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Maybe there was one who would care. The man who had held me in his arms. He had smiled down at me. Even his eyes had seemed to smile. They had been a brilliant green.

He’d talked to me, sang to me, cradled me.

Was that love? The feeling I’d had when he’d held me, knowing I was safe?

Had he loved me?

My heart hardened.

He hadn’t loved me.

If he had, he would have stayed here forever and never left. He hadn’t kept me safe. He had been selfish. He had gone away.

“Feeling sorry for yourself, little one?”

Had I not been crouched on a slippery ledge, I would have whirled around in a blinding fury.

Perhaps I would even have run past the person, showing just how quick I could be, shoving them hard on the way out. Then I’d have escaped their knowing gaze and smirking mouth.

But for the moment, I was stuck. Afraid to make any false move in the pounding rain.

I turned slowly, moving my body towards the speaker who had mounted the tower stairs and dared to speak.

A tall and imposing woman stood there. Her skin was a dark, rich brown. Long black hair had been swept back and twisted into a heavy knot made up of many small braids.

I examined her features. Scars criss-crossed her face. Otherwise, she might have been pretty.

But the scars weren’t what drew my eye the most.

Two blades were strapped to her back, the hilts wrapped in worn leather.

The woman had a warrior’s build. Broad shoulders, a muscular physique. Her well-formed arms were crossed over her chest as she looked at me.

There were many things I might have said in reply to her. Rude things. Cruel things.

But with my tutors, I had quickly learned the best way to provoke someone was to simply say nothing at all.

So I sat on the ledge, fingers clenched but unmoving, staring stonily back at the strange woman in silence.

Until finally she nodded. As if she understood.

“I’m Odessa. Crescent’s sister. I promise you here and now, Medra, that no matter what you do—or don’t do—you won’t be able to frighten me away.”

I flinched, as if she had penetrated my mind.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she continued. “I’m here to stay. Now why don’t you come down off that ledge and tell me about yourself?”

When I made no move to come down to her, she sank onto the watchtower floor and crossed her legs, paying no heed to the wetness of the stones.

“Very well. We can speak out here in the rain as easily as anywhere else if that’s what you prefer.” She tilted her head. “Why don’t we start with why you were thinking of jumping?”

CHAPTER 20 - MORGAN

In times of desperation, some fled, some fought.

In between the two groups were the worst sort. The leeches, the parasites. In the midst of chaos, they fed on others for their own survival.

We were attacked in the middle of the night.