Ashton’s hand went to his forehead, and he stared off, his breathing slow, measured. “We do not know that is what is happening. So many were lost after the Reaper invasion. There is no telling if what you suspect is what actually happened to those missing children.”
“Not children, Ash. Young people. Able-bodied and trainable. People my age. People like me.”
“Charlie…” Ashton looked down at me with his dark eyes, worry rimming their depths. “You barely escaped with your life.”
“I have to find out if it is true. What if you had not cared? What if Lilah and Mara and Riley had simply decided it was too dangerous to look for me? Think of where I would be right now. What I would still be enduring.”
“Enough,” Ashton breathed, shaking his head and pulling me with him. “It is not up to you to risk your life this time. You have given far too much.”
“It is absolutely up to me. It is my choice alone,” I said, pulling my hand from his and meeting his frustrated gaze. “If it is true. If Arecibo has the missing youths, then I will stop him. He can’t be allowed—”
“We can leave word for Riley. They are mostly citizens of Outer City. His people. His responsibility. He can search for them when he returns.”
“No.” I folded my arms, holding my ground. “We wait and work with Riley to find the missing.”
“Charlie…” Ashton’s lips pressed into a thin line. “We have to go.”
“He looked for me.” My hand went to my heart. “They all did. It is only right.”
“Only right…” He repeated. Ashton stared at me for a moment, emotion playing behind his gaze. “Yes. Blackburn’s Daughter would do the right thing.”
I thought of the man in the galleon. The one I let go down with the ship and a shard of guilt bore into my heart. “She would. And if I am still that person,” I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat. “If I am still her inside…then I must do this. You understand?”
“Yes.” Ashton took my hand, brought it to his lips, and brushed a feathery kiss across my knuckles. His whisper, ragged against my skin, was resolute nonetheless. “I understand.”
“Thank you.”
“But promise me we will go about it prudently. In a way that will not only keep our own hearts beating, but those we hope to save.”
“All right,” I promised and turned toward the midwife’s cottage. “I want to check on Lilah and Jack first. Then we can find a place to stay. Maybe aboard a vessel? There are captains that rent out berths while in port. That will keep me out of town and out of mind, I hope.”
“This will not end well, Charlie,” Ashton said again as he took up step beside me.
“That’s the spirit,” I murmured.
“What I mean is, Rothfair was one man. Arecibo is ensconced in The Order and has battalions of knights under his orders. This is something entirely different. We must be strategic…cautious. Already we know that Arecibo has the means to move his experimental subjects at will. There can be no hint of what we are doing or we will lose them as I lost your trail countless times.”
“You are a spy, Wells,” I admonished him. “You take on entire nefarious groups for a living.”
“Yes, but I needed only to worry about my own skin,” he countered. “It is different now. I cannot afford to be reckless. Not with you.”
“I do not think that can be avoided,” I said and slipped my hand into his. “I seem to bring it out in you.”
“Yes, it is your fault now that I think of it.” A hint of a smile pulled at his full lips, but was gone in a moment. “I have a bad feeling about the people of this port. They are frightened, and that makes people rash. Riley included.”
“They have every right to be.”
“Whether it is them or Arecibo, I will not lose you. Not again. If given the choice, I will not hesitate—”
“It will not get to that,” I cut across him, wanting to reassure. “We’ll help Riley make inquiries. Maybe follow a few bits of information. That is all. I just want to be sure, Ash. I cannot let others suffer what I have if I can help it.”
He let out a frustrated growl, but did not argue. As I walked with him and listened to the muted shift of his chest armor and the jangle of his boot buckles, I realized this all felt familiar. I glanced at his profile. In the moonlight, half-shadowed by the gas lamp glow, he looked like one of the heroes of the books I had pored over as a child. And yet, he was not much older than I. How much he had been through, fought for, in such a short time, gave him an edge I had not really noticed when I first laid eyes on him. He looked older, more harrowed. I then realized he was older by two years and my heart ached for want of those lost moments. Would I ever get the memories back, the ones whose echoes turned my heart toward Ashton? Could I endure having those moments back at all?
The murmur of voices from inside the cottage grew louder as we approached. I slowed, recognizing Riley’s drawl. He was back. Surprised, I put my hand up, stopping Ashton from stepping out from the cover of shadows. He was wanted here, the price on his head nearly as much as the silver on my own.
Ashton nodded, drawing his dagger and the slip of moonlight glinting off its edge set my nerves on fire. The last time the two of them had been in the same space, they’d nearly killed each other.
Pushing into the cottage, the warmth of the fire and soft glow of the candles did little to soften the look of fear and anger on the faces of those in the small room. The midwife, Cara, Mr. Percy, and, surprisingly, Cephas. They stood around Lilah’s bed as if at her wake. Worry shot through me. Was I too late?
Riley looked up from his place at Lilah’s bedside, his eyes rimmed in red, hand holding hers to his lips. Jack, whimpering in the arms of the midwife, squirmed out of her grasp and ran to me, wrapping his small arms around my legs.
“Hey, Jack,” I whispered. His little body twitched, the subtle snapping of his jaw as if shivering not lost on me. I stifled a sob as his riotous emotions tugged at mine. I forced a smile and placed my palm on his soft forehead. He stilled, easing against me as he buried his face in my skirts. “It’s all right, darling. You are all right.”
Kneeling, I took him in my arms and he hugged me, rubbing his nose back and forth against the crook of my neck.
Cara stood, flattened her skirts, and frowned at me but did nothing to retrieve Jack.
The shaking of his body pulled pitiful moans from him. Standing with Jack in my arms, I approached Lilah’s bed slowly.
Riley ground his jaw, his anguished gaze almost too much to bear.
“Is she…”
“No, but,” Riley cleared his throat. “Cara says there is no way to be sure if she will make it through the night. The tracer fire, it,” he stood, turned away as he pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting for control. When he spoke, his voice was a gravelly rasp. “It went right through her. She used her body to shield Jack. They burned her.”
“I am so sorry.” I met the eyes of those in the room and their angry glares said they held me responsible for what had happened to their homes and those they loved. “I should have known they would come for me.”
I thought of the missing and knew that now was not the time to tell Riley. Not with Lilah in such a dire condition. Perhaps Ashton and I could look on our own. Maybe leaving here was the better choice after all.
“You shouldn’t have even been here in the first place,” Percy snapped.
“She is not why they came,” Riley said evenly, staring Percy down. “Whoever told them she was here is to blame. The thought of silver in their pocket was worth more than their neighbor’s life.”
“They will be back anyhow,” Percy pushed.
“He is right,” I said. “I should go—”
Riley’s exasperated look cut off the rest of my sentence. He turned to Percy. “She has nowhere to go.”
“Riley…” A knot tugged my insides. He was fighting for me to stay, and I was trying to leave with Ashton.
“See there, even the girl thinks
she’s a danger,” Percy said.
“Think of the rest of us,” Cara intoned. “I’m sorry, sir, but she has to go.”
Glancing up, I caught the fear in her eyes, and my heart sank. Cara had dressed my wounds when I’d first arrived. She’d spooned soup into my mouth when I was too weak to feed myself.
“You know we are not the only ones in the port that think this, Sheriff,” Percy pushed. “Lots of folks are convinced she brought the new sickness with her.”
“That’s nonsense,” Riley snapped.
“Well nonetheless, they saw what she did at the inn was carnage.” Percy glanced over at me with disgust. “And now this? It won’t be safe for her here for long if a crowd gets going about it.”
Riley’s gaze shot up to Percy and the older man stammered. “I’m not making threats, mind you. I’m just being realistic here. A mob whips up over this and there’s no stopping what they do to her.”
“I will hear no more talk like that,” Riley shouted and his voice made all of us jump.
Jack clutched onto me tighter, squeezing his eyes shut. I forced down the riot of my own emotions to sooth his. The tremors in his legs and arms lessened.
Visibly disgruntled, Percy tried to smooth his clothes. His gray hair ruffled about his head looked as if he’d been shocked. Bruises and soot marred his face. Cephas looked the same, and Riley too, bore signs of a struggle.
“What happened to you out there?” I asked.
“We were fired upon by a scout ship over by the wasteland border,” Riley intoned. “We made an emergency rendezvous with Cephas and barely made it out of range of a Coalition air ship.”
I eyed Cephas. He’d been in Spain from what I’d heard. “What kind of route took you along the borderlands?”
“An escape route,” he said and shook his head.
“And Reena? The baby?”
“They made it back here with us, but only just.” Cephas cleared his throat, hat in hand as he addressed Riley. “We have to do something, Sheriff. They make ready their forces as we speak. You have to give the order.”
“This is madness, Sheriff,” Percy cut in.
“The order for what?” I asked, trying to catch Riley’s gaze. “What is going on?”
“Cephas was in Spain for a number of reasons,” Riley said finally. “One of those was to gather information on the Coalition of Khent’s movements. His training as a doctor helped to gain him access to places others couldn’t.”
“We need to disband,” Cephas rasped, his face etched with worry. “While there’s still time.”
“What?” I looked from him to Riley’s hard gaze and back. “You mean break apart the port?”
“All of them.” Cephas ran a hand over his dark pate, his glasses fogging. “All the ports.”
“Wait, why?” I stepped to Riley. “What is he talking about?”
“The Coalition of Khent is not satisfied with a blockade anymore,” Riley intoned, as he sat back down in the chair, and brushed a lock of hair behind Lilah’s ear. “There’s talk of an invasion. The vote will be close, but some say it will happen soon. They will mount an armada against us.”
“A decimation,” Cephas said. “They want to blow Outer City from the sky. They feel it’s the only way to stem the flow of the Trembling Sickness to Europe. There is talk of it within a week, maybe less.”
“What? So soon?” A cold sweat slipped down my neck. I looked down at Jack in my arms. His tiny fingers knotted in the chainmail of my bodice.
“But that is not confirmed?” Riley asked Cephas.
“No, not the exact day, but word is the Spanish are leading the invasion.”
“What will we do?” I asked. “Can we do that? Can we split apart to that degree? I know that parts are able. Individual ships and some stalls, but everything?”
“No, not anymore. Since the Reaper invasion our population has tripled if not more. In order to support that, we had to make changes to our infrastructure.” Riley shook his head, his lips a tight line. “We aren’t just linked together up here like some sort of charm bracelet. We’re tangled. Our gas lamps, communications, the under-building ballasts, they all run on the rotor power. Coal. The core of each port had to be fortified to support added weight. Welded together to support the added strain of so many more vessels and buildings.”
“But we can move. Mara said you solved the Ashen Croup problem by climbing higher, evading storms—”
“That kind of movement takes days to achieve. It is slow. Deliberate.” Cephas wiped his palm across his bald head. “We can’t use a floating city to outrun an armada.”
“And the marketplace is the income,” I said, remembering his explanation of the delicate balance between trade and commerce with the ground cities that kept the ports afloat both figuratively and literally.
“If we scatter, those that can scatter, will be without protection or food sources. The domes still standing are overrun with Reapers and Tremblers. To rely on the ground for supplies is out of the question. Many would die just trying to find water.” Riley shook his head.
Cara’s voice pulled my gaze. “And we have many here that only live in buildings not air ships. They are aloft, but not mobile.”
Riley leaned forward, rested his forehead on his hands. “And the weather. We can withstand storms but as a whole, a large shelter, the stalls and shacks will blow away like chaff. Let alone the elderly and infirm who cannot be moved.”
“So then what?” My gaze went to Lilah’s pale countenance. “What will we do?”
“I don’t know, Charlotte,” Riley snapped. His jaw worked, and he rubbed his face.
“Can we fight?” I asked Cephas and Percy. They met my question with grim faces.
“With what?” Percy shrugged. “Water barrels and trinkets from the stalls? The galleon crash took out the only weapon stores we had, not that they were much.”
“The only weapons available are what my lawmen have strapped to their hips,” Riley said. “We can’t fight a fleet of air ships.”
“What about the Peaceful Union?” I tried. “They have the Union Soldiers.”
“Whose numbers were decimated in the Reaper invasion,” Cephas said quietly. “There is talk of the governors meeting, but even if they do, I am not optimistic about their decision.”
“And they do not consider Outer City under their protection,” Percy said. “Besides, we spent years fighting to be free of the governors and their interference. We cannot very well ask them to come to our rescue now, even if they could offer it.”
“So we find a place,” I said evenly. “Is there anywhere…”
Noise outside stalled my next question, a swarm of voices and bodies moving amid the dim glow of the lamplight that sent a chill piercing my chest.
Ashton rushed into the room, his face tense.
“We have to go, Charlie,” he breathed. “They’re coming for you.”
Riley’s gaze hardened when he saw Ashton. He rose quietly, with deliberation, and pulled his weapon, aiming it at Ashton’s chest. “You dare show your face here? After what you did last time?”
Ashton rolled his eyes. “We do not have time for this.” Though he appeared calm, I caught the minute twist of his body as his hand gripped his own weapon, a dagger he’d been known to throw at blinding speed.
“He was out there too.” Percy pointed with his gnarled finger. “He was out there helping her fight those…things.”
Ashton and Riley had been enemies long before I met either of them, and that was before Ashton betrayed me to The Order. The tension between them seemed to heavy the air. I set Jack down carefully on the bed at his mother’s feet and stepped between Riley and Ashton.
The garbled voices outside grew louder, angrier. I glanced out the doorway at the moving mass of people headed our way.
“They will toss her from the railings,” Ashton said, holding Riley’s gaze.
“Actually, they will likely broker a trade with Arecibo,” I said evenly. “Which
is what I would do. Outer City cannot weather another visit from his Trembler knights. Not with the Coalition coming to blow us out of the sky.”
Ashton’s exasperated glance in my direction almost made me smile.
Riley looked from me to Lilah, and then to Jack. I knew what he was thinking. There was more at stake than just my life.
“Charlotte…” Riley’s weapon wavered as the crowd neared, their lamplights flickering across the floor.
“Send her out,” someone yelled, followed by many others. “We don’t want no one to get hurt. We just want the girl.”
Riley’s eyes locked with mine, a riot of emotions behind them. Worry, grief, regret.
“Riley, don’t,” I intoned as I tried to force a brave smile. My knees knocked beneath my skirts and I struggled to breathe, but my voice sounded sure and strong. “There’s too many of them.”
“What are you doing, Charlie?” Ashton asked, edging toward me, trying to grab my sleeve.
“Lilah and Jack could get injured in a fight.” I ran the back of my fingers along Jack’s soft cheek. “I will not have that.”
“You cannot go back,” Ashton said, his voice a growl. “You will die there.”
Kiril, Riley’s second in command, stepped into the room. He held his revolver on me, his gaze darting to Riley. The split lip told me he was the one who’d gotten into it with Riley earlier.
“I gotta take her, boss,” he said, not meeting my gaze.
Riley pulled the hammer of his gun back and the click resounded in the room like thunder. “Is this mutiny, Kiril? Is this what you’re doing?”
“It’s a vote, sheriff. The whole town decided. We already made a meet up. Down in the wastelands. This Arecibo fellow wants her back. He’s high up in The Order. He said he could fix it with the Coalition. Stop the invasion.”
“He is lying,” Ashton said. “The Order’s dealings with the Coalition is strained at best.”
“It is our only chance.” Kiril’s hand shook, but he kept the barrel of his gun at my chest. “She…she’s gotta go.”
Ashton stepped between me and Kiril, his voice edged with steel. “You are not taking her from this room.”
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