Page 43 of The King's Man 4

I race alongside the carriage as it pulls to a stop close to the gates. I open the doors and Nicostratus ducks out. “Thank—” He sees me lifting my mask and stops abruptly. First his face is awash with joy, but his eyes narrow onto the shoulder of my shirt and his expression quickly greys. He looks away.

“You’ve approached for a reason,” he says, dismissing the aklo who came to aid him.

My stomach sinks. “Please, I need you to get Quin.”

He hisses, and starts striding past me.

“There’s been another murder,” I say.

He hesitates but keeps walking.

“The sooner we solve this, the soonerthisall ends.”

He pauses. “Tell me where. I’ll send him there myself.”

I give him all the details, where the body is and when I found him, and then I leave Nicostratus to sort it out with his brother. Better this way. What can I possibly do to help?

I stare at my hands and scrub them once more in the water. They still feel heavy with blood. I pick up pebbles and use them to scratch it all off but it only rips holes in my gloves.

Hot tears leak down my face. I can’t even use my hands to wipe them away.

I trudge back to the apothecary and try again to wash and mend my gloves.

Ruined.

I slip them back on anyway and let my chest sink every time I look down at them.

Cherry liquor is my only consolation. I find some in a dusty corner and imbibe on the floor of the sleeping nook. As the day wears into evening, I begin singing and laugh hollowly between songs. An emptied bottle spins in the dimming light of the room, and I stare at its dance while sipping from a larger bottle.

“Make me forget.”

The door creaks open further and a breeze rushes in. The curtain beside me flickers in front of my eyes and when it settles, there’s another presence in the room. The weight of him, leaning on his cane, is like a pressure on my chest.

I laugh through it and continue singing.

He witnesses this silently, and sinks into a sitting position against the opposite wall.

I choke on the final lyrics and end with, “I failed to save him.”

“You can’t save everyone.”

“Did you find who did it?”

“Not yet. They struck again.”

I frown.

“They bashed Eparch Valerius on the temple and left him for dead.”

“He died?”

“Nearly. Luckily, he’d invited so many vitalians to his home. And he was quickly found.”

I curl my useless fingers tightly.

“It’s not your fault, Cael.”

“I tried. I failed.”

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