Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
Sunlight framed the velvet curtains, its brightness sharp against the opaque fabric. It must have been midmorning by the time I felt Max shift, rousing us both awake. I stretched within the silky sheets, felt his body stiffen against me. A weight around my waist disappeared.
Sometime in the middle of the night, my head had moved from the pillow to his chest, my body flushed against his side. He must have crawled under the sheets with me after I’d fallen asleep, because I didn’t remember feeling this much of him when I’d shut my eyes. Nothing between us but our clothes.
I dragged my hand from his chest, quickly giving him space when I felt tension lock his body again.
“Morning,” I murmured, peeling open my eyes to look up at him. “Or… afternoon. I’m not sure.” Heat flamed my cheeks, realizing I’d invaded his side of the bed.
“Who the hell were you fighting all night?” he murmured in a voice still deep and croaky with sleep.
“What do you mean?”
“Bloody Architect, you never stop moving. I woke up to your elbow in my face more than once. You snore like you need to see a chemist or something. I won’t even mention how cold your feet are.”
I sat up, combing my knotted curls into a bundle over my shoulder. “If I was such a bother, you could have moved to the couch.”
“I could have, but then I remembered. This is my bed.” He shifted to his side, taking up so much space. “And you seemed very comfortable, even in your contortions. I didn’t want to wake you.”
Whatever his real reason, I didn’t have time to figure it out. A knock rapped at the door, sounding urgent.
“Who is that?” Max murmured.
I grabbed a thin blanket draping the end of the bed and threw it around my shoulders to answer the door. “I don’t know, but I hope they brought coffee.”
It was Elli.
“Nina! Have you seen Max?” she asked, wide-eyed and shaken. He must have appeared behind me, as her eyes shifted, her shoulders falling with a relieved sigh. “Thank the Architect.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Andre went down to the brothel after we settled in last night, thinking you’d show eventually. He says Damien has been waiting for you to write up the duel agreement. If you don’t get down there soon, it’ll look like you’re forfeiting. We’ve been looking for you all morning.”
“You didn’t think I might just be with Nina?” he hissed as he dressed.
Elli frowned. “No. You said last night you wouldn’t be long after us. Naturally, I thought you’d left as you’d claimed you would. It was more logical you were dead in a ditch somewhere.” She glanced between us. “Well? Should I be checking Nina’s bed in the future?”
“Technically, we were in Max’s bed,” I muttered. Elli narrowed her gaze at me, and I cleared my throat. “But maybe exhaust your other options first.”
I pulled the blanket tighter around me. Hell, this looked suggestive. A flush crawled up my throat, realizing she must assume we’d slept together. And we had… slept together. Just not in the way she would be thinking.
“But it is an option?”
Max snapped, “Nina was attacked last night, her mother is still missing, and I have one of the most powerful men in Cursed society trying to kill me, Ell. I think we have more pressing concerns at the moment.”
She rolled her eyes. “Is that all?”
“Not even close.” He sighed, returning to my side with a single die between his fumbling fingers.
Elli frowned at the relic in his hand. “Max… Is this really a good idea without the rest of them? Are you sure you’ll have enough strength—”
“I’ll be fine,” he clipped, glancing at me. “Stay here with Nina, Ell. I don’t want Damien to lay eyes on her again so soon.” His hand skimmed my lower back as he passed. A feather of a touch as he murmured in the space above my shoulder, “I’ll be back soon. Take a day off, Ace.”
It was one of the few times I agreed with him. I had no desire to see Damien again, either. My tongue ran absentmindedly over the slice in my lip, still swollen and tender. Max passed Elli in the doorway and disappeared.
She snatched him by the forearm before he could escape.
“Damien knows how much of your power is tied to those relics. Now that he has you without most of them, he knows he has a chance to take you down for good. Don’t give him any other advantage during these negotiations, Maxence.”
He agreed with the nod of his head before pulling out of her grasp and disappearing down the hall.
Elli set her eyes on me then, crossing her arms. “So… anything you’d like to share with me, Killer? Are you two keeping secrets? Did I…” She blinked. “. . . interrupt something?”
“Don’t look so smug. Nothing happened, Ell,” I murmured, turning to find some clothes. “We talked a bit about the duel, it got late, and he fell asleep beside me. That’s all.”
A pause followed, and I wondered if she noticed the exasperation in my voice. “Then he’s an idiot, Nina. Give him some more time. He’ll realize soon enough.”
I wanted to laugh. “There’s nothing to find between us anyway.”
“Oh good, you’re delusional, as well,” she said flatly, turning to leave. “Let me know when one of you grows some courage. Or a brain cell.”
“Do you really think he can do this, Elli?” I asked, wondering about their parting words. In every confrontation we’d faced together, every opposition that had stood before him, Max had never lost a fight. Why would this one be any different?
“Why do the Cursed drink blood, Nina?” Her tone fell soft with the question.
“For power?” I guessed.
She nodded. “For magic. Imagine what happens to Cursed when they don’t feed, how weak they become. The same happens to Max when he doesn’t have his relics. Each of the dice gives him a certain strength, and the loss of them has an inverted effect.”
No wonder Damien had attempted to separate Max from his relics using the men in the Fissures.
No wonder he’d tricked me in the carriage and picked them off my person.
Maxence was stronger than him in every way that mattered in a duel, but if he could separate Max from his relics, then Damien knew he had a chance.
“So what are his odds with only one?” I asked her.
Elli bit her lip before replying. “I leave the gambling to Max. If he believes the odds are in his favor, then I’m sure he’ll be fine.” She turned to leave, shutting my door after adding, “Try not to worry about it.”
She had no idea who she was talking to. I’d worry until I could find a more productive solution. Unfortunately, the only way to help Max’s chances of winning the duel was to get his dice back, and I had no way to convince Damien to do such a thing.
Unless…
My dress from last night was still thrown across the bench at the end of the bed. When I searched the pockets inside the seams, it was still there.
Damien’s card.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of Valveron.
This is your humble Governor, Pierre Dupont, with an important announcement concerning the safety and wellbeing of all citizens.
From henceforth, for the protection of the good, law-abiding people of Valveron, there will be a curfew set between midnight and five o’clock in the morning.
I have instructed the police to enforce this curfew immediately.
With increased tensions between certain syndicates, a surge in violent crimes against our officials and working citizens, and the strain these cases and more have added to the local law enforcement, I am hoping to clear the streets during these dangerous hours when villains tend to lurk in our neighborhoods.
Anyone seen outside their home after curfew will be assumed to have evil intent and will be arrested immediately.
As we fight for freedom for our city from criminals and corruption, we ask everyone’s involvement to help the police by complying with these temporary procedures. As always, if you see something, report it to your local authorities.
Long reign the City of Progress.
Dupont’s chipper voice reached every inch of the city, somehow finding its way through the walls of the penthouse at the very edge of town. I sipped on a bitter tea, watching the canal from the windows, as I waited for Max to return from the brothel.
I agreed it was best for me to stay out of Damien’s sight as they went over the duel details, and I had no desire to see him so soon.
Elli explained they had enough to deal with, discussing the terms, the location, the time, and even the method by which they agreed to fight.
Most importantly, they discussed their winnings, defining the outcome of a win or a loss.
“Are duels between the Cursed common? I can’t say I’ve heard of them in the Fissures,” I asked Elli while she prepared something in the kitchen. My stomach was hollow, yet my worry numbed any hunger pang.
“Not really,” she replied. “But the circumstances between Max and Damien make one necessary.”
“What do you mean?”
Elli brought me a warm mug of tea before lounging in an armchair.
“Max is obviously a threat to Damien’s security.
Opium is highly addictive. It’s a messier business compared to gambling halls.
Eventually, the dens are going to draw more attention.
And when the merchants decide they don’t want his opium under their roofs anymore, they’ll turn back to Max.
Sooner or later, Max will take back control.
So one of them must back down, and the Cursed way is to fight for it.
Until it’s settled, people will take sides.
And in a time like this, we can’t afford to have our own turning against each other. ”
“Is he going to take that risk? Dividing the Cursed?”
“Not exactly; that’s where the duel comes in.”
She took a long sip of her tea before placing it on a nearby table, crossing her arms as she explained, “In the first years, after the first Cursed was created, the city would put on fighting matches for sport. It was entertainment to the wealthy, and a way for the Cursed to make money when they couldn’t find employment elsewhere.
Some of the big families even had their own champions to sponsor.
The police turned a blind eye since we were killing each other, and that would ultimately lead to a decline in our numbers. ”
“So it’s always a fight to the death?”
Elli shrugged a shoulder. “It’s considered shameful to concede, and the Cursed are very messy fighters. There’s a very good chance only one of them will walk out of the ring, especially with what’s at stake.”
I’m going to kill him.
Max’s words had not just been spoken out of anger. They had been a vow.
I looked back over the canal, where the morning breeze had cleared some of the fog.
The South Docks were a smear in the distance.
The point on the map where our journey began, the first time Max let me borrow his dice.
Now he was two down, and even if he pretended not to be concerned, it worsened his chances enough that I couldn’t sit still.
Damien was too confident in his challenge.
I shook my head, sitting next to her on the bed. “Why would Max agree to such a thing?”
Elli scoffed. “Why do you think? He and Damien have had a rough relationship for years, but last night was the final nail in the coffin. I’m sure he has a plan.”
I shook my head. “Damien compelled me, yes. It was a breach of your rules. But it was just a kiss! And I promised him I’d get the dice back somehow—”
“It wasn’t just a kiss to Max,” she explained. “If there’s one thing he doesn’t tolerate, it’s anyone being forced to do something against one’s will. He was manipulated and made to do terrible things for the first twelve years of his life. He understands what it’s like. And you—”
She slammed her mouth shut, and I looked at her pointedly.
“What about me?”
All the air fled her chest with a long exhale. “He cares about you. Even if he doesn’t act like it.”
I wiped my eyes of the burn of first tears. “Fine. If he wants to fight Damien, I sure as hell won’t stand in his way. But that means he doesn’t get to stand in mine.”
Elli groaned. “What does that mean? Actually, don’t tell me. I don’t want to be an accomplice.”
I slipped the bloody business card against my palm in my pocket. “I’m going to track Damien down and get Max’s dice back. I lost them, and I’m going to fix it.”
“Bloody Architect, why would you do that?”
I shrugged, smiling small. “Because this is all my fault. I don’t want him going into that duel without them.”
She sighed, shaking her head. “You know, most couples just buy each other flowers. Maybe go on a date. I don’t know why you two are hell-bent on getting yourselves killed to prove your devotion.”
“Flowers die, and I’m too notorious to take on a date.” I stood from the bed, suddenly anxious as I faced her. “Just promise me you won’t tell Max what I’m up to.”
She rolled her eyes. “How are you going to get them back? Damien’s not—” Her eyes widened as I revealed the card. “Nina!”
My smile wavered. “I’ll need your help with something.”