Mercurial Naomi Hughes (suggested reading txt) 📖

person who could wield the power of the rebellion as a whole to enforce their will on Tal. It might just mean more factions would develop amongst them, which could only lead to further complications.

She pushed the thoughts away. One worry at a time, she told herself.

Tal was smiling at Helenia. A fleeting joy lightened his features. “Hel,” he greeted her, using her nickname. The two of them were old friends, having been raised in the same township, both holding aspirations of being priests until they grew out of it. Though Helenia, Nyx supposed, had never truly grown away from her devotion to the holy texts. Lately she had taken to debating various translations of scripture with Saasha, conversations that sometimes went too long and grew too charged for Nyx’s comfort. The two women tended to have wildly different interpretations of what the Unforged God asked of his followers.

“Tal,” Helenia responded. “It is very, very good to see you. How are you feeling?”

“Not poorly, all things considered. Thank you for the timely rescue.”

“Ah. You have your sister to thank for that. I must admit I tried to dissuade her, though I’m grateful now that I failed in that respect.” Her tone was light enough, but something complicated and unhappy flickered beneath it. Nyx winced. She had a lot to make up to her girlfriend, but she was grateful that Helenia was apparently willing to save that difficult conversation for later, when they didn’t have an audience.

Helenia closed the door behind her and swept across the floor, carefully stepping over the wet spot. Wanting to distract her from her worries, Nyx held out the razor. “Tal thinks it’s a bad idea for me to shave my own head,” she explained. “Would you care to do the honors?”

Helenia grinned, looking delighted. Nyx immediately felt warmer and somehow softer, a better version of herself, as she often did when Helenia was near. “I’ve always thought you would look gorgeous bald. Yes, of course. Come sit at this end of the bed and I’ll get started.”

Neither of them mentioned that Tal would also be capable of shaving her head. They had talked, in low and careful voices while he was asleep, about what measures would be best to ensure that his oath could not force him to free the Destroyer or hurt anyone who might threaten her. Keeping potential weapons out of his reach was one of the measures they’d agreed on. Although, judging from how easily he’d handed the razor back to her a moment ago, it might be an unnecessary one. Odd, that—she’d thought his oath, which he’d had to fight tooth and nail in the aqueducts in order to keep from killing his own sister, would have now forced him to be more active to protect the Destroyer. She wasn’t about to bring it up, though, in case the mention of his vow might somehow jar it back into effect. She had little experience with metal oaths, and having a newly-formed one herself didn’t make her any more knowledgeable of their vagaries.

Helenia bent down to drop a kiss on the top of Nyx’s head, and then placed the razor at the bottom of her scalp. Slow and smooth, she stroked it upward. Nyx’s curls scattered to the floor.

“I’ve just been to see the Destroyer,” Helenia said then.

Nyx went rigid. Only the sensation of the sharp razor skating above her ear kept her from whirling around and yelling at Helenia—which was probably the very reason Helenia had waited until this moment to tell them. The thought of the girl she loved alone with that monster…it made her want to yank the razor back from Helenia, march down the length of the short hallway, and use the tool to open the Destroyer’s throat as she should have on the lake.

Tal stood in a sharp, jerky movement, all of his attention suddenly fixed on Helenia. “What? She’s awake? You should not have spoken to her alone, she could have—”

Helenia pursed her lips. “Could have what? Slain me with merely the force of her glare? Destroyer or not, the girl is harmless as she is now.”

“She is not,” Tal bit out, “harmless.”

The razor went still on Nyx’s scalp. “Forgive me, Tal,” Helenia said quietly. “Of course not.”

The razor began to move again. Helenia continued, “She did some posturing about how her sister would bring the empire’s hounds down on our heads if we executed her, which is fairly valid as far as threats go. In fact, the Saints who are stationed here informed me that they intercepted a messenger hawk just a few hours ago who carried a warning that the Iron Empress is throwing her armies and spies at every suspected safehouse in the country already.”

A muscle in Tal’s jaw tightened. “So Elodie—the Destroyer—she remembers who she is, to have made such a threat against you.”

“I can’t be certain exactly how much she remembers, but yes, she knows who she is.”

Tal took a breath. His expression was carefully neutral, giving away none of his thoughts. “The Iron Empress is hunting us, you said. Sarai survived the explosion as well, then?”

Mentally, Nyx added the empress’s name back to her list of people who needed murdering.

“Yes, I’m afraid she did,” Helenia replied. “And she’s mobilizing her troops with frightening speed, committing vast resources to avenging the Destroyer. Her sister must be very dear to her.”

“Dear, yes,” Tal said tightly. “And useful.”

Helenia made a thoughtful humming sound. “Not so useful in her current condition, though. Even if they find out she’s alive and manage to retrieve her, she will not be able to turn her fire on us. Speaking of which, do we have any idea of how she came to be in that condition?”

Nyx frowned. “I have no idea. It should be impossible to strip a Smith of their powers. Right? The poison was meant to weaken her, to make her magic unstable and drain it away so she could be killed, but her powers still