“She won’t kill you if you don’t give her reason to,” Elias said.

“He’s already given me plenty of reasons to kill him.” She wiggled her hand again. Wren growled but turned the dagger around to place the hilt in her hand. With a single spin of the blade, she leaned down and tucked it into her boot. “Now, what is this about spoiling your plans?”

Wren stayed silent.

“He wanted to be caught by the Vanguard Generals,” Elias said. “He told me while we waited for you.”

“I take it back, Wren. You’re not only a moron, you’re the king of the morons. All other morons bow before you and worship your stupidity.”

What kind of fool willingly walks into the lion’s den and offers up their head? Wren didn’t look as though he had a death wish. He was young, though maybe not much younger than her. She’d guess twenty, nineteen at the youngest. There could’ve been an incurable disease coursing through him, but still. Death by Vanguard Generals is hardly an honorable way to die.

“I need to get to the spires,” he mumbled.

“There are easier way to get to those.” She shook her head. “Why in the Goddesses name would you want to go there?”

“That’s not any of your business! Elias says you’re going east so you can take me there.”

Siobhan crossed her arms and glanced to Elias. Since when were they going east? Sure it was her plan, but when had Elias decided this?

“We need to refill your medicine,” he said as if he knew what she was thinking.

“Which requires us to go north not east.”

“You owe me!” Wren pleaded.

“I owe you nothing. You nearly got me killed protecting your sorry ass and now I find that you intentionally wanted to be caught. Keep your death wish to yourself.”

“I don’t have a death wish. My reasons for getting to the spires aren’t important for you. If you’re already going that way, why can’t I tag along?”

“Because I don’t want to get killed protecting you. There’s nothing in it for me to take a waste of resources like you along.”

Wren narrowed his eyes. “I can help steal money or food or anything.”

“And we have already proven you’re bad at that.” Elias opened his mouth, but Siobhan raised a hand. He wasn’t going to speak up on Wren’s behalf. If the fool wanted their help reaching certain death, he was going to give her a damn good reason.

“I can pay you!”

Siobhan chuckled. “With what money? I’ve already taken everything you had.”

Wren pulled on a string around his neck and removed a ring from under his shirt. Rubies lined the golden band that, though small, would fetch a fair bit of coin on the black market. Siobhan glared as he turned the ring to show the wide top showing an eagle with wings stretched perched on a sword. Lowlanders loved the eagle as their symbols. Most noble houses had some form of it dawning their flags or jewelry. It wasn’t just that Wren came from privilege, with a ring like that he came from nobility. She looked from the ring to him, wondering if he’d stolen it. No heir to a lord would bother working the streets like a common rat.

“I am Wren Lethon. Second son of Omar Lethon, first Lord of Crestborne. This ring can buy you a thousand ships, a years worth of food, and then some.”

“Not if you stole it,” Siobhan said.

“I didn’t steal it.”

Siobhan cracked her knuckles, staring at Wren. What was a lordling doing in Scanla stealing for coin and scraps of food? Something wasn’t right, but that ring would pay her passage to Ardorn a thousand times over. Though he was the second son and not the first heir, he could still have access to more coin. Still, what would he want at the spires? She didn’t sense any magic within him, even if it was dormant there would still be a quiet hum surrounding him. There was nothing. It could be he was something else like Siobhan was, but then he wouldn’t be a future lord of anywhere. No member of nobility could have magic in the lowlands even though the lowlands didn’t know magic existed outside the mages. He was hiding something.

“The Vanguard, never mind the Vanguard Generals, aren’t people you want to mess with. The soulless mages will smite you the second they lay eyes on you if you cross them. And the Vanguard Generals . . . well they’ll play with you. First, they’ll torture you to an inch or your life and take pleasure in it. Then they’ll take your family and torture them in front of you until you beg for mercy. But mercy won’t come. They will slaughter anything and everyone you’ve ever cared for just because they enjoy it.”

Wren growled and lunged forward. He was too fast even for her. His hand grabbed one of her staff parts and pushed the button to unleash the blade. As the steal pressed against her throat, Siobhan raised a hand again to keep Elias from acting. Wren’s eyes were wide, feral, wetting as he stared at her and the tears formed.

“They’ve already taken everyone I care about,” he said, his breath steaming against her face. “They took my fiancé when she used magic in front of them.”

Siobhan sighed. So it was love that had him acting foolish. One hand touched the blade and pushed it away from her throat. Her eyes locked with Wrens as he continued to huff, his hand trembling.

“If your fiancé is a mage, then I’m sorry to say she’s as good as dead already.”