l stench fi

imes as my eyes adj

essed as palace guards, swords sh

lared

stroked his chin, a cunning gleam

sold herbs to Old Thoma

caught ourselv

ha h

nging his hands nervously. "What if we get ca

an angry glare bef

emember, we have the magistrate's backin

closer to me, hi

ve, hand over all yo

e slash and

ked bi

ts, and drank dew off leaves. I had endured separation and death of my loved ones-what suffe

w I just sold herb

ed co

ds behind his back, replyi

die, and you're s

a ghost, you'll know why you

of his call, I saw a gra

meeting rang out; the girl who had kindly sho

again, yo

stood Liam'

e all kinds of pe

they were al

ted for that woman to loiter around the ph

made a sale, they would follow them, impers

d my advice-give Logan the mo

hey got the money, they'd most

t afrai

ied after five hours had passed. He might d

he new pair of shoes yet.

g my surroundings. Luckily, there was a

s, tha

house, I carefully used the shard to saw thro

rd was sharp, making

anaged to free myself. I groaned

hurts! Please, let m

rat! If big brother weren't waiting to squeeze more money o

approached me

d wooden plank hidden behind me and s

only managed a short

motionless on the ground, s

k I was; if he saw this scene,

. Another guard was dozing, holding a half-empty jug

easy to

striking him hard on t

e wood aside, dusted off my clothes, a

hought I was safe, Logan and the r

charged at me w

all the str

r so many years, and I had already en

e seemed to f

, Liam and I would definitely have

y heels, I was nearly out of breath. My steps slow

saw Logan standing

rough hand suddenly wrapped around my wa

erson clamped a hand over m

, leaving only a pair of strikingly beau

The red mole o

at him

before? Thankfully, I had managed to disguise my

tsteps grew louder

gled to break fre

, tilting his head sli

blew softly, lifting the fallen leaves fr

ed firmly against mine, fo

man indeed had

ould captiv

ke a hawk's, with a hint of reck

l sense a fleeting

little rat! I'm

ngry voic

with a scraping noise, the footsteps o

away and whispered, "Stay

e shoved me into the corner o