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“And you make idium for yourself?”

He nodded. “There is very little terranium left to be found. Bluff is more important for now. The brink has always suffered a shortage of it.”

“And your father snuck into Belavere City, not in search of Lord Tanner, but in search of Domelius Becker.”

“With the intention of havin’ him killed,” Patrick added.

I closed my eyes. “Making his son the only person in the Trench who can siphon both idium and bluff.”

“Yes,” Patrick said, and I felt every ounce of weight in it. The multitude of that remit. I wondered how any father could rest it all on their son’s back. “Should’ve tossed that vial out the train window, shouldn’t I?”

I knew that feeling well. “It seems this war has been won for quite some time. Only Tanner doesn’t yet know it.”

“Nor will he ever accept it.”

“You can’t be sure of that, Patrick,” I said, stepping toward him. “Preserving Artisan mediums means everything to these people. Above all else, they’ll want to ensure the continuation of tradition, of art, regardless of who heads the House.”

“That’s what we thought, too,” Patrick said. He paused for a moment, his stare far-off and tormented. “Did you see what the Scribblers wrote in the newspapers, in the days after my father’s alleged failed attack?”

I nodded. “It said they charged the House with dynamite in their trousers. That they were captured before they reached the courtyard.”

“But my father didn’t leave Kenton Hill with any dynamite. They weren’t lookin’ to blow anything up. They were to steal in and out quietly, with the Alchemist in tow. We were planning to kill Domelius Becker, send his branded arm back as a gift to the House, along with a message that I was now the last remaining Alchemist and a list of demands.”

“But your father didn’t come back,” I said.

He shook his head. “Something went wrong. And then the headlines came, and I knew we’d fucked everything. Domelius Becker was dead, they had our chairman hostage, and it seemed only a matter of time before the Lords’ Army came barrelin’ over those hills. A man can only hold out so long beneath the whip. But they didn’t come. And John Colson was never named in the newsprint. Nor was I.” They sounded like thoughts that had cycled his mind many times over. “So, we know my father never gave up his name, nor my abilities, nor Kenton Hill.” He swiped a hand over his face, rubbing his tired eyes. “They believe Domelius Becker is alive, and it’s the only leverage we have left in this fight, because if they find me, then they have everythin’. The union, the idium, Kenton Hill—all of it will be theirs.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “At least Kenton Hill is safe for now.”

Not as safe as you think.

“So, I’m nailed to a corner, Scurry girl,” he said now. “While there’s still bluff floatin’ around the brink, Tanner knows an Alchemist exists, and he thinks it’s Domelius Becker. The second he starts thinking otherwise is the second I’ve lost that one advantage.”

“But if he knew what you were—”

“If he knew what I was, there isnothinghe wouldn’t lay waste to in order to get to me,” Patrick said assuredly. “Every week, another town is sacked. You’ve seen it.”

I had. Fire Charmers smoking out buildings of occupants. Rivers contaminated and streams sullied in a perversion of water charming. Men, women, and children lined up on the streets and questioned.

“You’re one of seven people who know the truth,” Patrick said, moving off the counter he leaned on. “The other six, I’ve had a lifetime with. I know the insides of their heads better than my own. I’d bet all the lives of Kenton that they’d never betray me, never breathe a word of it to another. And now I’m tellin’ you.”

I shook my head. “Why?”

“Because I believe you were tellin’ the truth when you said you want to be on this side,” Patrick said. “Am I wrong?”

My legs were beginning to shake again. “No.”

“But you love your mother,” he said. “Enough to sneak out while I slept. Enough to lie to me.”

I breathed once. Twice. Nodded.

He walked five paces, until he had my face in his grip again, staking me with the intensity of his stare. “You won’t ever do that again. Do you understand me?”

And for a moment, I considered revealing it all—the day I was captured in Delfield and dragged back to Belavere City. The ultimatum Tanner had imparted, why I had come here. I wanted to purge it all and be done with it.

“I won’t,” I said.

If there was nothing left with which I was willing to barter peace, the infantry would come. And Kenton Hill would go up in smoke.

I would tell him all of it and hope he loved me enough not to kill me.