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“We ran into some trouble,” I confessed, also kissing her cheek. There was no point in keeping the truth from Yaga. She’d always had a talent for knowing when we were up to no good, even without using one of her scrying stones.

Kronk followed me in, ducking his head to clear the doorway, the ceiling of the ancient hut barely tall enough to accommodate his height. Inside, a musty mix of drying herbs, damp earth, and liniment washed over me. I drew in the familiar scent, the tension in my shoulders easing.

Hollow clacks rang out, the bones and crystals that hung from the ceiling bouncing together with our entry. As Kronk forced the crooked door closed, dust stirred, jars chiming along the cupboard wall. Some were filled with food—others with things I didn’t even attempt to identify.

My body yearned for the comfort of the den-like room I’d shared with my brothers in our youth and the thin pallets that waited for us to unroll them. I couldn’t remember a time when we all fit comfortably. Kronk, even as a youngling, took up a good amount of space. At times, when my brothers were too much to bear, I’d slept on the dirt floor beside Yaga, next to the fire-side cot she preferred.

I sank into one of the wooden chairs by the fire and exhaled a groan of exhaustion that had Yaga’s head swiveling my way.

My adopted mother took me in with a single disapproving glance. “Ran your tank dry again, did you? And look at your hands.” The aged woman clucked her tongue. “I’ll get the tea started.”

Yaga hung the kettle onto an iron hook set into the wall and swung it over the flames in the hearth. Kronk and Drazen settled into chairs around the small wooden table while she moved tothe cupboard, selecting several bottles of herbs. That done, she turned to her sons.

“Three of ya are skin and bones.” She pinched Kronk’s stony cheek. “When did ya last have a decent meal?”

“Drazen stole us a leg of mutton two spans ago,” Kronk said.

There had been little time for much else with the false king’s taxes due in only ten spans. We’d been hustling nonstop to scrounge up enough money. And still we were depressingly short. The reminder twisted a knot in the middle of my chest, responsibility weighing heavily upon me.

“The three of you need to take better care of each other.” Yaga picked up a wooden spoon and promptly popped Drazen right between his gleaming horns. “I raised you better than this. You hear me?”

Drazen ducked his head, muttering, “Yes, ma’am.” His arrogant, cocksure demeanor was much subdued now that he sat before the woman who’d once forced him to wash behind his ears.

The infernus was the proverbial eldest in the family and usually the first to face Yaga’s anger. His parents had been on the front lines during the Great Rebellion. Or at least that is what those who’d fought against the false king called the uprising. The cowards who’d refused to join us called it the Great Folly.

Drazen’s parents had fallen early in the Battle of Blood Water. The name of our little gang honored those who were lost there.

As it turned out, there really was nothing great about the uprising. The false king had swatted the rebellious like flies on bula shit, the rivers running red with the blood of the dead. Things might have ended differently if they’d had the numbers. Unfortunately, too many of the villages refused to take up arms against the new king, too afraid to fight back. Flarking cowards.

My parents had fought as well to the best of their ability. Not that it had done them any good. Still, they’d done the right thing,not compromising their values and refusing to be corrupted by the king’s influence. Unlike some.

An image of my sister came to mind, and my gut clenched. While she may have been the one who betrayed us all, I was the one who’d let her. And every day since, I’d attempted to make amends.

I exhaled a deep breath. This wasn’t the time to wallow in the past.

Instead, I gazed at Kronk. Whereas Drazen could charm the scales off a dragon, Kronk had a somber tone. No sense of humor. Solid. While I loved to antagonize him just to see if I could get a rise out of the stony brute, I appreciated his reliability. One never needed to question what he was thinking. Kronk would give it to you straight with little to soften the edges of his delivery.

The athos was the middle child of our family. Like me, he’d lost his parents when the false king invaded his village, taking the survivors captive. When Kronk’s family refused to join his army, the king had them executed, turning their stony bodies to gravel, leaving Kronk alone in an unforgiving world.

It was Kronk who’d discovered me the night invaders destroyed my family. Scared. Cold. Hungry.

Devastated.

He’d found me and taken me to Yaga.

The three of us had been inseparable since. All orphaned by the same monster. If not for Yaga, we would all be dead. The kingdom, for all its beauty, was unkind to younglings forced to survive on their own. It was a fate I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Well, except for the false king.He could rot for all I cared.

I swallowed, fighting the rush of emotion. I was often emotional once I’d exhausted my magic.

Again, Yaga took charge of our bedraggled crew. “Look atya. Miserable bunch of rapscallions. First, I’ll feed ya. Then you’ll tell me why you’re really here.”

“Yes, Yaga,” we said in unison. There were few who dared to disagree with Yaga. Especially not the renowned Blood River Bandits.

It wasn’t long until bowls loaded with hearty stew sat before us. I shoveled a steaming spoonful into my mouth, moaning as the rich broth hit my taste buds. I puffed my cheeks, panting to cool the blistering chunks of root vegetables and meat, too hungry to care about my scorched tongue. Between mouthfuls, I told Yaga about our failed heist.

“Why in blazes did ya accept a contract with Vex?” The aged woman’s wrinkles deepened as her cheeks turned a furious pink. “Do ya not have a brain between ya?”

Yaga’s disappointment was a splinter stabbing beneath my nails. As usual, it was my plan that put us in the mobster’s crosshairs. Despite being the youngest, where I led, my brothers followed.