He dropped his hands to find her sitting on the floor beside him, skirt fanned out around her.
“Now?” It was the middle of the night, and his entire body ached with exhaustion.
“He’s asleep. You might not get another chance.”
August tilted his head to look at Felix.
He was propped against the wall, his breathing slow and even. Was he a light sleeper? He’d taken off his prosthetic. That would buy a few minutes. But Gideon had said Benjamin was upstairs.
The veil? He could open a doorway and disappear before anyone could react. But his chest felt ready to burst. How much more could his body handle? Was it worth the risk?
He eyed Felix’s cross holster. Two flintlocks, two daggers. August could take a blade and use it. Kill Felix, then Benjamin. He’d never killed anyone before. Well, not intentionally.
Two daggers, August realized. Both with simple handles. Then where was Lottie’s? It was her tether. If he left it, he’d leave her.
After he killed Felix, he could search his pockets.
His gaze lifted to Felix’s peaceful face. A few strands of his light hair had fallen over his forehead, and his lips were parted slightly. All the vicious anger was gone, and he looked like the boy August had met at a festival. The boy sprawled like a cat on a bay window bench. The boy he’d almost kissed at the pub that felt like a home.
Do you want me to kiss you?
August’s thumb unconsciously pressed to his lower lip.
Stupid.
He scowled and forced his hands flat against the bedroll. Lottie’s death was Felix’s fault. Thinking of him as anything but the monster he was felt like a betrayal to her.
Guilt settled heavily in his chest.
He was going to kill Felix. He had to.Wantedto.
“It wouldn’t work,” Felix mumbled.
August’s heart leaped into his throat, and his eyes went back to the ceiling.
“What wouldn’t?” he asked, trying to sound half asleep.
“Whatever you’re planning. I’m faster than you and an incredibly light sleeper. Now, stop chatting with the anchored and go to sleep.”
Felix was wrong. It would work. August only had to time it right. He sighed, closed his eyes, and finally surrendered to sleep.
Some time later, Lottie’s voice dragged August awake, and he muttered an incoherent response, not registering the panic in her tone until a hand clamped over his mouth. His eyes flewopen, and he grimaced at the leathery face looming above him. Benjamin wasn’t the most pleasant sight to wake up to.
The man pressed a spindly finger to his thin lips. Then his hand fell away.
August swiped a hand across his mouth, as if to scrub away the man’s touch. Words fumbled at the back of his throat through the haze of the rude awakening, but the glint of metal shoved them back down into his gut before he could speak.
A blade. Benjamin had a blade.
What was happening?
August’s eyes went automatically to Felix. So much for being a light sleeper.
“Keep him out of this,” Benjamin whispered. “Please. I really don’t want to hurt him.”
Benjamin was Felix’s friend. Would he really hurt him? August shouldn’t care, but he still nodded an agreement.
Benjamin rose, blade steady, and flicked it upward in a silent command.
