44. Chapter 44
Chapter forty-four
“Ms. Tamish!” The Shields’ gazes roved between the pair of them, grime-spattered and wounded. “Inform the mayor!”
The shout directed toward the other man peering over their shoulder sent him bounding to obey.
Night teetered dangerously close to morning, and the beaming lampposts outside the mansion’s doors gave Lux a splintering headache. The captain, for he must be, fixed a suspicious stare upon her. When she only glowered back, he relented. “We have been scouring the city for you, Miss. Top to bottom. Even braving the Dark, their plague and all.”
Lux scoffed. Loudly.
Morana ignored her. “I expect nothing less from my father.” She sauntered past him. “I must request the healer immediately. My ankle requires attention.” The Shield moved to block Lux’s path. “Oh, let her in. She’s come to collect the reward.”
The captain frowned. “What reward?”
Morana’s eyes snapped to Lux’s.
“My darling daughter! You’re alive!” The mayor hurried as quickly down the wide staircase as was socially acceptable for his station, nightcap askew. Nearing Morana, he gripped her shoulders. “You’re unhurt?”
“Only my ankle.” She held the chain from her. “I’ve had the most horrific time.”
The mayor tsk ’d, his gaze seeking Lux’s. “And the girl found you, did she?”
“She did.”
A white-hot streak lightninged up Lux’s arm, and she grimaced.
“You’re so quiet, Necromancer. Injured?” The mayor’s eyes penetrated the fabric of her shoulder.
“I’ll live, Mayor. By all means, see to your returned daughter. I can wait. For a moment.”
Her hidden meaning wasn’t lost on Morana. “Yes, Lux mentioned a reward. Though the guard has no recollection of such a thing posted.”
The mayor patted his daughter’s cheek, lingering briefly over the bruise highlighting her cheekbone. “More a bargain than a reward, darling.” He spun, his cap giving in and rippling to the floor. “Bring up the boy!”
The volume, as always, was unnecessary, and Lux released her throbbing arm to clutch her aching head.
“A boy?”
Morana’s increasing interest in Lux’s personal affairs could only amount to no good. “An innocent,” said Lux, between her teeth.
The mayor’s bellowing laugh reverberated throughout the chamber. “Hardly! But I’m a man of my word. The most generous of my kind. Especially when I receive something I want in exchange.”
Lux’s blood chilled even as a happy blush tinged Morana’s grime-smeared skin. “I’ve missed you, too. Though where is that blasted healer? My foot feels as if it will burst!”
The mayor ceased his predatory stare to examine his daughter instead. “Gracious, let’s get you settled. Then you must tell me everything. To think someone possessed the audacity to attack this family. This beautiful family!”
With the Shield supporting either side, Morana hobbled into the nearest and most lavish sitting room: quite unnecessary, Lux thought, considering how well she’d fared thus far on her own. Portraits of the Tamish family lined the walls; the greatest of all being Bartleby Tamish’s. Little surprise. Everything had been decorated in a mixture of jewel tones so rich it made Lux uncomfortable to sit amongst the cushions. She hadn’t seen this room in an awfully long time.
She picked a seat farthest from their party, nearly in the fireplace, and moaned as she sat, a mix of bliss and pain. When footsteps echoed from down the hall, her heart skittered.
It was only the sought-after healer, hair rumpled from sleep and in a cinched-tight robe. “Mayor. You’ve need of me?” His voice was a soothing baritone, and Lux relaxed in spite of her discomfort.
“Yes, yes. My daughter has sustained a significant injury. The ankle and the bruise on her face must be examined.”
“As you wish. Where would you prefer the examination?”
Why did his voice do such a thing? Lux nestled deeper into the ruby pillow at her back. She wished him to continue.
“In my bedchamber. I don’t believe any of these men, or the necromancer, need to see my exposed skin.”
At the mention of her, Lux felt the full weight of the healer’s gaze. “She’s injured too if I’m not mistaken. Would you like her cared for as well?”
The mayor turned to Lux with a smile. “I would. It should only be fitting after all, being as she will soon live here. Reap the rewards of family, Lucena Thorn.”
“Live here?” Morana’s shrill voice broke the calm that had since blanketed the room upon the healer’s arrival.
“ Ahem. The prisoner. As requested.”
All eyes swung to the captain in the doorway. His white uniform was spectacularly pristine, and his charge looked even more dreadful because of it.
Shaw stood beside him, dark gaze focused solely on the mayor. Despite his tattered clothing, his face purpled with bruises, and what looked to be various stages of dried blood across his skin, he still hadn’t lost his spirit. Tears pricked Lux’s eyes. She couldn’t remember ever feeling so relieved.
They hadn’t broken him. Not yet.
“Ah, and here is our artist. ” The mayor sneered. “Can’t you have hosed him down? I’ll never get the stink from this room.” The captain gaped then stammered, unsure how to make amends for his blunder. The mayor ignored him. “No help for it now. Step in here, criminal.”
Shaw was unbound; they’d obviously deemed him unthreatening. The captain moved to shove him forward, but Shaw expected as much, and when the hand glanced off the swift pivot of his body, he stepped into the room on his own.
“You wished to see me?”
Unlike the healer’s, whose voice had calmed her into a relaxed stupor that had her wishing for bed, Shaw’s voice sped her heart, her belly tight. When she sat up straight, her shoulder screamed at her. She’d forgotten.
“You may go.” The mayor shooed Shaw away from where he sat beside Morana. At the younger man’s bewildered expression, however, he added, “Home. You’re free. So long as you remember one small warning.”
Shaw’s eyes couldn’t have grown wider.
“If you mention anything, and I really do mean anything, of your unwelcome escapade within my home, I will personally eviscerate your entire family as you watch. And then, I will stand by as you feed their entrails to the trees. Or whatever else happens to get to them first. Do you understand?”
Shaw’s warm skin had never looked so colorless. He nodded.
“Beautiful! Goodbye.” With a dismissive wave, the mayor turned back to the patiently waiting healer.
Lux bolted to her feet. And then cried out against the pain it wreaked. Her knees buckled.
“Wait!” It came out much closer to a rasp than the shout she’d anticipated. Despite it, though, copper eyes sought her own. His lips parted. “Allow me to accompany him. I’ve to gather my things, make several arrangements. My business can’t be so easily moved.”
The mayor frowned. “I don’t—”
“Riselda expects me.”
Lux had moved to the center of the room, her hand fisted around the dagger at her back. The mayor studied her, searching.
He wasn’t going to find anything.
“As you wish. My last favor to you.” And louder, “Now, I’ll kindly ask to be referred to as Magnanimous Mayor from this day henceforth.” He laughed. The captain guffawed so loudly he choked. The healer smiled politely. Morana did not turn her scrutinizing gaze from Lux. “But mend that arm first. You’re no good to me without the means to perform your skill.”