“What are you doing here?” My heart pounded.
“I came to see you.” The scrapes and dirt from the scuffle were still there. He hadn’t even had time to change yet. Under his cap, his blond hair was tousled as if he’d been running a hand through it.
My fingers itched to straighten his messy locks. I clasped my hands firmly behind my back and glanced over my shoulder to the room where Papá and Desmarc sat planning my wedding. “You can’t be here.” Not after I just promised not to see him anymore. I grabbed his hand and pulled him down the front steps, closing the door behind me.
“But—”
“Not here.” I dragged him to the side of the house onto the pathway with the weathered gears and cogs, then I pulled him onto the platform and took him up to Mamá’s tree garden.
“This is a bit more spacious than the last place you pulled me into,” he teased as he ran a finger over a rose’s metal petal.
“Be serious, Hiram. What were you thinking coming to my house after what happened today?” I asked, though my heart gave a ridiculous happy little thump. I let go of his hand, suddenly realizing I still held onto him.
“I know I shouldn’t have come, but I needed to make sure you were all right.” Once more, his gaze landed on the bandage on my face, and his hand drifted into the air as if he were going to cup my cheek.
I froze, and the air between us grew electric. Butterflies took off in my stomach, making it suddenly hard to breathe.
His gaze dropped to my engagement necklace, and he lowered his hand. “I wasn’t sure if I’d get the chance to talk to you again.”
I exhaled slowly.
So he knew. He knew me well enough to guess that I wouldn’t be coming back to the Iron Watch.
“There’s no need for me to come in anymore,” I said, fighting to keep my voice even. “We accomplished what we needed to.”
“No need?” His head whipped up to face me. “You think there’s no need for you to come? There’s a great need.”
My traitorous heart beat a little harder at his words, further confirming my decisions. “It’s not a good idea.”
“Because your father discovered the truth?”
“That’s part of it.” I lowered my gaze to study the plant in front of me, but even still, I was so aware of him standing so close. The way the air was heavy between us with the scent of flowers and the expectation of things better left unsaid.
“And what’s the other part?” he asked softly.
I bit my lip and didn’t look up; it’d make it too easy for him to see the longing in my gaze. “I’m getting married in a week.” Saying the words to Hiram felt wrong, but it needed to happen.
His body grew rigid. “You deserve better than him.”
I flinched as he echoed my own words back to me. Desmarc deserved better than me, not the other way around. “Why would you say that? Desmarc is a good man.”
“Not good enough.” Hiram shook his head but didn’t answer my other question, making me wonder if the two had some sort of history together.
Hiram stepped closer, and my pulse sped up. “You should be with someone who looks at you like you crafted the gears that turn the heavens, not someone who marries you for your connections.”
My heart broke at his words. It wasn’t like Hiram was saying he was that person, but it’d be too easy to let myself imagine it. “Desmarc isn’t like that. He cares for me.”
“Do you care for him?”
I felt his gaze on me, but when I peeked up, he was studying a bright orange flower. “I... I do.” I swallowed past the tightness in my throat. I needed Hiram to leave. Seeing him was an unnecessary test of my resolve, and if I wanted my feelings to fade, I needed distance. And time. And maybe a new heart.
Cogsley was right. Things were so much simpler for the bots.
“I appreciate you checking on me,” I said, leading the way down the endless twisting stairs, “but I’m all right.” Or at least I would be once my heart had time to heal.
“Poppy, I—”
“Should I return your aether chip? In case you need to give it to someone else.” I forced the last half out, trying to sound natural, but my voice came out as hollow as my footsteps on the wood.
“That’s all right,” he said. “You keep it just in case you need anything. Consider it a personal line, as a way of saying thank you, to partially repay our debt of gratitude.”
“I’m the one who should be thanking you. You saved Papá’s life.”
“And you saved mine.” He stopped me with a soft touch on my arm.
“My pleasure.” I had to look away from the warm appreciation in his eyes. A bit flustered, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Did you figure out what sort of weapon the man was using?”
“I thought you were done with the cases?” he asked with a small smile.
“I am.” I flushed and kept descending the next staircase. Curse him and his adorable smile. “But I can’t help but be curious.”
“It appears to be some sort of new aether technology. We’re looking into it, as well as that woman’s identity.”
“Do you think it’s related to the research that was stolen from Professor Knight?”
“It very well could be,” Hiram said grimly. “We’ve asked Professor McNeil to come in to question him about it, but I won’t have any answers until I get back to the Iron Watch.”
My thoughts flashed to Meridian Eliver and his comments about increasing funding for research on new aether technology.
No, that was ridiculous to think they might be related. Meridian Eliver was running to become the Prime Meridian. There was no way he’d risk his position by having someone killed. Odds were, the murderer was just another man in the Revolutionist faction looking for ways to impose his ideals. Or maybe he was someone trying to make the Revolutionists look guilty.
“I wanted to return this to you.” As we reached the bottom floor, Hiram pulled out a knife from his vest—my knife—and a scrap of paper fluttered to the ground. “I’m more grateful than you know that you trusted me enough to put your father’s life in my hands. I know it must not’ve been easy.” He glanced at me from the corner of his eye and cleared his throat.
It was easier knowing it was Hiram, but I didn’t need to say that. “Thank you.” I slid it into a sheath through the hidden seam in my pocket, then bent to retrieve the scrap of paper. Flipping it over revealed the words Debate. One o’clock. The sight of the hurried scrawl punched the air from my lungs. With everything that had happened, I’d forgotten that I’d somehow brought this paper back from the past with me.
“Kyra, are you all right? You look pale.”
I raised my gaze from the paper in my trembling hand to Hiram’s worried gaze. “I don’t know. This doesn’t make any sense.”
“What doesn’t?”
“This.” I brandished the paper at him. “I shouldn’t have this.”
“Why not?”
I opened my mouth to tell him exactly why. I shouldn’t be able to interact with the past. I’d never brought anything back before. It didn’t make sense. But then I snapped it shut again. I shouldn’t open up to Hiram anymore, not when I was supposed to be putting distance between us.
“I was just surprised to see it again. It reminds me of the killer.” I opened the door and scanned the empty garden. Papá and Desmarc weren’t searching for me yet, probably still engrossed in politics. “Good luck...with everything.” I didn’t want to wish Hiram luck; I wanted him to take me with him, but that wasn’t an option anymore.
“Thanks,” he said. “Things might make more sense if I could speak with the Bartholomews but—” He closed his mouth and shook his head, running a hand through his hair. “Sorry. I’m just used to talking to you about this.”
I tried to hold back my smile since I shouldn’t be happy about that. “Why do you need to talk to them? They’re one of the oldest families in the city.” They were another of the elite families who lived in the Tenth Chime.
“They’re the owners of the vault that was broken into. They’ve been testing out a new airship cruise the last few days, and we’ve been unable to reach them,” he said. “Once they’re back, we’ll go over the contents of their vault with them and see if they can tell us if anything was taken.”
“I suppose there’s not a huge rush for answers now that the case is resolved.”
“That’s what my superiors say.” Hiram frowned. “They seem less concerned with the why now that we’ve taken care of the who. Especially since we’ve already found evidence connecting today’s culprit to the other murders.”
I bit my lip, knowing I shouldn’t ask, but still the words slipped out. “You don’t agree?”
“I don’t know. Something doesn’t sit quite right with me.” He sighed again. “I’m at least going to leave the security detail on Professor McNeil and the meridian candidates for another few days.”
“I see.” I led Hiram to the front gate and opened it, even though my heart screamed at me not to let him go.
“If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.” He hesitated for a moment.
“Thank you.” But I couldn’t change my mind. I kept my hands behind my back to keep from reaching out to him.
With one last regretful glance, Hiram stepped onto his hovercraft and sped down the street. Soon he was nothing more than a small shape on the horizon. I could only pray that today’s choice—today’s sacrifice—was the right one.