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the Circle, rode into sight. Rox recognized Kasin, Calder’s second in command, leading the group, his beard wild and tangled across his face, his eyes weary. Calder would need to check in with him quickly if either man hoped to rest before leaving again in a few hours.
    Calder took a step back and Rox sheathed her dagger. “We leave at dawn,” Rox called to be heard over the sounds of the new party dismounting. “Better sleep now if you want to sleep at all.” She met Calder’s eyes again. “I’m sure you and Kasin have plenty to talk about.”
    Calder glanced her over, evaluating her. Rox saw in Calder’s eyes what she already knew: she was still too much of a threat to attack. Too dangerous. Too well connected. But he’d be watching.
    He spun on his heel, turning to Kasin. “With me! We’ll chart our next course.”
    Rox watched him leave, turning her back on him only when he greeted Kasin. No matter how tired she was, she needed to get out of the camp. She stomped into the forest after Fisk, searching for him in the brush, her gloved hands catching on thorns and briars. She wasn’t trying to be silent. Twigs and dead plants crunched under her boots. She accidentally kicked a rock, sending it soaring into a nearby tree, then rebounding into a bramble bush where a bird exploded into the air in shock. She watched its wings, sparkling white in the darkness as it flew to safety.
    She let out a heavy breath as she escaped the Circle’s hearing range. Calder wanted her dead. She could see it in his eyes every time he looked at her. He would enjoy making her suffer first, but his main motive was to leave her corpse behind on the roadside. No one would recognize her. She didn’t have family to look for her. Even if she was discovered by a nearby town, she’d just end up in an unmarked grave. If the Circle attacked her, Calder was the first she’d take down, and he knew it. Only fear kept her safe.
    Her boots sank deep into the mud with a graceless schloop as she continued further into the forest. She could tell from the consistency of the soil and the musty, earthy scent that clung to her nose and mouth that there was a swamp nearby. She paused as she stepped again and sank to the middle of her calves. Fisk wouldn’t have traveled much farther. He hated mud.
    Rox stopped, resting her fists on her hips, her face twisted in a crooked, dark grimace. Fisk should have heard her coming. He was sulking. “Stop messing around, Fisk. Get out here, it’s safe now.”
    Fisk scuttled toward her from beneath a nearby tree and raced up her arm to her neck, complaining loudly about his forced foray into the wet underbrush. She grunted as his wet, dirty paws clambered across her nape. “It wasn’t my fault.”
    Fisk huffed in response.
    Rox contemplated searching the perimeter once again, but decided against it. After the look in Calder’s eyes, she wouldn’t put it past him to try to find her away from the Circle. For once, there was safety in the ranks of the Circle.
    She marched slowly back to camp, her jaw clenched tighter than her gloved fists. She didn’t allow herself to feel bad about her position, to dwell on how disgusted she was by her charges. There were more important things to focus on: payment. No matter what she did, no matter where she led these marauders, it would all be worth it. She just had to do her job and survive. Still, she treasured her alone time, the hours she spent scouting and creating a perimeter. The longer she could be away from the Circle and their foul stench, fouler mouths and murderous impulses the better.
    Most of the Circle were sleeping again when she returned. She spotted Calder, Kasin and a handful of other party leaders meeting on the far edge of camp. They’d lit two torches, the light glowing across a series of letters and maps laid out across a fallen tree. Calder held his chin in his hand, deep in thought.
    Rox paused in the shadowy depths of the forest, watching with a