Jane Cross's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

Jane stepped back inside the cottage, pulling the door closed behind her. The stranger lay where she'd left him, breathing shallow but steady. His fever had broken during the night, leaving him pale and damp with sweat. She knelt beside the makeshift bed and checked the bandages on his shoulder. His eyes opened. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, then turned his head toward her. "Lucaino," he said, his voice rough but clear. Jane's hands stilled on the bandage. "You mentioned that name before," she said carefully. He reached into his shirt with his good hand and pulled out a purple amulet on a thin chain. The stone was shaped like a spade, catching the dim light from the window. "My father," he said. "He gave me this before he left the guild. Told me to keep it hidden." Jane's chest tightened. The person she'd been hunting for three years had a son. Someone else who'd been abandoned, left with nothing but a piece of jewelry and questions. The stranger's gaze sharpened. "You need to leave," he said. "The soldiers — they already know who you are. They've been watching your waystation for weeks." Jane stood, her pulse quickening. "How do you know that?" He pushed himself up on one elbow, wincing. "Because they showed me a sketch of you before I ran. Half-elven woman running an unlicensed clinic on the border. They think you're helping him hide." Outside, a barn owl landed on the edge of a weathered garden box near the cottage door. Its feathers glowed with unnatural orange and pink light, bright enough to see even in daylight. Jane recognized it immediately — the same type of messenger bird the soldiers had used at the command post. It tilted its head toward the window, watching her. Jane grabbed her satchel and moved to the back wall of the cottage. She'd crossed the border to find answers about the person she'd been working with for months. Instead, she'd found her parent's son and confirmation that the soldiers weren't just hunting Lucaino — they were hunting her too. The stranger struggled to sit up fully. "There's a trail behind this cottage," he said. "It leads west, away from the fort. If you go now, you might make it back across the border before they close it." Jane looked at him, then at the glowing owl still perched outside. She'd spent three years searching for Lucaino, and now she had a half-brother she didn't know existed and soldiers who thought she was an accomplice. The choice she'd imagined — standing face to face, demanding an explanation — had just been replaced by a simpler one: run or stay and face arrest. She slung the satchel over her shoulder and headed for the back door. She wasn't ready to be caught. Not yet. Not until she'd decided for herself what Lucaino's crimes meant and whether the reunion she'd chased was still worth having.