7. Neco

I felt slightly better. Momma wouldn't go to a healer, even with the bag of coins I found, because she didn't think it was serious. Maybe it wasn't, but she and Rowena were all I had in this world and I couldn't kill anything to protect her from a cough. I was allowed to overreact just in case.

I went straight to Ilyn. Every intelligent person knew he was the best. So did Ilyn, that's why he was a miserable arsehole to everyone. As a fellow miserable arsehole, he was a kindred spirit.

I didn't much give a shit about going into Ollie's tavern with animal blood on my shirt, but I definitely took it off to talk to Ilyn. Ilyn didn't give a shit my chest was bare but he would have been pissed if I came into his shop with blood on me. I could respect that.

If you wanted real herbal knowledge that was going to do what it was supposed to, you went to Ilyn. If you wanted smoke blown up your arse with a big smile and to end up pissing blood, you went to Derwin. Some people kept going back to Derwin after all that because they swore their dick was harder for five seconds longer than usual.

Some men were fucking stupid.

Still, I knew for sure it wasn't the Pale Plague and what to watch for. I also knew what things to get her to eat and drink. The only reason I had her baking Rowena's cake with her cough was because while I was a decent cook, but I was shit at baking. The last time I tried to bake a cake for Rowena or Momma, it was ugly as fuck, caved in the middle, and tasted terrible.

Ollie's aunt and uncle were decent people or I wouldn't have let Rowena around them. They'd been great to me when I was a kid. I lost a lot of people when I decided I needed to be able to protect my family and anyone working at the brothel.

After we left school, everyone went to learn a trade, but I took a very special kind of apprenticeship. The island Beck and the Madame's ancestors came from had all kinds of skills they brought with them. They passed them down to their descendants, even if they didn't teach the rest of Guttertown. The Madame's brother was the brothel bodyguard before Beck and he trained Beck in the scimitar he carried.

I asked him for something else. The man that beat me and took my eye got banished, but that was about all Guttertown could do. Panas couldn't even really hit him when he was pulling him off of me and throwing him out. If he made a stink, it would have been Panas that got thrown in jail.

Panas was a warrior. If it were a Guttertown man cutting up, he beat the shit out of them. It couldn't sit right with him that the other men could lay hands on our women and not pay. I wanted him to help me make them pay and not get caught.

Panas couldn't help me, but their sister could. She was a trained assassin. Okay, mostly she ran a bakery, but she'd been taught the art. Keeva taught me. I had to cut everyone from my life to learn those skills. I needed to focus because being bad at killing people was how I got caught. And if I got caught, they'd punish Momma and Rowena.

I may have eventually found my way back to them once I knew what I was doing, but fucking Lance decided to implode our relationship by joining the boys taunting me. I had been closer to him than any of them and told him things I didn't tell anyone else. Clearly, that meant nothing to him and they all sided with Lance.

Fuck them.

I wanted to focus on Rowena today and not my past. I had the boar roasting while making small talk with Ollie's uncle. His aunt was in the kitchen helping bake the cake. My sister was off somewhere with Baryn, but I wasn't worried about her. She could handle herself against kids her own age.

"Listen, I wanted to talk to you about your sister," Tade said. "I know it's not considered proper in the rest of Nestran, but we do things differently here. She has a gift with animals. It's rare and Rowena is a natural. She has this calming effect on them.

"Some of the merchants from the Trulos District like to pretend they aren't getting their horses in Guttertown, but mine are on par with the Barons'. It takes a special kind of person to break a horse so it can be trained and sold. Baryn isn't suited. He already knows this. He's better suited to crops and the other livestock. Baryn is crazy for Rowena and so are the rest of us. I'd love to apprentice her for the horses."

Rowena would love that, but I also knew my sister often didn't know what the fuck she wanted. Her favorite color seemed to change every other day. She'd request the same meal several times a week and then decide she didn't want it anymore.

I loved my sister but ten-year-old girls were confusing as fuck.

"I think it's a great idea, but it's up to her."

"She already said she wanted to, but it was up to you."

I grinned. Tade was right for asking her before he asked me. I'd never force her into anything. Rowena telling him it was up to me was Rowena speak for her being a little terror if I said no. I mean, I was the one who taught her to use her fists, but the girls at the brothel taught her to use her wits against men, too.

And I knew my sister. If I said no, she'd have every girl in the brothel on my arse and she'd punch me in the dick.

"Then, I guess you have a new horse trainer. You don't tell Rowena Argent what to do."

Tade grinned.

"Oh, we're all quite aware. How do you think we found out she's good with the stallions?"

I sighed.

"She didn't hit you, did she?"

Because this was a great opportunity for her. I told her not to start anything, but to finish it. I was pretty sure she did that outside the house, but she had no problem punching me. And if she thought someone hurt me, she'd punch them, too.

I saw Ollie coming and had no idea why he had Ronan with him. Beck and Ollie said I had every right to hit Lance for what he said to me, but wanted me to make peace. Ronan was different. Ronan thought I should have let it go, heard him out, and forgiven him. Ronan actually thought I shouldn't have hit Lance. It was a betrayal, so I pretended like Ronan didn't exist.

The Whispering Raven had amazing herbed crusty bread. It sucked when I wanted some and fucking Lance was working the front of the house because I had to leave. Things tended to devolve into shouting matches and I really didn't want to get banned from the Whispering Raven because I hit him again.

Ollie had a sack full of bread with him for the party. I appreciated the bread. Momma and Rowena loved it, but I would have preferred he leave Ronan where he found him. Ronan had something large and flat on his back. I didn't particularly give a shit what was in it.

"Ollie, can I talk to you?" I yelled.

It was implied I wanted to talk to him alone, but I also thought Ollie knew better than to bring Ronan to my sister's birthday. Was Lance busy? Just bring all my enemies, why didn't he.

"Okay, hear me out," Ollie said.

Ugh. I should be punching him in the face, but then his uncle might kick us off his land. And frankly, Ollie's face was too beautiful to maim.

"You have five seconds."

"Ronan is an artist. He just got shafted by a Baron and was at the Whispering Raven after you to pick up some shifts since he lost that commission. Guttertown kids don't get art. We get stories told to us by our families, but we don't get the illustrated books like the rest of Nestran.

"I thought it would be really neat to have someone at Rowena's party who could draw pictures of them however they wanted. Like, if they just wanted a portrait or maybe draw them as a character in their favorite story. I thought Rowena would like one standing on the bones of her enemies. Ronan thought it was a great idea and agreed to do it for free."

Ugh. I didn't particularly want to forgive Ronan. I didn't forgive and forget. I held grudges. But that was actually amazing. Rowena would love it and so would the other kids her age. Guttertown didn't get portraits done like the rest of Nestran. They only existed if a family member had the talent and time to make one. Plenty of Guttertown had talent, but with trying to stay fed, housed, and the paying fucking taxes the Barons rained down on us, time was something a lot of people didn't have.

Ronan wouldn't have a lot of time, either, but he agreed to do this. He'd lost a ton of money from a Baron and he wasn't asking for payment. And I hadn't looked at him or said a single word to him in the last ten years. Ronan was a good guy.

Maybe this particular grudge needed to go. I was older now. I could see that Ronan had been in an impossible situation. All of us had been thick as thieves until I lost my eye. I knew they wanted me back, but Lance hurt me and I hurt Lance back. No matter how they handled it, they would have lost one of us.

I pushed them all away, but I punished Ronan for picking Lance. I could admit when I was wrong.

Lance Argent was still my enemy, though.