Nattie barely had time to register the stranger’s plea for help before Isla was springing into action.

“Elias! What happened?” she demanded, and then guided the injured boy toward a cushioned bench near the shop counter.

“A run-in with the city guard,” Elias the knight answered grimly. He glanced at Nattie suspiciously before looking again to Isla. 

“You can speak freely in front of her,” Isla said.

The knight hesitated for a moment, but then he continued. “Tommin here got caught with stolen bread. The Lower Hearth guard unit got a little too eager with their clubs before I could step in.”

The boy winced as Isla carefully unwrapped his injured arm. His sleeve was soaked in red where he’d been slashed. Bruises blossomed on his pale little face, his lip was split, and above his left eye was a small cut that would no doubt leave a scar.

Nattie swallowed, her hands tightening into fists at her sides. Isla had just spoken about the possibility of kindness in humans. How they weren’t all cruel, violent creatures, and yet here was a starving boy beaten for the crime of being hungry. 

But here also was a man—a royal knight—his expression tight with worry, doing everything in his power to help.

I don’t know what to believe anymore, she thought.

Isla clicked her tongue as she examined the open wound. “Those guards are nothing but thugs. I cannot believe they would do this to a little boy.”

“I’m not little,” the boy growled through his teeth. “I could’ve outrun them. Vicc just caught me with his whip, is all. That fat, mean bastard.”

“Language,” Elias scolded, though his voice wasn’t harsh.

“You’ll need stitches,” Isla said. “But you’re lucky that Vicc didn’t whip you down to the bone.”

Tommin gave a weak laugh. “Lucky’s not what I’d call this, lady.”

Isla ignored him and reached for her satchel of supplies. “Nattie, fetch me a needle and thread from the top left cupboard. Also the small blue vial from the shelf just behind you.”

Nattie, at first, felt frozen to the spot. She was tired and confused from the day’s shocking turn of events. But then she moved, fingers brushing over the collection of bottles until she found the right one. With a quick sniff she recognized that the blue vial contained goldenseal, which would promote healing and stave off infection. Nattie collected her aunt’s needle and thread, but she also rummaged through a shelf of small ceramic pots to look for yarrow and comfrey poultices. Once she’d collected all that she thought would be needed for now, Nattie turned back, finally meeting Elias’s eyes as she handed everything over to Isla.

For the first time since he’d entered, Elias and Nattie truly sized each other up. His grey eyes were pale in contrast with his dark brown hair and brows. He was tall, outfitted in royal knight’s regalia. After her month of traveling in hiding, Nattie recognized King Brannon’s royal crest—a lion insignia, which was embroidered in silver thread on the knight’s dark blue cloak. Elias wore leather gloves, and his armor was light brown leather instead of chainmail or iron and steel plates. The only discernible marking of his status in the ranking of city knights were two silver medallions on his right shoulder, which clasped the dark blue cloak around him.

She didn’t know what the medallions meant, but she assumed he was someone important. Possibly a captain.

Why then, she wondered, is he helping a thief?

Elias cleared his throat and frowned at her. Nattie realized she had been staring for far too long. She offered him an awkward smile, but he did not return it. In fact, his gaze was sharp and calculating, and her heart sped a little bit.

He doesn’t see through my disguise does he? She feared.

Nattie unconsciously ran her fingers through her long blonde hair and reminded herself that her eyes were green now, not black and gold. She looked like an average peasant girl, not like a powerful witch. 

She took a breath and asked, “What else can I do?”

The boy, Tommin, looked at her now, too.

“Who’re you supposed to be?” the boy asked, his tone accusatory.

“My apprentice, Nattie Umber,” Isla said easily. “She’s got a natural talent and is going to help me run the apothecary from now on.”

“Oh really?” Elias asked, suspicion in his tone. “Where are you from? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”