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I had so many questions for my old friends. And now that I knew Lance wasn’t my half-brother, I wanted back in. I didn’t feel left out before because it was my choice to walk away. I had a mission, and I didn’t want to put them in danger.

Keeva said an assassin was a paid job back on the Jagged Key Isles. They passed the training down so it wasn’t lost, but no one was making money off of it. She said she got paid work from the Madame exactly once, but refused to tell me a damned thing about the job.

Since it was the Barons, the wages were going to be shit. Better than what they were paying their soldiers, but nowhere near what either of us should have been paid. Especially the soldiers.

Some of them were basically poor kids whose parents couldn’t pay taxes and had extra sons.

They were better suited to any other trade but the military.

We weren’t at war and hadn’t been for hundreds of years, but sometimes, shit happened when someone didn’t want to or couldn’t pay taxes or they sent the army to arrest someone.

But yeah, I could kill whoever I wanted now. They couldn’t say anything because I was killing for them. And they were going to pay me. Lance wasn’t my half-brother and despite his legendary performance at the brothel when he was sixteen, he was into guys.

I’d have to find a way back in because Lance was really mad about the nose thing. And I didn’t think letting him maim mine twice was going to fix it because Lance could hold grudges just as much as I could.

I left them and went home. Something was up and I’d figure that out later.

There was no reason for them to get that drunk or scared over going to see his father.

They wouldn’t have known it was Folcard anymore than I did because the Argent kids didn’t talk about that.

Saying their name was like invoking a curse.

Plus, I was worried about my family. Momma was in a bad place and Rowena was probably being violent about it. The Madame had tricks, and she cared about her girls, so she’d be dealing with it until I got back. She wasn’t a healer, but she knew enough to keep her stable.

When I walked into our flat, The Madame was sitting by Momma’s bed. Rowena flew at me and punched me right in the dick. Yeah, it hurt like hell, but I was proud my kid sister could punch that hard.

“Took you long enough,” she said, glaring at me with her hands on her hips. “Who the fuck hit you?”

Momma didn’t like it when Rowena cursed, but this was Guttertown, so I wasn’t going to correct her. There was no point in talking fancy here. And I wasn’t telling Rowena it was Lance that fucked up my face because Rowena would avenge me.

“Our father is an asshole. You never met him, but I have. There was some extra extortion involved, and this isn’t the cure. It’ll just keep her alive until I do what they want.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” the Madame said.

“And when you get a chance, you might want to walk over to the tavern and do something nice for Caitrin. I’m not sure where Lance found their new cook, but he whipped up some kind of soup and tea for Caitrin and made enough for Theda since he heard someone here was sick.

“He said he can cure them both when a certain plant is ready to harvest and he’s planning on teaching Athan and Tarja.

There are also several things he can teach them that might prevent future Argent kids from needing to do what you and Lance just did.

He seemed like he thought it was his fault he couldn’t rush nature.

Theda hasn’t coughed up anymore blood and has been peacefully sleeping.

He said it’s a bandage and they can’t really wait for his herbs to bloom. ”

I was trying not to be suspicious since this man helped Momma.

I knew everyone in Guttertown. I made it a point to.

I also knew everyone who came sniffing around.

They’d only banished someone here once, and that was only because they were hoping if they threw Leodos here, he’d change his mind on experimenting on shifters. Everyone else they just killed.

I looked into the healers outside of Guttertown, too, because I was very good at breaking and entering. I was considering just stealing the remedy, but I was smart enough to know that I didn’t know which one to steal and didn’t want to grab the wrong one.

I wasn’t going to kill this man because he didn’t fit my code and he’d helped when he didn’t have to, but I was going to vet him. Who was he and why was he in Guttertown?

I had a lot to do and hurting this man wasn’t on my agenda. I was just going to get a measure of him when I thanked him. The brothel had flats for the girls. Some of them had kids, and some lost their parents and brought their younger siblings. The lodgings prepared for that.

We were given a three bedroom, so we weren’t sharing. I had my own room, but I never slept in there. I slept on the couch by the door just in case some pervert saw my sister and tried to break in later. Momma didn’t like it, but she got it.

So, I knew damned well she wasn’t sleeping well. She was fine once she could fall asleep, but she was coughing too much to get there easily. She was not only peacefully resting, but there was slightly more color in her cheeks.

I hated to wake her. This might not be the full cure, but it would make it better until I could get it.

I knew the name they gave me to kill and the only reason I hadn’t slit his throat was that he wasn’t a customer at the brothel.

Yeah, he didn’t technically fit my code, but I heard he’d been doing some Baron-level contracts with the people of Guttertown and screwing them over, so I had been thinking about it as a side project.

That was also probably why the Barons wanted me to kill him.

Killing him was going to be child’s play. Catching the Ghoul and convincing Lance to stay out of it in the time frame I was given was going to be hard.