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Chapter 66

Nora

The night was young still, and once upon a time Nora would have been heading out, not heading home. She’d have been pretending to have fun at Rik’s Café or perched at a table at the Clandestine Court waiting for something interesting to happen.

Definitely not walking down the street with a journalist , of all people, unable to clear the smell of burning from her nose.

August walked next to her, quiet for once, as they headed uptown. They hadn’t spoken about it; they both just fell into step, heading in the same direction. She was grateful to have him there, though she would never tell him that. And grateful he understood her silence. Tomorrow they would talk about Oskar Wallen. Tomorrow she wanted to know everything he knew about the man who had killed her mother. And tomorrow they would formulate a plan. But for now…Nora found herself compulsively checking her hand for the ring. It was still there. No matter how many times her hand dropped out of her sight and she jerked it back up, it was still there.

She’d thought she would feel relieved.

Or maybe victorious.

Smug was a definite possibility.

But all she felt encircling her hand was an immense weight of responsibility. Not just to her family anymore, to the whole city.

They walked all the way into the 1st circle until they reached the corner of the block that the Holtzfall mansion dominated. August’s hands were deep in his pockets as they lingered in the light spilling out through the windows. Nora didn’t move to go inside, and August didn’t move to go home either.

Still neither of them spoke.

Finally, August made an annoyed noise at the back of his throat. “No, really, it was no trouble at all, this was on my way home. You’re welcome.”

Nora felt a smile tug at her mouth. “I didn’t say thank you.”

“I assumed you were thinking it and too proud to say anything.”

Nora was feeling reckless. Reckless enough to wonder if she kept pushing, would he fall with her or move out of the way. “If you must know, I was wondering if you were ever going to get around to kissing me.”

August could usually keep up with her, and Nora took pride in the moments when she was able to trip him up, like when she won their little game of verbal jousting. And she felt the thrill run through her now as he stumbled for just a second.

But he found his footing fast. “Are you really that vain that you just assume everyone always wants to kiss you?”

“It would only be vanity if I was wrong.”

“I don’t think that’s what vanity means,” August replied. “I ought to know, I spend enough time with you.”

“Are you sure? I know it’s an awfully big word. And mostly you’re good with pictures—”

He cut her off with a kiss.

His hands finally came out of his pockets, cupping her face on either side as he pressed his mouth to hers, as he smothered the smells of the dance hall with his own scent of newspaper ink and coffee. He kissed her just like he argued with her, like he knew just how to match her, their rhythms falling into sync as easily as they had when they talked. She felt the same thrill that she did when they were hunting down a story together. He kissed her like he knew her.

He broke away. “Fine, you’re not that vain.”

“Really? You’re sure you don’t want to define that word for me?” Nora was smiling. Aunt Grace had always told her not to smile in pictures, that it would make her face look too wide. But now it drew August’s eyes to her mouth, and then he was kissing her again.

It was only when the rain started that they broke apart. Droplets smacked onto the sidewalk around them. August pulled Nora into the shelter of his coat, wrapping his arms around her as they tried to take whatever cover they could, pressing near the wall of the mansion. Nora tipped her head forward, pressing her forehead into his chest, feeling her breathing ease. Huddled this close, Nora could feel the warmth of him through the thin silk fabric of her dress, the straps of his suspenders against her skin. They were temptingly close. She knew she ought to ask him inside.

That was what bold, reckless rich girls like her were expected to do. And Nora was excellent at exceeding expectations. But then, inevitably, they accepted, and she lost interest at the obviousness of that answer.

She dreaded losing interest in August.

“I’d better go.” August’s voice was as casual as if it’d just been another day. As if the thought of coming inside had never even crossed his mind. “Seeing as when I told you that this was on my way, I technically meant that we are actually twelve circles out of my way and it’s past curfew.”

Nora tipped her head back to look at him, this boy who wasn’t what she’d expected him to be any more than she was what he’d expected. “So you’re not so good with what words mean? That’s what you’re telling me.”

“I guess I’m not.” August tilted his head down to hers. “You’d better come by and check the paper tomorrow.”

“Didn’t I hear that you’d quit?”

“I’m hoping they might be lenient when they hear I was in jail.”

“Then I guess you’d better take this with you.” She handed him her scrawled-out article, the code meant for the Grims buried in her words.

“You owe me for this.” August took the paper from her.

“Oh, how will I possibly afford your exorbitant journalistic rates?” Nora rolled her eyes.

He placed one last kiss on her mouth before dropping his arms to his sides and releasing her from the embrace of his coat.

They lingered, neither of them making a move to go. And then, at last, August headed back down the street. Nora watched him for as long as she could before he rounded a corner, and the rain drove her into the mansion.

Nora’s smile lasted all the way up the steps.

It lasted until a few seconds after she’d opened the door.

She found her grandmother waiting in the darkened foyer.

All of Nora’s reckless joy drained in a moment.

Mercy Holtzfall didn’t wait for anyone.