Luc Saint-Cyr is waiting for the headmistress of the Thieves' Guild Academy when a toddler runs through the open door. The boy is clearly terrified, and Luc quickly realizes what the boy fears is the teacher who comes after him. Luc directs the boy to hide behind the door and sends the teacher on a wild goose chase. But now Luc is stuck dealing with a child, and what he knows about kids could be written on his palm, with plenty of room to spare. The boy, however, has immediately claimed Luc, though his rescuer doesn't know that yet.

Excerpt A Stolen Heart

Senthys blinked up at Luc. "I wanna go with you. I'll be good. I don't bite. I don't have claws." He held up his fingers. "See?"

Those words wrenched his heart. What had this child been taught about himself? About his people? Kin bit and clawed the enemy, not random strangers. Besides, the more dangerous person in this room wasn't the boy. This little innocent would be trading one monster for another.

"Senthys." Careful not to pull the boy's curls, Luc brushed them back from the lad's face. "Saving you from a monster doesn't mean I'm not one."

"Yes, it does." The child blinked away tears. "You're a good person. You smell good. Kin know."

"You mean you have kahlah?" A Kin's ability to smell emotion made it nearly impossible to lie to one of them. Quite unhandy for those with less scruples. "Do HalfKin have that ability?" The boy's grey pullover hung partway off his shoulder, revealing a striped shirt beneath. Luc adjusted it.

"Uh huh. I smell better than humans. I smell good people." Senthys touched Luc's chest. "You smell good."

"I think you're too young to know what 'good people' smell like yet."

"Yes, I do. My teacher stinks."