The Wish Granter (Ravenspire #2)(51)

He figured they were waiting for the runners to come back with orders from the street bosses. He could only hope the fact that his father was one of Teague’s most valued collectors would give Sebastian and the princess a degree of protection.

The irony that his father might finally be protecting him by virtue of being a criminal wasn’t lost on Sebastian.

He climbed the rickety stairs, the princess following silently, and then stood outside his mother’s door, listening as always for a hint that his father had returned.

It was worse—so much worse—to listen and panic and fight to control his emotions when he had the princess depending on him. He didn’t want to show her this side of himself. The fear and poverty. The bitter, shifting moods of his mother.

Stepping across the threshold into his former home was like stripping away the bandage that hid his deepest wound.

“It’s okay,” the princess whispered. “We can ask someone else if you don’t want to go inside. I saw quite a few people on the street.”

“You saw people who are waiting to hear from the street bosses whether they should leave us alone or rob us and sell us to Balavata.”

It hurt to breathe, and the scars on his back prickled and ached. Before he could second-guess himself, he turned the doorknob and went inside. The princess followed him.

His mother was alone, sitting in a chair at her flimsy kitchen table, picking at a plum with her dirty fingernails. “Who’s there?” his mother asked.

He moved into her line of sight, and she sat up straighter.

“Come to rob me again?”

He sighed. “I never rob you.”

She spat a bit of plum onto the floor.

He held up the sack. “I brought food for the week.”

“Did you bring coin too?”

“No.”

His mother looked at him, her eyes bright with desperate need. “I’m out, Sebastian.”

Before she could say another word, he stepped aside to let her see he hadn’t come alone.

“Who’s that? A girl? Thinks she can snatch you up and take over my house?”

He gritted his teeth. “She doesn’t want your house.”

“Too good for me, is she?”

Sebastian didn’t look at the princess as he crossed the room to unload the food into the cupboard, his face burning with humiliation.

He heard the soft swish of the princess’s dress as she followed him into the kitchen, and then she was crouching beside his mother and looking up into the older woman’s face.

“Your son is a good person. A great person, actually. I’m sure you’re proud of him.”

Sebastian’s chest ached at the look of surprise on his mother’s face. “Proud of what? For leaving me here just like his father? Just like his brother?”

“Children grow up and leave, but he takes care of you. He brought you food.”

“I don’t need food.” She looked at Sebastian, and his gut twisted. “I need coin. I haven’t had any for days. Your father is supposed to send what I need. Teague is supposed to send what I need.”

The princess latched on to the mention of Teague. “How does Teague send it to you?”

His mother glared at the princess. “He sends Daan, of course. Can’t trust an expensive product like apodrasi to just anyone. But everyone says the collector is dead, and Teague is busy trying to figure out who killed him, who’s coming after his business, and now I’m out.”

Sebastian glanced out the window and saw a crowd gathering below. His chest tightened until it hurt to breathe. He needed to hurry this along. The sun would set in little more than an hour, and he needed to have the princess long gone from this part of the city before then. It was much harder for the street bosses to control people when no one could see what they were doing.

“Mother, do you know where Teague lives?”

She straightened. “Wouldn’t tell you if I did, now would I? I know how to be loyal. Learned that from your father. It’s a lesson that didn’t ever seem to take with you.”

The princess patted his mother’s hand gently. “Maybe I could go to Teague’s home and get what you need. Would that help?”

His mother turned her hand over and grasped Ari, palm to palm. “You do that. You go there and bring me a vial of apodrasi.”

“I will,” the princess said solemnly. “Tell me where to go, and I’ll do it.”

His mother’s lip curled. “I can’t tell you where to go, stupid girl. Only the collectors know where he lives. Give me coin. I’ll buy it myself.”

Sebastian stepped forward and disentangled the princess’s hand from his mother’s. “I’ll send more food next week, Mother. Don’t forget to eat.”

He hurried the princess from the room as his mother hurled invectives at their backs. The crowd parted sluggishly for them, but Sebastian moved with purpose, flexing his shoulders and glaring at everyone who would meet his gaze.

He didn’t realize he was shaking until they walked out of east Kosim Thalas without injury.

The princess said, “Now we know that Teague is distracted by the loss of his collector and that only collectors know where he lives,” and then stayed quiet while they wound their way through the merchant district and toward the hill that led to the palace.