and the woman walked off. It was a good thing they had stiffed Bear on the horses. The waitress wasn’t even that good looking.
Kovos turned back to them with a stupid look on his face. “What are you all looking at me like that for?”
“Give me the money,” Sasha said, holding out her hand.
“What? Why?”
“Because you are a moron, that’s why. Ginger tea? Are you for real?”
“She said she liked it.”
“She liked your money,” spat Sasha. Then added harshly, “Our money.”
“Like you would know. I bet it’s great.”
“And if it’s not?”
“Fine, you can have the bag, but if the tea is good, I get it back,” Kovos said as he held out his hand with the money bag. Sasha promptly took it.
The tea came out and was terrible. Legon liked ginger but not like this. Sasha was forcing down a sip when she stood up and clapped her hands to her mouth.
“Oh, it’s not that bad. I kind of like it…” Kovos started, but she was out the door.
Legon turned to see her running out in the street and letting a blonde woman inside. As she entered he took a look at the newcomer. Her hair was long, blonde and she was thin with green eyes and a . . .
“Sara!” he said, getting up and crossing the room. He wrapped his arms around her. “I can’t believe you’re here. Come sit down with us, how are you?”
“Um, well, I…,” she began, looking totally dazed and shocked.
“Sit down, sit down. Oh, I am so happy to see you,” Sasha said, planting Sara next to Legon. Sara took a moment to rearrange the red dress, hiking up its low-cut neckline, and then checked to make sure she hadn’t lost any jewelry. He was surprised by all of the makeup and jewelry. When he had known her she wasn’t a flashy person at all and was a little on the chubby side. Now she was thin and looked good, but there was something off about her.
“I thought you were in the Queen’s care?” Keither asked. Sara’s face darkened and she looked down.
“Yes, I am.”
“Well you look like you’re doing great. Looks like the Queen’s care isn’t so bad after all.” Keither looked at them all smugly.
“No, it’s…” Legon could see tears in her eyes now. The low-cut dress. The makeup. The jewelry. It all suddenly clicked. She was a slave and slaves didn’t have that stuff.
She looked like she couldn’t talk, as if she was ashamed. Like she wanted to go and hide under a rock. With her eyes diverted away from them she said, “Keither, I’m a slave and was sold to an Iumenta that owns a brothel.”
Her voice was etched with the same shame and sadness that adorned her face. Legon was surprised that pain and sadness, not anger, boiled up in him. There was a warm sensation in the back of his head. He tried to ignore it and shifted away from the window, closer to Sara and out of the warm sun. Keither looked dumbstruck and embarrassed. Sasha and Kovos were looking down as an uncomfortable silence grew.
“Can you get away?” Legon asked.
“No, they mark us with magic. Here, look,” she said, turning to them and lifting her hair. It felt like ice water was being poured down his whole body. On the back of her neck was a black tattoo with two circles inside each other. At the center was a six-pointed star. The symbol itself was not the part that unnerved him, but more how it was put there.
“If I leave town and anyone see this tattoo, I will be taken back to my owner, and then…”
* * * * *
Arkin turned the corner into an alley in between two large buildings, looking for the man he was supposed to meet. This part of town wasn’t where you would expect to find an informant. Most of the time you had to go to the bad part of town—the part where the snitches were. Not Monson, though. He wasn’t what you would expect, either.
A figure walked out from behind a carton and waved to Arkin. As he approached, Arkin saw the young man, really a boy around fourteen. His father had been the original informant, but not anymore. Monson’s family was from one of the old human houses, one that had been in charge before the Iumenta swine took over, the House of Grey to be precise. The family was an example of how the queen was