitch and Mock got cagey. So blame me. But never blame yourself. You warned me.”

She didn’t look at him. “How can you trust me after this?”

The uncertainty twinged like an old, aching muscle, and Kildare again pushed it aside. “Because you keep asking that question,” he whispered. “I think if you were playing a long con to get me into Basalt’s clutches, you’d do all you could to avoid turning my thoughts to betrayal and distrust.” He kissed her neck. “And because I love you, and with my whole heart, I believe you love me.”

Serene turned then, and he caught tears in the corners of her eyes before she ducked under his arms. She moved to sit in his lap, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face against his chest. He felt her hands clutch the back of his shirt, felt her shoulders heave in a deep, shuddering breath, and he pulled her tighter into a hug. It felt so strange. Serene was his rock. How many times had it been her, soothing his frazzled nerves after a job, or calming him down after Snitch had pushed one too many things too far? He’d seen her vulnerable before, but never quite like this.

They sat in silence until the first pink rays of sun poked over the edge of the horizon. Finally, Serene stirred. She sat up, brushing away the dried traces of tears. Kildare again tucked her hair behind her ears, this time pressing a light kiss against her forehead.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

Her hands clasped on the back of his neck, and she pressed her lips to his. Her lips were warm and soft, an intensity to the kiss that he recognized and responded to. Kildare moved his hands to her hips, pulling her tight against him. Serene pulled away from the kiss and leaned back, grinning as she playfully tugged at the laces of his shirt neck.

Heat coiled in Kildare’s belly. “We’d better get inside before someone sees us out here,” he whispered.

Serene cocked her head to the side. “Better hurry then.”

Kildare watched her as she slid back down to the edge of the roof, her quick, lithe movements making very little noise on the tiles. Then he glanced up at the sunrise.

Despite the mood Serene had left him in, with a warmth in his belly and every nerve buzzing, his thoughts spiraled back to their mission. Tonight, they’d confront Mock. Get some answers. Hopefully, they’d walk out of that house with the puzzle box.

If not…

An image flashed into his mind. Serene, wrists rubbed raw by chains. A thick slave collar locked around her neck. Blouse torn and dirty. The fierce spark in her eyes dulled into acceptance. Bile rose into Kildare’s mouth and he clenched his fists, pushing the thought away. Thinking of Serene as he’d just seen her—hair wind-tossed, wearing her favorite purple scarf, eyes sparkling as they reflected the color of the sea. That was his Serene, wild and free. He would do everything he could to keep her that way.