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T he biggest change was Neco. We knew he was in love with her and why he pushed her away. She didn’t know that. We also knew he would lose his mind when he found out she wasn’t a man.

For one thing, he hit her. It also solved his hang-up about making Theda happy. I didn’t think Theda cared either way if he was with a man or a woman as long as he was happy. Neco just got idiotic ideas in his head and decided that was how it was without discussing it with anyone else.

Like, he was about to throw Lucy over his shoulder and carry her back to Guttertown. I got it. She had a black eye, a busted lip, and she admitted she was going to need one of us to stitch her up if we couldn’t get Athan or Tarja this late. I was freaking out, too. She could have died.

Lucy and Caitrin were just like my mom. Strong women who didn’t want to show weakness in public. Mom was a different person when it was just us. Lucy would want to walk home. She’d only want to be carried if she couldn’t do it herself.

Neco stepped forward like he was just going to grab her and do it. I smacked my arm across his chest.

“Don’t. She’ll ask if she needs help and it probably won’t be you.”

She couldn’t hear us because she was a few steps ahead with Ronan, Ollie, and Basselt.

“How do I make this right? I hit her.”

I tried not to laugh at Neco. His whole thing was defending women and children and Lucy could brawl just fine on her own.

“Well, you’re going to have to tell her everything and apologize, but letting her fuck up your face twice is probably going to go a long way.

She’s Guttertown born and bred and so are you.

Obviously, don’t hit her again, but if a Guttertown man raises his hand to a Guttertown woman, there’s nothing stopping her from popping him back. ”

“Yeah, but I don’t do that. I find it repulsive.”

“Neco, when you hit her, even she didn’t know she was a girl. She got home and her period started. That was when she found out. How the fuck were you supposed to know?”

“Because she snuck in my window every night and half the time, she fell asleep in my bed!”

“And Lance always had that thing about not pissing in front of each other and we went along with it. We were ten when everything fractured, so the only way you could have known was taking her trousers off and we all know you’d never do that.”

“But—”

“Neco, I love you, but you’re a fucking idiot when you get this idea in your head.

There was no way you could have known. We only found out recently.

Mom thought Lance just had some hang-ups, and that’s how he ended up a legend at the brothel.

She only figured it out when we found out about Lucy and announced it before we left.

The only reason we found out was because she started her period and Ollie saw. She decided to trust us after.

“I have no doubt you would have found your way back to each other and she would have trusted you, but that was taken away from her. She’s not just injured and traumatized from fighting a serial killer.

Caitrin made her think she was a boy until she couldn’t to avoid ending up in the brothels because of her father.

A bunch of people who could snitch could have noticed. ”

“I’ll kill them,” Neco growled.

“No, you won’t because that’s not you. You have a code.”

“How do I fix this?” he asked.

“Stop picking fights with her for one. You’re going to have to be brutally honest and let her get mad.

You were a fucking idiot and could have just asked her if she knew who her father was and told her why you wanted to know.

Grovel. Do something nice for her. Fuck, let her break your nose again.

We miss you and we want our group back together. Do whatever you have to.”

“I’m going to get her mom the cure no matter what,” Neco said.

That was a tall order. I honestly wasn’t sure how they were going to pull it off.

Lucy’s plan was risky when we thought he was a Baron.

Folcard didn’t care about his bastards and, apparently, he had a lot of them when his wife only had a daughter at first. He used and abused them, but he might care Neco slit his throat.

I hadn’t read the contract, but I knew Lucy was well versed in reading and looking for loopholes. Neco wasn’t half bad, either.

There might not be a loophole Folcard could trot out, but that wouldn’t stop him from making one up.