“Put me the fuck down!”
Ignoring him, Keegan looked for a familiar face. “Russ, come ’eer.”
They’d turned up around the same time and had remained friends of sorts since then. The boy stepped up, though not close enough to put him into Mary’s range. “Yeah?”
“Is my bed roll still free?”
He looked at one of the new boys and grinned. “Sure is.”
“Good. Glyn will be sleeping there. Someone move his shite from his room. I’m moving in.”
Russ looked up to where Glyn dangled from Mary’s grasp. “Ye got it, boss.”
Boss. Yes, that was another lesson he’d take from Mr. Edison. He’d be their boss, not their oppressor. “And make sure that everyone has food in their bellies tonight.”
The chatter started up and more boys filtered out into the yard. This was his chance to right all the wrongs that had been done to them over the years. They could be a unit, a team, and together they’d do great things.
“Listen to me.” The voices died down as Keegan walked around. They formed a loose circle, all eyes on him.
“Most of you know me. I’ve been with you for a while now. You know I’m clever. You know I can do things. Well, this is Mary and she’s mine. She does what I want, when I want it.”
Mutters started up, a rising buzz of excitement and trepidation.
“I’ve learned a lot in the little bit I was away. I learned that boys like us are stronger when we work together. Not just running around doing what Glyn wants, but what’s good for all of us. I built Mary. I can control her. Make her do what I want. We can take food, money, clothing, anything that them muckety-mucks didn’t want us to have. It’s time we showed this city that there are more people than the ton and the guilds. Normal people live here too. We have lives, and they need to respect that.”
Several boys shouted their agreement, while a few more whistled. A fire ignited deep inside Keegan’s chest, fueling his rage.
“I’ve had enough of others shoving us down into the mud.”
“Yeah!”
“I’ve had enough of being hungry. And cold.”
“Fuck yeah!”
“Let’s show ’em. Let’s show ’em all what happens when you piss the Underlings off!”
The boys roared their support, cheering and clapping. Keegan grinned, knew this was the right thing, what he’d been meant to do. In the back of his mind he heard Mary’s voice whisper as the metal continued to spin.
That’s right. No one deserves to live this way. Thomas tried to keep me down, shoved me aside until I was little more than a shell. I won’t let them do that to you. Together we’ll show this city. We’ll make the sky burn.
And it would be a beautiful sight.
Chapter Seventeen
The water had grown cool by the time Emmet had finished soaking. He’d lost track of the time he’d spent in the water, his mind preoccupied by other matters, specifically the giant hole in his mind. Finally, he’d grown uncomfortable and hefted his mass from the large copper tub. It should feel wonderful to finally have the dirt and grime washed from his skin, to have washed his hair. The relief should be palpable to him, with their freedom having been secured with far less damage than he would have thought possible.
And all he wanted to do was scratch at his brain.
Looking in the mirror did little to improve his mood. Jones had told him that they’d been missing for two weeks, and the beard on his face confirmed as much. But it wasn’t the growth of hair that soured him, but the thick rings of white that now circled the blacks of his pupils.
He picked up the shaving pot and pressed the brush filled with cream to his cheek. He should be able to feel it, the silkiness as he spread it across his skin. It was as white as his eyes.
“I’m a zombie now.”
He’d sucked out the soul of a dead woman. He didn’t remember now, but apparently her memories had been implanted into the automaton that the boy had built and subsequently stolen. Even the Administrators hadn’t learned of their location yet, an impressive feat of deception.
The straight razor was heavy in his hand. Emmet turned his face, pulled back his cheek to tighten the skin, and slowly dragged the blade across the fair hair. Freed, it dropped in giant plops to the water basin below. He watched it fall, fascinated by the void left behind.
I’ve a hole in my mind. Memories gone that I’ll never get again.
The blade cut into the skin and the blood soiled the white cream. “Shit.”
He didn’t move immediately to wipe it away, letting the pain soak into his body in the hopes of shaking him free from this funk he’d fallen into. He was alone, broken, and once again questioning his decision to have chosen life in the guild over what his father had offered.
A knock at the door had him blinking at the sound. He wasn’t alone, for good or ill. Archivists before him had passed through this cave of darkness and emerged through the other side. Both Piper and Jones had survived their ordeals, more or less intact.
A second knock, louder more insistent this time. “Emmet?”
Why did it have to be her? “One moment, Miss Tesla.”
Ignoring the cream on his face, he slipped into his dressing gown and tied it tight around his waist before flinging the door open.
Nicola had bathed recently as well. Her hair was still damp from the water, her skin was flushed, and the fresh scent of lavender soap clung to her. Someone must have fetched her clothing, for she was wearing a fresh shirt, her doeskin trousers, and a corset he recognized from her first few days of working on the machine.
She looked as though she meant to say something, but when her gaze landed on his cheek, she frowned. “You’re bleeding.”
“Yes. That happens when one is startled while shaving with a blade. What can I do for you, Miss Tesla?”
“What happened to being Nicola? Or Nikki?” Her blush deepened.
“We were rescued. That would no longer be appropriate.” He stepped back into his room and started to shut his door. “If it’s not pressing, I’d prefer to finish cleaning up.”
She pushed past him and strode into his room. “The poor acolyte who ran your bath was convinced you’d drowned. No one wanted to check on you.”
“Apprentice.” Why he’d felt the need to correct her, he hadn’t a clue. “The acolytes are younger and aren’t allowed into this area until they pass into the next phase of their training. He would have been an apprentice.”
Shutting the door and locking the two of them away from the rest of the world shouldn’t feel normal. But as the handle clicked into place and they were alone, some of the tension in his body eased. “What do you want?”
“To check on you. Once the doctors kicked me out, no one would tell me anything. I needed to see you with my own eyes and make sure they’d looked after you properly.”
Her skin still being damp from her bath made her white shirt cling to her upper body in places that weren’t entirely decent. The tops of her breasts were pressed up in an enticing manner, spilling over her corset. Memories of seeing her naked flesh, touching her, kissing her were a balm to his wounded mind. He shouldn’t want her again, shouldn’t give in to the temptation that was Nicola Tesla, for nothing good came from getting what one wanted.
“Let me finish shaving you.”
The suggestion made his cock swell. “I don’t believe that’s a good idea.”
“Of course it is. Clearly, you’re having difficulty completing the task on your own, and I think the apprentices are terrified to hell of you. Sit and I’ll clean you up.”
She didn’t wait for him to comply and made her way over to the wash basin to gather the implements of his demise. Whether he was more affected by the memory wipe than he wanted to admit, or he simply didn’t have the strength to argue with her just then, Emmet did as she asked, grabbed his stool, and sat upon it.
When she turned to face him, she chuckled. “I was expecting at least a token argument.”
“Sorry to disappoint you. Do you even know how to use such a thing?” A foolish question, as he’d seen firsthand how capable she was with every tool she ever attempted.
“I have two brothers and a father who are lazy and a mother who prefers a clean face. I learned how to shave a man at an early age.” She rearranged everything on the table before she flipped a towel across her shoulder. “Head back, please, Mr. Dennison.”
Emmet did as she asked, closing his eyes as well. There was a pause before her sure fingers touched his cheek and gently tugged the skin. “I’ll go slow.”
“I trust you.”
The blade moved with ease over the planes of his face. He could feel her breath coming out in short bursts, chasing each pass of the blade. After a few minutes, her confidence grew and she relaxed into a steady rhythm. “It seems I won’t kill you today.”
A flash of red filled his mind; the sound of a gunshot and the dull thud of a body hitting the floor made him jump.
“Emmet?” Hands cupped his face, tilting his head forward. He opened his eyes to look into hers. “What?”
He licked his lips, wishing he had asked for a glass of water before they’d begun. “I don’t have a clear memory about things surrounding the extraction. I’ve started to have… flashes. They catch me off guard.”
“Do you want me to—”
“No. Please continue. I’m finding it calming.”
Whether she believed him or not, Nicola did as he asked. This time, he kept his eyes opened and locked onto her. “Are you close? To your brothers, I mean.”
Her lips twitched. “We were when I was growing up. They had no choice but to let me follow along on whatever adventure they were embarking on. Which is fine when you are a rambunctious girl of six, but when I was still insisting on following when I was sixteen, they started to get frustrated with me.”
“A hoyden then.”
“Did you expect anything less?” She finished one cheek and quickly lathered up the second. “How about you? Are you close to your family?”
“Not close. There was a time when we could have been, but Father demanded that each of his sons take up his expected role in the family. Anything less than that was seen as failure on our part.”
“He didn’t approve of you joining the Archives?”
“No.” If only there was a way for the doctors to remove those parts of his memory. “Not at all.”
They passed the remainder of their time in silence, until Nicola finally patted his skin down with the warm, damp towel. “There we go. You look human once again.”
She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his forehead, gathered the towel, and proceeded to clean up. That quick press of skin on skin broke what little restraint he had remaining. He stood in one quick jerk and stepped behind her so her back was flush to his chest. She stopped moving, stopped breathing, as he leaned in and pressed his mouth to her ear.
“Do you remember what I said to you back in our cell?”
A sigh followed by a soft, “Yes.”
His fingers itched to touch skin, but he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize her reputation. Still, he couldn’t resist licking the shell of her ear. “I said I would take the first opportunity I had to throw you into my bed and keep you there.”
She shuddered. “I remember.”
“Did you lock the door?” He pressed his hips forward so his erection was hard against her ass. She shook her head. “Well then, we better hope that the apprentices are as terrified of me as you claimed.”
He stepped away from the basin, taking her with him until they stood in the middle of the room. With his hands on her hips, he closed his eyes and began to suck the skin of her throat, nipping at the spot just below her ear. For a moment, he wasn’t certain she wanted this, wanted him. Her body was stiff beneath him, though she made no move to pull away.
With his lips on her skin, he nipped at her. “If you don’t want this, you need to leave. I won’t take advantage of you, but I don’t want your pity, either. Stay or go, but do it for you.”
Nicola turned in his arms, her hands still by her sides. “I’m still a virgin. Is that a problem?”
“Only if I don’t take my time.” He moved in for a kiss, but stopped short. “It will hurt.”
“Life hurts. That’s how we know it’s real.”
They met each other in the kiss. He cupped her face, pressing his thumbs against her cheeks, loving the way her skin felt beneath his touch. She looped her hands around his neck and dug her fingers into his hair. The kiss deepened, became something urgent, necessary, and Emmet felt his mind sink lower into a place of rightness.
His cock ached, and for the first time in months he knew the only way he’d be able to soothe himself was through physical contact. It was selfish, but he didn’t think Nicola would mind.
“Nikki.” He reached behind her and frantically pulled at the bindings that held her corset in place. “I need you.”
“Yes. Please.” She pushed her fingers beneath his robe and tugged it open. “I want to feel you.”
Her nails scratched down his chest, catching in his hairs as she went. He stumbled when she connected with his nipple, sending a jolt of pleasure through his body. “Minx.”
“Get this off me.”
“Trying.”
Somehow they’d made their way over to his bed. Nicola stumbled and fell so she was seated on the mattress, her face close to his hard, exposed cock. Her eyes widened and she licked her lips, a gesture that was far more erotic than he suspected she knew.
“I didn’t get to see you properly last time.” She tentatively reached out and circled the tip of his shaft with her forefinger. “So hard, yet soft.”
He moaned when she gripped him, circling his girth with her hand. “You’re killing me.”
“I wonder.” She leaned in and flicked the end of her tongue across his cock. “Salty.”
Emmet grabbed her head and pulled her away. “You lied to me about being a virgin.”
“What? No, I swear—”
“Then you are the most talented amateur in the history of sex.”
“I’m a scientist. I believe in experimentation and exploring all boundaries.”
“Using all tools available to you.”
“Of course. Different tools may elicit different responses.”
He didn’t hold her back when she leaned in a second time and sucked the entire head into her mouth. Her tongue flicked across the tip, sending a pulse of blood through his shaft. He tried to hold back, to resist the temptation of her innocence, but within moments of her starting, his hips set a rhythm in and out of her mouth.
It was a bliss he’d never experienced before. His previous fumblings had been quick, filled with the sole purpose of finding physical relief. He’d never had this connection before with a woman, this innate understanding of the other that gave him peace. Not even his friendship with Piper offered what he’d gained in his short acquaintance with Nicola.
“You’ve such a wicked mouth, Nikki.”
As good as it felt, it wasn’t enough. He wanted everything she was willing to give, wanted to give her so much more in return. His body protested with a shudder as he pulled away, the cold air assaulting his cock. He pulled her to her feet once more, spun her around, and yanked open the bindings of her corset.
“I wanted to strip this from you last time. I wanted to feel your skin on mine, taste every inch of it.” The stiff fabric opened enough to allow the corset to fall free. Nicola stepped out and turned. Emmet could clearly see her hard nipples through the shirt. “Oh, I remember these.”
Taking them between his forefingers and thumbs, he rolled them through the fabric of her shirt. Nicola moaned, her head tipping back to expose her throat. They were both well past the point of teasing. He took the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head. Now clothed only in her breeches and boots, Emmet took a moment to admire the sight before him.
“Gorgeous.” He ran his hands down the si
des of her breasts, reveling in the softness of the skin. “You’re unlike any woman I’ve ever known. So strong, but every inch a woman.”
Emmet dropped to his knees, the fabric of his dressing gown pooling around him as he lifted one of her feet to work her boot free. Nicola sat and together they made short work of the remainder of her clothing. Before her breeches landed on the floor, she stretched back on his bed, spread out for him to admire.
No, she wasn’t like any other woman of his acquaintance. There was no fear in her, no shame in her actions. If she was shy or nervous about what they were going to do, she didn’t show it. Shrugging free from his robe, Emmet bracketed her legs with his knees and held himself above her. So close, their bodies were mere inches apart, the inevitable pleasure only a short move for him to take. Memories from their first time together, alone in the dark, dirty cell, were there as well. He wanted to do things properly this time. Wanted to claim her as his, so if circumstances parted them, she’d never forget.
The same way he’d never forget her.
He lowered his head to her throat to lick the skin. He kept his body from touching hers, wanting to draw the experience out as long as he possibly could. Every sigh, every twitch was labeled, categorized, and placed next to the sounds in his mind that were now associated with her. He moved slowly down her body, licking and sucking her skin, wanting to see if he could pull a different response from her. She was ticklish close to her armpit. Touching the dip of her waist would cause her to squirm away. Running his tongue around her toes had her moan and spread her thighs.
For her part, Nicola watched him intently. He could tell she was learning as well, deciding what she’d try on him when the time came. When he’d do something unexpected, surprise would flash across her face, before her eyes would roll back into her head. Her dark hair was a stark contrast on the pale cream of his sheets, the short strands spread out this way and that in an odd sort of halo.
“Emmet.” She reached for his head, pulling at him. “I need… something.”
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