Yelena scowled. “Look, I don’t know how this stuff works,” she muttered, sounding apologetic. “How was I supposed to know all this? I didn’t grow up around trees and magic. You know how many beating hearts I’ve seen buried in a forest before I got here? None. I’m—”

She took a breath. Yes. It was still hard for her to say out loud.

“—sorry.”

What was going on here? When did she become the bad guy? Sure, she was a bad guy, but not this time.

She frowned at the cat. “Hey, I sent you halibut. Doesn’t that get me a little slack here?”