Unfortunately, Yen hadn’t known anything else about the building or the deal that Aurelion had made with the people who ran it. She’d stood there for several seconds after I’d asked, a mixture of hesitation and bewilderment playing across her features. As if she might be trying to figure out what had hapepned. We’d left shortly after, using the rooftops to get over to the orphanage.

  When we arrived, the three of us set up on top of a building across from it, looking out over the street in front.

  The orphanage wasn’t an overly large structure—it was roughly half the size of the inn—but it rose above the surrounding buildings, which meant climbing onto the roof would be more of an annoyance than a legitimate tactic.

  The street below was mostly dark, save for the flickering lanterns that lined the main avenue, and the torches the city guard patrols carried with them as they passed through.

  I had two daggers strapped to my belt and Yen was armed with a small sword, which she’d attached to the back of her outfit—a dark blue affair that hugged her body. Ophelia was still in the clothes that she had run away in, though I’d made her put on a jacket since it was cold out.

  We didn’t have any of the small handheld crossbows that she’d carried with her into the palace, but I’d given her a series of throwing knives that I’d bought off a merchant the day before.

  I’d planned to learn how to use them myself, as having some kind of ranged weapon beyond my [Dragon’s Palm] seemed like a good idea. I hadn’t even had time to mess around with them yet.

  Despite the frail look that she gave off, Ophelia had no issue keeping up with Yen and me as we bounded over the rooftops and down the alleyways when jumping between buildings wasn’t possible. That was encouraging.

  “We should have plenty of time to get inside and look around,” I said as I noted the lack of any lights in the building. It was night already, but the second moon had just risen into the sky as we made our trek here, which meant it was early still. “Try not to kill anyone unless you have to.”

  Hopefully Aurelion was smart enough not to put a bunch of armed guards around a building full of orphaned children. Something like that would surely draw someone’s attention.

  Maybe that’s why the city guard had their eye on the place. Or maybe the captain was just keeping all the information on his allies close, in case he needed a scapegoat for something.

  It was a very distinct possibility, I knew, especially since nothing Aurelion had been doing as of late seemed to make much sense if you were trying to keep your operations quiet.

  Sure, the warehouse wasn’t exactly public property, which meant it didn’t have citizens passing by it every day since it was in one of the worse-off parts of town, which was full of abandoned buildings. But, he’d still had guards on all the rooftops around it. That kind of thing could draw attention.

  If anyone bothered to look up. Yen had said that exact thing, hadn’t she? They’d been able to get away with so much because the city guard never looked up. I shook my head and started down the side of the building, using the windows in the alleyway as handholds.

  I landed on the ground a moment later, rolling to a stop and peering out into the street. A soft thud sounded behind me after a few breaths, followed by another. I glanced at the two women behind me, both nodded, and we rushed across the street, keeping our bodies low to the ground.

  The front door of the building would have been the easiest to break into most likely. But it was also the most obvious. Instead, we sneaked through the alley that led to the back of the building and found the small back door, which appeared to lead down into a cellar.

  I pulled out one of my lockpicks, stuffed it into the lock. It clicked after a moment.

  “You’re better at that now,” Ophelia noted from beside me. Her voice almost sounded full of pride.

  “I’m better at a lot of things now,” I whispered back and twisted the knob on the door. The hinge creaked softly as I pushed it open.

  The cellar beyond was dark and it took several moments of blinking for my eyes to adjust after we closed the door. Once we could all see, we began moving through the crowded space.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  It was littered with various crates and barrels, as well as shelves that rose up either side of the room. The shelves were filled with even more crates and loose items such as jewelry boxes and piles of clothes.

  I approached one of the crates and pried it open with my dagger. We checked seven more, but each one was just full of clothing and other random items. Probably things left behind by children when they left the orphanage, stuffed here to be used if someone needed them.

  “How much stuff do they have down here?” Yen asked as we passed a sixth shelf stacked full of junk.

  I grunted in response, spotting the stairs that led up to the first floor ahead.

  Each one creaked under our weight as we moved up them to a tall door at the top. I checked the knob and found that it, too, was locked. I cursed and pulled out another lockpick, slipping it into the keyhole. It clicked unlocked and I slowly opened the door, pushing it open and peering out into the room beyond.

  It was a long hallway that carried off into a foyer. I didn’t see any signs of movement or lights anywhere, which lined up with what I’d been able to see from the exterior, too.

  Something settled in my stomach—an uneasiness that stuck there like tar.

  I tried to shake it away as I stepped into the hallway, my hand resting on the hilt of one of my daggers. Yen and Ophelia followed me out, with one of them closing the door to the cellar behind us.

  The hallway also extended the other way, this time leading to what looked like a swinging door. I quickly checked it, finding the kitchen beyond. The air here still carried the scent of cooked food, but there was something off about it that I couldn’t put my finger on.

  Like the food had sat too long and started to rot before being cleared away. I tried not to think about it and what implications that might carry for the children that had called this place home.

  Returning to the hall, we continued toward the foyer, checking each doorway we passed to make sure nobody was waiting on the other side. When we reached the stairs to the second floor, we took them quickly, reaching the landing in a rush.

  The two women spread out on either side of me as I approached a door at the top of the walkway. It was locked, so I used a lockpick on the keyhole and it clicked. However, when I turned the knob, it wouldn’t open all the way.

  “Hells,” I muttered. They must have a latch on the inside, too. I pressed my ear against the wood to make sure I didn’t hear anything beyond and then turned back to Ophelia and Yen. “Let’s find another way in if we can. If not, we’ll break it down.”

  They both nodded and then spread out, Yen going down the walkway to the left while Ophelia headed right. I moved to the next door along the wall and tried it.

  This one opened without issue, the hinges squeaking for a moment as it did. I held my breath and peered into the dark room. I could just barely make out the shape of a bed and a dresser, as well as some other furniture, like a chair in front of a small desk.

  I stepped inside and looked around more closely, squinting as the fuzziness around the edges of the objects faded slightly, revealing that the bed was empty.

  Where the hells is everyone? This place should be bustling with little bodies and caretakers. And yet, here I was, standing in an empty bedroom in a building with no lights on in it.

  It made no sense.

  A thud down the hall drew my attention, and I hurried back out into the hallway turning toward the direction the sound had come from.

  “Ophelia?” I whispered as I moved quickly, unsheathing one of my daggers.

  I found the woman standing over the body of a large man with broad shoulders, one of the throwing knives sticking out of his right eye socket. I looked from the man to Ophelia, who shrugged.

  “You recognize him?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No, but he had a sword.” She gestured down to the hilt of a blade barely visible as it jutted out from under the man’s body.

  I nodded in response and we both stepped over the body into the room beyond. It was a long room with several beds stacked on top of each other. A dormitory, then.

  Large windows covered the far wall, letting pale moonlight into the room. The light fell on empty beds.

  “No kids?” Ophelia asked. Her face was twisted in a look I’d expect to see on the face of someone who was about to be sick. “Where are they all?”

  We met up with Yen back in the center of the hall. She shook her head, indicating she hadn’t found anything either. We all turned back to the door in the center of the landing.

  “Well, I guess we tried doing this quietly.” I looked to Yen. “Think you can break through?”

  Yen looked at the door strangely for a moment, as if trying to comprehend what I was asking, and then nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got a skill that should work. Stand back.”

  Ophelia and I moved away and she took up a stance in front of it, moving one foot back while pressing her shoulder forward toward the door.

  Without warning, her body rushed forward, as if propelled by something. She crashed into the door with a heavy thud and the latch inside broke away, the entire door swinging inward as one of the hinges came out of the wall.

  I watched as the door slumped down, the bottom dragging against the wooden floor. Ophelia grimaced beside me and Yen turned back to us, a wide smile on her face.

  “I wondered what that was going to feel like. What a rush.” A glint danced across the woman’s eyes as I stepped past her and into the room beyond.

  The room was set up similarly to the one next door, but instead of furniture, it was full of large crates—some which appeared to be as long as a sword. I approached one of them carefully and pried the lid open.

  “Seven hells,” I muttered, taking in the sight.

  Coming here had been a great idea.

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