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I swallowed. “Why is it here?”

“Because I don’t trust anyone else to look after it.”

My teeth worried at my lip, my eyes looked over the crates stacked by the door, the ones Scottie and Otto had brought from Dunnitch.

And I almost came out and asked him. Almost.

Patrick rubbed his eyes tiredly, and without any preamble, he said, “Do you know why it is I don’t sleep well?”

I shook my head.

“It started when I was twelve, after I got back from our siphonin’ ceremony. First day I went underground, I came back up and didn’t sleep a wink. Kept thinking about those tunnel walls and all the sounds they made. Felt like I couldn’t breathe.”

I took a step closer to him without meaning to.

“When I got older, it wasn’t just the tunnels in my head, it was the other things, too. Fires, explosions, whistles. It all comes floodin’ into my bed at night. I’ve learned to live with that. Learned to walk and work and sleep in all that noise.

“But recently,” he said, his eyes resting on mine, “sleep has become easy. Quiet. All that noise in my head… I barely hear it.”

I waited, breath catching.

“That’s because ofyou. Do you understand?”

I nodded. Swallowed.

“But I woke up just now, and you weren’t there, Nina. And I convincedmyself that someone had taken you. Even as I was runnin’ down those stairs, I imagined you were tied up in some hole, and a man held a blade to your throat and threatened to hurt you if you didn’t name every one of my secrets. Andthat… that is a thought to keep me awake all night long.” His stare was molten; I felt it heat up my skin. “Don’t imagine that it’s trust stopping me from tellin’ you everything, Nina. There are certain men who would do terrible things to the people I love just to learn more about me. Don’t ask me for answers I can’t give, please. Let me have my sleep.”

He seemed, suddenly, bone tired.

I looked my last to the walls of bluff, ceiling to floor.That’s enough for now, I thought, and that train in my chest slowed. I told myself the collision was still some ways off. So I went to him and placed my hands on his chest. “Come on,” I said. “There’s still some night left.”

CHAPTER 55NINA

Patrick was gone before I woke again. There was a note on the nightstand that proclaimed I’d earned a day’s rest.

Stay in bed, it said.I’ll return before sundown.

A tempting offer, but despite the soreness of my muscles and the reluctance of my eyelids, I needed to find Polly and Theo.

Polly answered on the first knock and hurried me inside her room. Identical, for the most part, to mine, only with wallpaper of holly and thistle.

There was a frenzied look about her. I suspected she, too, had managed little sleep in the night.

“What did you find?” she asked in a hushed whisper. Her nails bit into my hands.

“We should fetch Theo first,” I said, looking back at the door.

“He’s already out. I knocked on his door not a minute ago, and he didn’t answer. Tell me, what did you find?”

“Bluff,” I said quietly. My eyes flickered to the walls as though they were made of paper, and could fall to expose us at any moment. “Stores of it. They must be bringing it in from Dunnitch.”

Polly exhaled in a gust, released my hands. She glowed with relief. “Thank God,” she breathed, wiping sweat from her forehead. “I justreceived this.” From her pocket she pulled a freshly folded sheet of parchment and handed it to me. On it, a neat line of ink saidAttack imminent. Provide safest route urgently, as ordered by the House.

“They’re growing impatient,” Polly breathed. “Nina, I must reply. If I don’t, they’ll assume I’m dead, or a traitor. That’s the deal. Ialwaysreply.”

“Tell them we have a lead on Domelius Becker,” I said, hands shaking, the ink smudged beneath my fingers. “They’ll wait.”

Polly shook her head. “It would buy us a day or two. And it isn’t true, is it? How do you plan to find him?”