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

Nattie glanced over at Isla for help, but her aunt was busy with Tommin’s injury. The poor boy was gritting his teeth to keep from crying out when Isla dipped the needle into his skin.

“I’m new to town,” Nattie said. “I’m… from the east.”

“Which part of the east?” he asked.

Nattie had no idea what provinces were to the east. She’d just been afraid of admitting she was from the north.

“Caergrove,” Isla said for her, though she hadn’t looked up from her sewing.

“Right,” Nattie agreed, perhaps a little too fast. I have no idea where that is.

“When did you arrive?” Elias asked.

“Today,” Nattie said, though she should have pretended she’d been here longer. After all, who hired an apprentice on day one? “I’m still getting used to the city.”

“The streets are all a little confusing at first,” Isla assured her. “You’ll get your bearings soon.”

“Why did you—?” Elias began to ask, but Isla interrupted him.

“Oh, for the gods’ sake, Elias, stop peppering the girl with questions. She’s barely two days out of the countryside and already a royal knight is interrogating her. Quit frightening my apprentice away!”

Elias sheepishly crossed his arms and blushed at such a scolding. Nattie was surprised how the flush across his cheeks made him look a lot less severe. He looked as young as her, even. And, she finally noticed, he was handsome. 

“So,” Elias said more casually. “You’re a country girl?”

There was suddenly a slight change in him. Earlier, he looked like he didn’t trust her at all, but now his face had softened a little. No doubt he thought of her as some innocent young woman—just an apprentice on her first day at her new job in the big city.

Well… he’s not entirely wrong.

“I’m from the country, too,” Elias said at last. “I grew up on a farm in the southern provinces.”

“A farm?” Tommin scoffed between stitches. “Sounds smelly.”

“I’m really glad you’re here to help,” Elias continued, ignoring the boy. “Isla has had her hands full here since she set up shop some years ago.”

“I haven’t done much yet to help,” Nattie admitted. She thought about everything Isla had told her that evening and smiled. “I hope that I can do good here.”

“Oh, she will,” Isla said, finishing up her final stitch. Tommin sighed in relief. Then, Isla began to apply cold poultices to the hot, angry wound. “Like I said, she’s a natural healer.”

“They’re both just a pair o’ witches, if you ask me,” Tommin snapped.

Elias frowned again, his dark brows pulling low over those slate grey eyes. “These women are a pair of healers who probably just saved you from a terrible infection. You owe them your life and your respect.”

Tommin averted his eyes and obstinately bit his lip, refusing to answer. Then, after a moment, he hung his head.

“Okay. Sorry…” he murmured. “Thanks, lady.”

“It’s Miss Isla and Miss Nattie to you, young man,” Isla said firmly. “Now, I want you to rest and take some medicine with your meals for at least two weeks. No more running around causing mischief. But first, I want to see you back here tomorrow for a bandage change and a reevaluation of that wound.”

Tommin snapped his gaze up, glancing between Elias and Isla. “Wait, what? Tomorrow? But I…”

“Why not?” Elias asked. “Were you planning to skip town?”

“Er-no,” Tommin said, though his tone suggested that he had been planning just that. “I just meant… Well, where am I gonna hide until then?”

Isla glanced at Nattie. 

Oh, no, Nattie thought. Don’t say it.

“He can stay here,” Isla announced. 

Elias nodded. “That would be very kind of you. Thank you.”

“Hey! What about what I want?” Tommin cried. “You want me te’ spend the night here? With a pair o’ wit—I uh, I mean women healers?”

“Sure.” Elias raised an eyebrow. “After all, it’s either here or in a cold little cell at the Blue Keep.”

Tommin paled, even more than he had from the blood loss. Nattie was beginning to fear that the boy would faint.

“What is the Blue Keep?” she asked.

“It’s hell,” the little boy whispered with intense gravity.

Elias rolled his eyes. “It’s the capital city’s prison.”

Nattie gasped. “You would have a young boy stay the night in prison for stealing a loaf of bread?” 

She couldn’t believe it. After all that the man had done to get the boy treated, now he was threatening incarceration?

Elias gave a deep, tired sigh. “I was clearly bluffing, Miss Nattie. You’ve never tried to parent a street urchin before, have you?”

Isla laughed at that. Tommin threw the old, bloody bandages in Elias’ direction, but the knight expertly dodged them. 

“I don’t need parenting!”

“You obviously do, you little street rat.”

“Who’re you callin’ a street rat you oversized bear!?”

The knight and child bickered and snarked at each other. Isla only laughed and cleaned up her supplies. Nattie stood there at a complete loss for words. It seemed everyone else knew how to handle this bizarre situation except for her.

“Alright, alright,” Isla called, standing. She wiped her bloody hands on her already messy apron and then clapped them together. “Who’s hungry?”