Revenge and the Wild(71)
“Is that the truth?” he asked.
No, she thought, but it should buy enough time for Nigel to get Emma up and running before magic disappears for good.
Westie tried to roll her emotions in a ball and put them away. If Costin saw the anguish she felt, he’d know she was hiding something. She pulled the handkerchief from her bodice to wipe his forehead. “Yes,” she said.
“Careful.” Costin took her by the hand, caressing her fingers before kissing her knuckles. “You don’t want to get too close.”
“I’m not worried about falling ill,” she said.
Everything about him moved slowly from sickness, even his smile. “Perhaps not, but you should be worried about falling in love.”
Westie laughed for a brief moment before sadness choked off the sound. “I need to go.” She put a hand to his face and wiped a bead of sweat from his cheek. He was warm to the touch. “You take care now.”
In front of Nigel’s mansion, Wintu horses stood lipping at the tall grass in the yard. Their riders were clustered beneath trees. The Wintu were a stoic people, but their faces looked more serious than she’d ever seen them before.
They nodded as she passed. Bena and Big Fish stood with Nigel on the porch, deep in conversation. They stopped talking when they saw her.
“The magic, it’s getting worse, isn’t it?” she asked.
Bena touched Westie’s hair, twisting at her locks. It was a tactic she’d used to soothe her as a child, but it wasn’t working. “It’s not as bad as it seems,” Bena assured her.
Westie looked at Big Fish for a second opinion, but it was difficult to read her expression through her wrinkled flesh.
“It seems pretty damn bad to me,” Westie said. “Have you seen the creatures lately? They’re sick. And now rumors are being spread. There’s talk of an attack. Folks might start killing off creatures first if magic doesn’t get around to it. We need to find a way to fix the dome.”
Nigel didn’t look too good either, but Westie knew it was because of worry and lack of sleep. “With all the mining in the iron hills and the prospectors taking gold from Devil’s Crag, magic is a little scarce in this area at the moment. We’ll find a way to get it back,” he said.
Panic filled Westie until she felt as if she might suffocate in it. “You need to use the Fairfields’ gold to buy the parts you need to finish Emma.”
Nigel shook his head. “Everyone selling copper knows that I’m broke. I’ve traded off everything I had of any value. And the authorities know the Fairfields’ gold has been stolen. They’ll be looking for anyone making large purchases with raw gold.”
Westie thought about Costin’s gray skin, the dark rings around his eyes. He’d saved her life more than once, and there was no way she would let him die over her vendetta against the Fairfields. If she hadn’t taken their gold, Nigel might have already had the investment money and the parts he needed to complete Emma by now.
She held on to the back of a rocking chair on the porch to keep steady, but crushed it with her machine instead and stumbled backward. One of the Wintu men caught her before she could fall. It took all the fight in her to keep from crying.
“Then I’ll sell myself to the blood brothel to get the money. I’ll do anything. Just please save them.”
Nigel grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her until her eyes cleared. “You will do no such thing,” he said. When he saw the shocked expression on her face, he took a step back. “I’m sorry. But please, Westie, don’t go to the vampires. The Wintu have this under control. They plan to shorten the perimeters of the ward to exclude the lake and the crag. With the crag unprotected, people will stop mining. There are dwarves in those hills who were always attacking humans before the ward went up.”
“It’s too bad all the water creatures died off from pollutants,” Westie said bitterly. “Folks never would’ve survived the boat trip it took to get to the crag in the first place.”
“I don’t want you to worry,” Nigel said. “If things start looking dire, we’ll move the creatures north where there’s hardly any human presence and magic is dense. The north has a thriving creature population.”
“These aren’t wild creatures you’re talking about transplanting, Nigel. Some have been in Rogue City since the ward went up. They’re just as pampered as the rest of us. And what about the ones who can’t survive the colder climate in the north? The vamps will be fine, but elves are cold-blooded. There’s no way they’ll make it through the winter. I doubt many would even survive the journey there. Have you seen how weak they are?”
Nigel said, “You know I won’t let anything happen to the creatures. You leave their safety to me and leave the magic to the Wintu. Right now I just need you to stay out of the way. I don’t need to be worrying about you too.”
Westie tapped her foot, arms crossed over her chest, trying to hide the fact that it hurt her to know he thought of her as being in the way.
She nodded, tossing aside the remnants of the rocking chair still clutched in her metal grip, and walked away.
Thirty-Two
Jezebel and Lucky tore through the house to meet Westie at the door. She gave them each a pat on the head in greeting and went straight to her room to pack, stuffing her clothes into a saddlebag as she prepared to leave with the Wintu.