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She was silent, her ocher eyes the size of the moon as she quivered, just managing to shake her head. “No.”

“Doesn’t seem like she’s interested, gentlemen. Time to go.”

The first man approached me, puffing his chest as he stared up at me.Fucking stupid. “Doesn’t matter what she wants,” he said, repeating his friend’s words. “I want ’er, so I’m gonna have ’er.”

He spun back toward her, but I grabbed him by the shoulder. “No, you won’t.”

“Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t have?”

My mouth turned up in a close-lipped smile. “I can’t tell you that. But she can. And she’s saying you can’t have her.”

I felt the cold metallic tip of a dagger pierce through my tunic, and looked down to see just that. The idiot had pulled his blade on me and genuinely thought it would end well for him.

“You sure you want to do that?” I asked, glancing down to the dagger once again before my eyes found his. They were bloodshot, his ruddy brown irises dull and dead.

“Absolutely, mate. No one takes what’s ours.”

“Mine,” the other man cut in.

I leaned in. “She’s not yours,mate,” I whispered.

As if my words had snapped something in him, he thrust his blade forward. I was faster, though — so much faster, and it was nothing for me to knock the blade from his hand and wrap my arm around his neck, lifting his feet off the ground and squeezing just tight enough to make him choke.

His friend panicked for a moment, his eyes wide as he fumbled for his own blade in a sheath at his hip.

“Nice try,” I laughed, my grip tightening on his neck for a moment before releasing him. His feet scrambled to keep him upright as he gasped for air. “You won’t touch her again. Understand? As a matter of fact, you won’t touch any other woman unless they explicitly ask you to, which, judging by your breath alone, will never happen.”

He righted himself, swallowing hard as I watched feral anger flash in his eyes. He charged me — the dumbass fucking charged me, and before I knew it my hands were on the sides of his head, and I was wrenching with all my strength.

The man crumpled to the ground in a heap, eyes open, neck bent back at an angle I knew wasn’t good. Oh shit.Oh shit. I’d fucking killed him.

The woman let out a horrified scream at the sight as her hand flew to her mouth. The man’s friend jumped back. His face flashed from shock to disbelief to anger as he stared at me. “You’ve bloodykilled him!” I fought to keep my breath even. I hadn’t meant to kill him. “Constable!” he screamed. “Constable!”

No one in Inkwell even turned to look at the scene, as if assault and dead bodies in the street were commonplace. Even though I knew the constable wasn’t coming, I had no desire to stick around. I leaned toward the woman, her face still shock-stricken. “Go,” I whispered, taking the pouch of coins from my pocket and slipping it into her hand. She was frozen in fear. “Miss.” Her eyes finally met mine, wild and terrified. “Take this and go. Out of Inkwell.” It was more than enough to buy her a new life in another district, hopefully far away from the scum that still screamed out for the constable.

“You’ll be dragged before the King and beheaded for murder,” he snarled, saliva spewing from his mouth.

I let out a dry laugh. “I’m sure I will be.”

“Yer goin’ straight to Hell, mate,” he spat.

“I’ll be sure to save you a seat.”

The man dropped to the ground over his friend, the grief seeming to hit him all at once. I tried not to let any guilt creep in as I turned to the woman who was still clutching the bag of coins in her hand. I gave her a quick nod, and it appeared she understood. She tucked the pouch into her cloak and bolted.

Good.

I walked away from the scene, thrill and guilt coursing through me. Even though his blood hadn’t spilled, I still felt it drip from my hands. I needed to get out of Inkwell. This had gotten too real. I’d find Autumn Eyes another day.Don’t call her that, I thought to myself.Don’t name an animal you intend to slaughter.Around the corner, back to–

Shit. I’d collided with someone, and they were on the ground. “Watch where thefuckyou’re going,” they spat, gathering themselves. They looked up, and it was…

It was her. Autumn Eyes.The Daughter of Katia, I corrected myself.

“You,” she whispered, ire in her voice.

It made me smile for some reason. I couldn’t fight it, but I was frozen like that, completely arrested by her stare. What was I supposed to say to her? “Didn’t I tell you to be more careful?”

She stared at me unblinking for a moment, her eyes somewhere far away. Then she scrambled to right herself. I realized I hadn’t offered her my hand.What the fuck, Cal?She was walking away, and I needed to stop her. I remembered the gash on her forehead. “Are you okay?”