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Behind the thin, hook-nosed man, birds of various species sat caged: owls, ravens, pigeons. They fluttered their wings and stared at Kade, their eyes watchful and screeches full of warning. The animals sensed his wolf.

Yet, the single iolair, a beast of a bird far too big for a cage, paid no mind. With talons large enough to crush a man’s skull, it slept, unbothered by the chaos around it.

Ten silvers for a single letter was steep, but Kade wanted to deliver a message across a great distance. The iolair, with its feathered wings and leathery body, could make the trek across the Sapphire Sea, but the rarity of the bird always jacked up the price.

Frustration simmered through Kade. He had never intended to be gone for so long, and his funds were running thin. Paying to learn about Evelyn had cost him. The captain’s pay would help, but at present, paying a ten silvers to chance a letter to his brother would be a risk.

He sighed, staring at the folded parchment. He’d written to Eldrick with the news of finding Evelyn and how he planned to stay behind to find and kill the vampyr in Callum.

The letter weighed a hundred pounds.

Wind from the hills delivered more fog out to the sea, and Kade caught the scent of cedar and vanilla. He searched the crowd, catching Evelyn weaving through the vendors. She nodded to the town’s folk, her smile lighting up her features and knocking him off balance.

She appeared happy, so different from the day before. Kade wondered if she’d found a place to stay with Miss Patricia’s niece, and the letter began to weigh even more, along with something her sister Blair had given him.

Tucked away was Evelyn’s muince, a necklace every witch had. At the age of sixteen, they created it with their own magic as a rite of passage. Evelyn’s stone pendant reminded Kade of the moon, pearly and ominous, but when the sun hit it just right, an iridescent rainbow glinted as it swayed. Kade had heard Evelyn had formed the stone from her flame itself, creating a piece of her magic in solid form. The pendant hung from a platinum chain, the silvery white metal a common pairing with the Carsons’s navy emblem, signifying Evelyn’s coven. She’d left it behind, and Blair had told him that, when the time was right, he should give it back to her.

She wandered the streets, apparently unaware of him, her obsidian hair twirling in the wind. For whatever reason, sending the letter felt wrong, and yet Evelyn had fled her duty, run from her people. Why did it matter what he did? His brother deserved to know. Moons, her coven deserved to know. He deserved the satisfaction of telling those back home he had finally found her.

Kade oscillated between what was right and what he wanted to do. At this point, he owed Evelyn nothing. She’d left, abandoned their people, but he was already deceiving her about his identity. The letter felt like further, unnecessary deception.

He tucked the letter back into his cloak, reminding himself the price for the bird wasn’t yet worth it.

“When’s the last day you’ll send the iolair out?” he asked the courier.

The man searched the horizon. “Aye, iolairs are tough and smart beasts. They can fly through anything, but the price changes if there’s the scent of storm in the air.”

Kade nodded. “Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”

The iolair opened one eye, a black fathomless bead, and stared at Kade.

Hopefully, he and Evelyn would soon find the vampyr and burn it. Then, by some stars-blessed miracle, he’d convince her to go home, and then he’d write to Eldrick.

Chapter Ten

Evelyn

By midday, Evelyn had moved her few things into her apartment above Aster’s shop. She’d left Maxie basking in the sun on the windowsill, jealous she could soak in the clear sky in the comfort of their new home.

Home.

Evelyn hadn’t used that word in a long while. It didn’t matter. Callum wasn’t her home, nor could it ever truly be. She could cancel the lease with Aster whenever she wanted, and once she solved McKenna's murder, she’d have to leave anyway.

The McCarthys had requested Evelyn and Cyrus visit them after their daughter’s burial. Evelyn didn’t want to delay the investigation any longer, but their child had died. Evelyn understood loss and respected their boundaries.

She and Cyrus would visit them tomorrow instead.

In the center of her new apartment, Evelyn pushed chairs in at a sturdy wooden table. Miss Patricia, who had no children of her own, had boasted about her niece, a shop owner and landlord. Evelyn’s landlord, to be exact. And Commissioner Doyle had reassured the town he’d hired reinforcements to work on the vampyr case.

The news took no time at all to trickle through the entire town. A couch from the baker had shown up outside Pages and Leaves. Miss Patricia had visited as well, leaving behind her a table and a single chair. One rain shower later, three more chairs appeared with a box full of dishes.

Evelyn pushed in the fourth and final chair, smoothing the green weathered paint under her fingers. The left stood taller than the others, while the right one was too large to fit fully under the table and blinding yellow. Each chair was different, and the table a wobbly scrap from the Runaway Radish, but Evelyn didn’t care, and a small smile graced her lips as she took it all in.

A decent-sized bed took up the west wall, facing the entire apartment. Naja, Callum’s finest weaver, had gifted her a monstrous wool blanket threaded with various shades of blue, creating an effect of shimmering sapphire. It beckoned Evelyn to have a slow morning, to cozy up into the layers of blankets and sheets and rest.

She’d repay the town’s kindness by protecting them from the vampyr.

On the north wall toward the west end, a patchwork sofa of various maroons, greens, and navies added more color to the space. Evelyn hoped she and Tovi could sit and chat over a bottle of wine on the sofa soon, just like old times.