Crooked Hearts

Episode 12

NANA

Light pierces through the window as I stand next to it, eyes squinting to look out as I lean my good shoulder against the faded wall. It has been more than a week. Enforcers have been scouring the Outer Districts, going door to door looking for a man with a bullet wound on his chest. I can still see them hanging around the Inn, watching.

I walk close to the bed before turning, falling on my back and landing on the thin mattress with a creak. I turn to the footsteps to see Lydia finally standing by the door, and a smile escapes me. She is my unlikely hero, the person who would allow me to walk out of this Inn without being caught by Enforcers. And I might not have to hide under the floorboards every time they show up.

"Hurry up and get it over with." I take off my clothes, and she shuts the door in panic, smiling as she places her tools on the table close to the bed—a fine-tipped applicator filled with Henna paste. "Are they still looking for me?" I turn to look at her, long black hair shining in the sunlight.

"Probably. They're looking for others too, and a lot more aggressively, I might say." My brows furrow, and she begins to draw the Black Rose on the bullet wound on the far left of my chest. "I heard that a team of Enforcers were killed during patrol." My brows raise in surprise.

"The Enforcers who arrested Big Mouse's henchmen?" Lydia shrugs her shoulders. Junior said they have friends in high places. I never expected high enough that he could get away with killing Enforcers. I doubt things will blow over; Enforcers are dead after all. That's a big deal. "Any other interesting news?" She shakes her head.

I spend another day in my room waiting for the color of my Henna to deepen, the Black Rose perfectly covering the bullet wound. I walk down the stairs wearing my dark brown crop top jacket with a white shirt underneath. Emrys's eyes trail me as I approach the exit, but he does not say anything.

I give him a playful wink as I smile, the bells chiming as I leave and inhale deeply to feel the fresh air in my lungs. I spent too much time in my room, suffocating in the musky smell of worn-out woods. My smile withers as I take in the smell of tobacco, and I turn to my right.

It is Evander, sitting on a large wooden box, his deep-set eyes watching attentively with a smoking pipe in his mouth. Now I know why he didn't stop; the bastard really let me walk into a bear trap. I tug at the white shirt, pulling it off to the side to reveal the Henna covering my wound. "They won't know; besides, they're looking for a man."

"Just be careful out there; there is a chance Junior found out we're Firelights, he might have his men lurking around waiting to strike." Smoke puffs out of his lips as he speaks. "Anything feels wrong, you run back home. Is that clear?"

"Loud and clear, Boss." Emrys should have came down swinging, though if he wasn't on his bow Arthur might've gotten shot as well. And he's not the only Archer in town but it does make us suspects, there is only one way to stay safe. "Think we should hit Junior first?"

"Should I be worried about you Nana?"

"You should worry about Junior." I smile with a playful tone; The reason people fear Junior is because of how batshit crazy he could get, the things that he is capable of but between the two of us? I am definitely the better fighter. "Don't worry, I won't go after him."

"He's already killed those Enforcers, he might turn to us next." He gets up, putting the smoking pipe in his pocket as he stares at me. "Don't do anything reckless, or I'll chain you to your bedpost." He enters the Inn.

I walk away to see a young woman approaching, standing out from the crowd, face fresh and skin fair, rocking short but thick dark hair falling like waves above her shoulders that blends seamlessly with her wispy side bangs. A chuckle escapes me as she is wearing an oversized black waistcoat over her white shirt, and I turn to look as she walks past me before following her back into the Hound's Pit.