Chapter ONE - Weebly

limbs at once. His skin was fair, his hair the color of
wheat, his eyes like the sky on a clear autumn morning.
His features were so fine as to be girlish and he still had
no hint of his first beard.
The boy turned to him. “Are you all right? Your
face…”
“I’m fine,” Ethan said, making himself smile. “It
looks worse than it feels.”
“It looks pretty bad.”
Shelly nudged Ethan’s hand with her snout; he
scratched her head absently. “I know. And yes, that
man works for Sephira Pryce.”
“It looked like you two were fighting.”
“Sephira and I are both thieftakers,” Ethan said, as if
that explained everything. “It’s natural that we should be
rivals.” He frowned, noticing for the first time where
they were, and where the boy had been. “What are you
doing down here, Holin? The wharves are no place
for…” He had been about to say “for a boy,” but he
stopped himself. “For someone your age,” he said
instead.
Holin laughed, his blue eyes dancing. “That was well