Through the Flames by Ryne Billings

she rose to her feet. “How do you know that name?”
     
    Alexander’s smile did not fade, despite his associate’s anger. “I know more than you could imagine. I wouldn’t be very good at my job if I couldn’t obtain such information on one of my own subordinates, now would I?”
     
    “If you tell anyone, I will kill you,” Katie vowed, her hand resting on her dagger. By the look in her eyes, there was no doubt that she would be more than willing to go through with her threat.
     
    “I know,” Alexander said with a nod. “I can understand why you’ve chosen to keep this a secret, and I have every intention of respecting your wishes. That doesn’t mean that you should relax too much though. I’m not the only one who knows.”
     
    She froze at those last words, more than a little unnerved. “Who knows?”
     
    The only answer she received with a small smile.
     
    Turning on her heel, Katie stormed out of the room, roughly shoving the door open before she strode across the tavern towards the exit.
     
    It was not until she was outside of the tavern that she took a deep breath and braced herself on the wall with her right hand.
     
    It’s just about time to relocate. If Alexander knows, then it’s just about time that someone else figures it out, Katie thought as she tried to catch her breath. If he figures out that I’m here, then I’m going to have a big problem.
     
    As she finally caught her breath, Katie began to walk down the alleyway towards the street, her steps quicker than normal.
     
    “I just heard that you were back.”
     
    Once again, she found herself in a state of nervousness. There was no doubt in regards to the man’s identity, even without turning to look at him. It was Nicolas’ only uncle and the magistrate of Caldreth, Jason Edge.
     
    Her eyes quickly went over her shoulder to him in the hopes that she was just imagining things. He looked like a ten year older version of Nicolas with a goatee. Unlike his nephew, he wore an attire of fine blue clothing, befitting of his status.
     
    “Word travels fast, Lord Magistrate,” Katie said sharply as she began to walk away from him, uncaring of his position in the city.
     
    Within moments, Jason was at her right, walking along with her as though they were old friends. “I can understand why you are angry with me, but your anger is not appropriately placed,” he said in a whisper. “You may want to blame me, but I was only doing my job.”
     
    “We both know that I was innocent of the thefts that you sentenced me for. I’m not that reckless,” she said quietly, anger evident in her eyes but not her tone.
     
    “Sometimes, a man has to pick one job over another,” Jason said with a sigh. “Has it ever occurred to you that I am not just the magistrate of Caldreth?”
     
    “What are you talking about?” she asked, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him into an alleyway as they passed it. She pushed him against the wall forcefully, anger clear in her eyes. “I want to know the truth, and I want to know it now.”
     
    “I temporarily banished you for crimes that you did not commit. I won’t deny that to you in private, but I was acting in the best interests of my nephew’s best friend,” Jason said as he shrugged Katie’s hand off of him. “If you want the truth, then I will give it to you. To put it as simply as I possibly can, Duke Aron made a visit to Count Clovis about a month ago. I thought you’d appreciate me getting you out of the city a few weeks before he arrived.”
     
    A mixture of anger and shock once again filled the redhead. It was impossible that he could know the truth about her. There was just no way that he could know.
     
    And yet… the look in his eyes was impossible to deny. No one could lie to her and look her in the eyes without her seeing it.
     
    “You know.” Her voice grew dry as she realized that she did not make it a question. She had stated it. Even if he had just had a suspicion