May Storm's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

May knelt on the unfinished floor of her shop, needle in hand, when the door scraped open behind her. She turned. A man stood in the frame, one hand pressed against the wood, the other clutched to his side where blood soaked through his shirt. He tried to speak but his knees buckled. She caught him before he hit the ground. His weight pulled them both down. She lowered him to the boards and pressed her palm against the wound. Hot blood welled between her fingers. The man's hand fell away from his chest and she saw what he'd been protecting. A leather binder, strapped across his ribs with a cord. She pulled it free. The cover was thick and bound with brass clasps that hadn't come loose despite the fall. His lips moved but no sound came out. She set the binder aside and tore a strip from her apron. The fabric was clean but the wound was deep. She folded the cloth and pressed hard. His breathing slowed. She looked at his face and saw recognition in his eyes, though she'd never seen him before. He reached toward the binder with one shaking finger, then his hand dropped. His chest went still. May sat back on her heels. Blood soaked through her apron and stained the unfinished boards beneath him. Outside the open door, a silver locket lay in the dirt where he'd fallen, its sapphire catching the morning light. She looked at the leather binder beside her knee. Someone had sent him here. Someone knew where to find her before the shop had even opened. She picked up the binder and turned it over in her hands. The network she'd planned to build alone had found her first.