Chapter 24

Ihad my way with Camilla, though not to the extent I'd desired.

Several days passed and I could count on one hand the number of times we left our room. Strange, how the city still functioned while I ignored the work that demanded my time, giving it to her instead.The world could have been on fire and neither of us would have been any wiser.

There was something I'd been putting off, however, and no matter how much I ignored it, I'd have to face her sooner or later.

It was late in the evening when I returned to Esme's garage. My false hand laid propped on a soft cloth on one of her workbenches. She didn't even look at me as I entered the shop.

"It's finished then?"

"Yes," she blurted. She stared at anything but my face. "Do you need me to show you the upgrades or—"

"No, no, that won't be necessary. I'll figure it out."

"Good."

Silence. Too much silence wrapped the room. I cleared my throat. "We will never speak about this ever again."

"I don't want to be speaking about it now."

Right, like this wasn't completely horrifying on my end, like I'd be here if my wife hadn't asked with those eyes that made me agree to her bidding. "Well, neither do I."

"Then go!"

"Fine! Milla says thank you."

Esme cringed. "Tell her, don't mention it. Please. Don't mention it. It's all my fault for offering in the first place." She pointed toward a pouch on the same desk. "Also, the bag is for Milla. Sera used to get her the contraceptives, but since she's gone... I took the liberty of contacting the haelen myself."

Next to my hand was a paper bag with medication inside. I cleared my throat of the discomfort settling there. "And I appreciate that."

She shook her head, continuing the finishing touches on the bike. The Marcheses had run it all afternoon as she fine-tuned the running gear. "I already have to babysit her brothers. I won't have any little Nico's running around and terrorizing me further. Saints help us..."

I couldn't hold back the laugh that caught us both off guard. "Definitely not. Thank you, Esme."

"Stop mentioning it."

I shook my head and quickly left the garage, attaching my hand without checking the upgrade she added and scrubbed the exchange from my memory.

The hour was late by the time I'd crawled into bed with my wife, who seemed to spend most of her time resting. She still hadn't mentioned anything about the prison, and although her bruises had faded and the burns had healed into pale scars, I noticed she avoided looking at herself in the bathroom mirrors.

I'd woken more than once to her thrashing in bed in a fever pitch, sweat soaking the sheets from vicious nightmares. She muttered names I'd never heard of, wept until the salt of her tears stained the pillows. Something happened on the island that she wasn't telling me, but until she let me in, there was nothing I could do but lay beside her as she fought her inner demons.

Tonight, however, she was at peace, and I hoped, for the sake of her exhausted mind, she'd remain so. Her body naturally curled against me as I settled onto the mattress.

It felt as if only minutes passed before we were both woken by a loud bang on the bedroom door.

"Nico!" My name was shouted from the hall. "Nico, get up! We need to get to Salt Street."

"What in hell? What's going on?" Milla untwined her limbs from mine.

The sun hadn't risen. It was early in the morning, and my body was reluctant to leave our bed, but the urgency in my cousin's voice sent a worrisome thrill straight down my spine.

"There's been shots at Sabina's," Luther said. "She sent a wearh calling for aid. Says the watchmen bastards snuck through the docks by her warehouses."

I rubbed my eyes awake. "Damn! We'll be downstairs in a minute. Have the horses ready."

I cursed as we both dressed. Milla rushed toward the large mahogany doors of the wardrobe, where I assumed she found the rest of her clothes when she searched for the shift. Meanwhile, I took to the closet and dressed quickly.

"No, no, no..." Milla mumbled to herself after I'd finished. "That can't be it!"

I tossed a coat over the clothes I'd thrown on to combat the frosty morning. "What's wrong?"

She was dressed similarly warm and in a similar style, with black leather boots pulled over a pair of tweed trousers. She wore an Attano-red coat over a loose white shirt and vest. Stuffed in the pocket of her coat were fur-lined gloves.

"What are you looking for?" I spoke again when she appeared not to hear me, too busy fumbling through the bag she'd brought from the ship.

"The glint! I thought I had enough to spare me until tomorrow, but I'm out. I need to go see Aramis—"

"Fuck that. You don't need that stuff, Milla."

Her eyes snapped to mine, an anxious energy in her stare. "Yes, I do. I can't let it slip, Nico. Not right now. The prison was different. But here? There are so many things that can go wrong."

"Milla." It took everything in me to swallow my frustration. "You either come with us or stay. There's no time to run to your brothers and get more glint."

"You don't understand." Her voice shook the words. "I can't control it. Something always goes wrong."

Only a few times had I seen Camilla truly afraid, and this time I could hear the fear in her voice. The dim light of the gas lamp reflected in the glaze over her eyes. But it was her hands, the way they shook even as she clasped them in front of her, that explained too much. I'd been negligent, assuming she'd made peace with her power from what I witnessed her do in Hightower. She wasn't confident in her ability at all, now that I really looked at her. She was afraid of her Chaos—afraid of herself.

I took both her trembling hands in my own and squeezed them. "You took out three guards by yourself in the tower and a legion of them in the prison. Camilla, if that wasn't control, I don't know what is."

She shook her head. "I nearly crushed us all in the tower. We were fortunate the flames didn't spread too far, and they only worsen if I'm afraid. I don't want to use it unless I must, especially around my family."

"Would you rather stay here?"

A scoff left her lips. "After what happened last time? You're never facing a fight without me again."

I smiled. "You don't have to use magic to fight, Camilla. Your power isn't here." I held up her hands between us. "It's in that merciless soul of yours. I'll be beside you the whole time, and if you ever feel overwhelmed, we'll get the hell out. Alright?"

She nodded, the shaking in her fingers relaxing some. I held onto her hand to lead us out the door and down the stairs. "I'd rather you not use your remnant unless it's necessary, anyway. If the Watch was trying to sneak into the Row, you're most likely what they're looking for. Don't make it easy for them to find you."

She cleared her throat, keeping in step beside me. "I disagree. I don't think they're after me at all. If this was a direct attack, they're after Sabina for some reason."

When we reached the main floor, Luther tossed me my hunting rifle. Pistols shoved in a rush in my waistband, I propped the gun over my shoulder and held the side entrance door open for Milla to have a straight shot at the horses. The rest of the cousins and a few of our men mounted the remaining steeds, two of them pulling a carriage where Luther hopped on the back.

"What would they want from bleeders?" I asked aloud as I mounted the black beast behind her in the saddle.

"I guess we should ask Sabina." Milla took the reins in her gloved hands and kicked the horse into a trot, leading our ragtag group down the gravel and toward the First Sector where the meat warehouses were located.

Indeed, we had a lot of questions to ask the Salt Queen. Hopefully, we'd all see the sunrise and get those answers.