Page 133 of Lady of Ashes

He’d experienced that enough in his life.

Within minutes they had tracked down Finn, and Callan ?lled him in on the plan. The castle halls were quiet during the late hour, and the few guards they did pass didn’t question anything. When they were outside in the brisk winter air, Callan turned to make his way to the stables, but Tava grabbed his arm, shaking her head.

“We walk. They will immediately know you are nobility if you arrive on horseback or in a carriage.”

He nodded his understanding, his hands shoved deep into his cloak. “How do you get the tonics?” he asked quietly.

“The High Healer used to deliver them with Scarlett’s tonic. When that was no longer needed, Cassius would get them to me.Now she leaves them in a prearranged location, and I pick them up during the day under the guise of errands.”

It took them nearly an hour to get to the slums on foot, most of the hour spent in silence. Each district they went through became progressively more run down. The air became more stale. The puddles he was stepping in were de?nitely not melted snow, and the faces leering out of doorways had him wondering how Tava thought it was in any way safe to travel these streets at night alone.

She ?nally turned and began walking towards a small shack. He couldn’t call it a house. It was hardly standing. There were a few boards over windows, but not enough to keep the elements out. The roof was sagging in on one side, and the front steps had long since rotted away. The door Tava was reaching for wasn’t even properly latched shut. It likely couldn’t close properly anymore, he supposed.

“Maybe we should let Finn go ?rst,” Callan whispered, grabbing Tava’s other arm and pulling her to a halt.

“She is an old woman that can hardly stand. I assure you we are safe,” Tava replied quietly before shrugging out of his grip and pushing through the door.

“Tava? Is that you?”

The voice was crackled with age, raspy and somewhat slurred. “It is, Helen,” Tava replied, her voice impossibly gentle.

Callan tracked her in the dark as she moved to a small table and pulled a match from her pocket, lighting a candle and illuminating the room. An old woman was indeed huddled in a corner, thread-bare blankets wrapped around her frail body. Her thin, white hair was poking out the sides of a hat, and her shivering was visible even in the shadows.

“Who are they?” Helen rasped, eyeing him and Finn as if she could see their faces beneath their hoods.

“They are friends,” Tava said, kneeling before the old woman. “I don’t trust ‘em,” the old woman spat.

“You did not trust me at ?rst either, remember?” Helen grunted in response.

“Have you been able to get up and move around?”

“Been three days,” Helen said. “Chloe brought me food and water.”

“I am sorry I was not able to get here sooner,” Tava said, her voice carrying a hint of guilt that Callan felt in his own soul. He had been the one keeping her from coming.

Tava pulled two vials from her cloak pocket, uncorking one andbringing it to the woman’s lips. She drank the entire thing down, shifting a little when it was gone.

“I have another. You can take it in the morning. It should keep you comfortable until I can get you more,” Tava said, tucking the other vial into Helen’s gnarled hand before readjusting the blankets over her. “I will try to bring more blankets, too.”

“I’m ?ne. There are others who need the blankets more than I do,” Helen said, tucking her hand back under the scraps of fabric.

“I can only assume you have already given away too many of your own, Helen. I will bring you another as soon as I can,” Tava replied. “Do you need anything else before I go?”

“Blow the light out, child,” Helen said, leaning her head back against the wall, her eyes falling shut. “I won’t get over there anytime soon.”

“Of course, Helen,” Tava said, pushing to her feet.

“Ivan fell off the wagon again,” Helen called out. “Last I heard, he was in that alley by the Burchards’ hovel.”

Tava sighed heavily. “Thank you, Helen. I will get him.”

“Stay safe, Child.”

Tava blew the candle out before pushing past Callan and Finn and stepping back out into the winter chill.

Finn was pulling the door shut as much as he could behind them, as Tava pulled her hood back up, shoving her hands into her cloak.

“She will …” Callan swallowed thickly as he felt Tava’s gaze settle on him beneath her hood. “She cannot be warm enough,” he tried again. “What is her tonic for?”

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