“We’re closed,” he said.

Lado had one friend: a quiet, gentle boy named Gio who played the chonguri (a traditional Georgian lute) and was secretly in love with a baker’s daughter from the Dezerter Bazaar. Gio was the opposite of Nino—soft where she was sharp.

She was loud. She was cruel in the way that only the deeply wounded can be. She would rearrange Lado’s spice jars without asking, then mock his choice of cinnamon. She called him "Patara Gveli"—Little Dragon—and laughed when his ears turned red.

He froze.

“No,” he said. “I brought you to a ruin to show you that even broken things can hold light.”