The Queen of Days by Greta Kelly

Author:Greta Kelly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-10-24T00:00:00+00:00

15

Balthazar

Mira and I followed Kai blindly around the first corner. The sound of a codie’s boots pounding on the pavement at my back sent adrenaline pouring into me. My body screamed to go faster. Instead, I willed myself to slow, letting Mira’s shorter legs set our pace.

We dodged past carriages and wagons, wove through young men clutching letters and fruit-sellers balancing oranges on their heads—crowds of men and women busy getting back to work after yesterday’s celebrations and the deluge that night.

A handful of people sipping coffee at a café watched us pass with narrowed eyes. Not. Good. We were being too conspicuous. Standing out would kill our chances of getting off the island—might kill us too. We needed to go to ground.

Kai ducked down a narrow alley up ahead. I let out a low whistle and as I turned the corner, saw him pull to a stop in the shade.

I halted beside him, flattening myself against the alley wall and peered back out into the street. “All right, we’ve lost the codies. Time to blend in with the crowd; we’ve got a stop to make before we head to Tick’s.”

“What stop?” Mira asked, brows knitting together.

I shot a sidelong glance in Kai’s direction. “We’re not too far from Aunt Nell’s.”

Kai huffed a laugh. Nell was his aunt by the furthest kind of technicality, a relation so distant not even the old woman herself was able to clearly trace it. But she was also the proprietor of Thistle and Bloom, a bank—albeit one that didn’t trade in money—that fronted as a perfumery.

“You want to make a withdrawal?” Kai asked, catching on to the idea. Aunt Nell held one of our many stash boxes in the back room of her business—same as she did for many crooks in the city. Kai had opened an account for us a few years back, and now seemed like a good fucking time to use it.

“As much as I hate being the voice of reason, is that a good idea?” Mira asked, biting the edge of her thumb as she scanned the street. “What if she turns us in?”

“Don’t worry about that, Mira. Aunt Nell loves me—we’re family. No way she’d turn me in,” Kai said, fastening the top button of his rumpled plum coat to hide the handles of his twin revolvers.

I gave Mira a bracing smile when she didn’t look convinced. “Staying neutral is how Nell stays alive. And anyway, we’re going to need the firepower.”

Kai’s eyes narrowed in my direction. “What for?”

I gave Kai the side-eye. “After yesterday I want some extra backup. I don’t want to risk getting caught on our way off this shithole without ammunition.”

“You don’t trust Tick?”

“I trust him as far as I can throw him.”

“So . . . yard and a half?”

A surprised laugh whooshed out of my chest. Great Below I loved Kai. Always knew when to lighten the mood. “Please, I could make it at least two.”

“Bet?”

I grinned by way of reply and padded to the alley’s other end.

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