"Three weeks of travel, if we move quickly. Longer if we run into complications." She paused. "Which we probably will. The route passes through territory controlled by at least two noble houses that have connections to the Consortium."
"So we’ll be walking into enemy territory with no backup and no clear intelligence about what we’ll find when we get there."
"That’s one way to put it."
Nacho turned to look at her for the first time since she’d arrived. In the soft glow of Lumen’s lights, she looked younger than usual. Less like a Grand General and more like a woman who’d been carrying too much weight for too long and was finally starting to feel it.
"Sounds like fun."
Her lips twitched. "That’s not the word I would have chosen."
"It’s the word I’m using." He stood up, stretching muscles that had gone stiff from sitting too long. "When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow morning. I have a few more things to arrange before we go."
"What kind of things?"
"The kind that ensure Lumen doesn’t fall apart while I’m gone." She rose to her feet with the same fluid grace she did everything else. "Voss has agreed to handle day-to-day operations in my absence. Elder Maren will oversee the investigation into Korith’s remaining network. And I’ve assigned Captain Valdross to coordinate the rescue efforts for the Sirens who were already sold."
Nacho’s eyebrows rose. "Rhea Valdross? The captain from the Third Legion?"
"You know her?"
"We’ve met." He kept his voice carefully neutral. "She came to my massage parlor once. Seemed competent."
Sera’s expression didn’t change, but something flickered in her eyes that might have been amusement. "I’m sure she did. She speaks very highly of your work."
"Does she now."
"Mm. She recommended your services to several other officers, actually. Said something about miraculous hands and an unusual warming technique." The amusement was definitely there now, lurking at the corners of her mouth. "I’ve been meaning to ask what exactly that technique involves."
"Trade secret."
"Of course it is."
They stood there on the roof, the silence between them charged with something that hadn’t been there before. Understanding, maybe. Or the beginning of trust. Something that went beyond the transactional arrangement they’d started with.
"Get some rest," Sera said finally. "We have a long journey ahead."
"You too."
She turned to leave, then paused. "For what it’s worth, I’m glad you came back. Lumen needs people who are willing to fight for it. Even if their methods are unconventional."
"Is that a compliment?"
"It’s a statement of fact." She dropped off the roof without another word, landing silently in the alley below and disappearing into the shadows like a ghost.
Nacho watched her go, then turned back to the city one last time.
The massage parlor was dark and empty, its tables cold, its atmosphere stripped of the warmth that had filled it during those busy weeks of operation. He’d built something here, whether he’d intended to or not. Connections. Relationships. A web of obligation that he couldn’t quite bring himself to cut.
Vanessa. Rhea. All the women who’d come through that door looking for relief and found something they hadn’t expected.
They’d be fine without him. They had to be.
He dropped back through the window into the inn and made his way to the room that had been his for such a brief time. Sleep came slowly that night, his mind racing through everything that had happened and everything that was still to come.
The facility in the Hollows. Vael, if she was even still alive. The Consortium’s reach extending further than anyone had realized. Lady Vex, somewhere in the shadows, playing a game he didn’t fully understand.
And underneath it all, the question that had been gnawing at him since his conversation with Pip.
What was he willing to protect?
The answer, when it finally came to him in the grey hours before dawn, was simpler than he’d expected.
Everything he’d built. Everyone he’d come to care about. The broken-down inn and its stubborn owner. The rescued Sirens making their way home. The Grand General fighting a war she couldn’t win alone.
All of it.
He was willing to protect all of it.
The realization should have terrified him. A month ago, he’d been a lone predator, concerned only with his own survival and growth. Attachment was weakness. Caring about others was a liability.
Now he was lying in a cramped room in a slum inn, thinking about how many people he’d hurt if he failed.
But terror wasn’t what he felt. What he felt was something closer to resolve. A clarity of purpose that had been missing since his reincarnation.
He wasn’t just accumulating power anymore. He was building something worth having. Something worth protecting.
And he’d kill anyone who tried to take it away from him.
Morning came too quickly, painting the water outside his window in shades of grey and gold. Nacho rose from his bed feeling more rested than he had any right to be, given how little sleep he’d actually gotten.
Lizbeth was already awake when he came downstairs, standing behind the counter with a cup of something steaming in her hands. She didn’t say anything as he passed, just nodded once and raised her cup in a gesture that might have been a toast or a farewell or both.
He nodded back and walked out into the morning.
Sera was waiting at the designated meeting point, a small plaza near the edge of the slum district where foot traffic was light and curious eyes were few. She’d added a travelling cloak to her outfit, dark blue with a hood that could hide her features if needed.
"Sleep well?"
"Well enough." He fell into step beside her as she turned toward the commercial docks. "You?"
"Four hours. Better than usual."
They walked in silence through the waking city, past vendors setting up their stalls and early workers heading to their shifts. Nobody paid them any special attention, just two more Sirens going about their business in a city that had plenty of business to go around.