The Phoenix Thief

TWENTY SEVEN

SHADOWS BLOCKED the sunlight through the door, but before the Watchmen could come pouring in Nátala leapt to stand in the way, her pistols raised.

"I would think carefully about what you might do next," she said quietly. "I shot one of my bodyguards to keep them from following me here. Don't underestimate me. Not today."

Fástnik and the Chancellor had approached the door side-by-side through the gathered Watchmen, but now the Chancellor pushed forward. His left arm was out of the sleeve of his heavy coat and a makeshift bandage wrapped around the bleeding shoulder.

"Nátala, my dear!" he said, the words forced. Then he leaned forward and lowered his voice so that Kilter almost didn't hear it. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Fástnik didn't tell you?" Nátala narrowed her eyes. "He wasn't treating two ladies very nicely so I took them off his hands when I came across him in the upper triad. You should have him apprehended for abusing his authority."

The Chancellor's gloved right hand tightened into a fist. "Who were these prisoners of his?"

"Vittela and Catrío."

"Reavers? Get out of there, now! I cannot let them take you as well!" The Chancellor swiped to try and grab Nátala's arm, but she stepped back and pointed her pistols at his chest.

"Don't touch me. Don't even speak to me, unless it's to explain yourself. You told me Shev was dead."

The Chancellor frowned, nostrils flaring. "Those Reavers killed him. They shot him down as if he was no more than vermin."

"You told me his body was never found."

"There was a fire, my dearest, I could not have!"

"Did you even look for him?" Nátala was shouting now. "No! You didn't see what I saw, didn't hear what I heard! I told you – I told you how Mama begged the Phoenix to heal Shev, to heal him and protect him – but you didn't listen! You listened to Fástnik. You listen to him, and you ran and hid in your workroom, behind your machines and in your figures and plans and schemes. I have hardly seen you since the day Shev disappeared!"

"It was necessary! You will not die out here like Eliva, like Shev, confined to a crumbling city by murderers. I will be victorious for you, and you will be free. Your future is so bright, so promising, so perfect! Now come away, I cannot let the Reavers hurt you."

"I am quite capable of protecting myself." Nátala did not lower her pistols. "In your absence in my life, I have looked out for myself quite well. And it seems to me that I am now aiming in the right direction. I don't want revenge, or, as you call it, victory. Nothing you do in that vein could give me what I want. I don't want perfection. I want my family back."

"Nátala!" The Chancellor ground his teeth. "When have I not given you the best to eat, to wear, surrounded you with every good thing I could? Cease wasting time and stand aside! There are great things at stake, here, but none more important than you. We must take the rebels and Reavers captive so I can ensure your future."

Nátala did not move. "Your future, you mean. Your revenge, your plans for your city, your plans for your daughter." Suddenly, Nátala tore the cap off her head to throw it on the ground at the Chancellor's feet. "The first time you dressed me up in something like this – a doll-like mascot for your Watchmen – I was twelve years old! Twelve years old, and still crying at night from the nightmares I had of Shev dying before my eyes. You remember what you said to me? You remember?"

The Chancellor opened his mouth, but Nátala didn't wait for him to speak.

"You said 'be strong'. 'Be strong' – but for what?" She stepped forward until the end of her pistols brushed the Chancellor's chest. "'Stop crying. We must put on a brave face for the people.' That's what you said. Nothing more. I lost you after Shev disappeared, and thus you have lost me. I will not let you take the settlers captive. I will not let you harm the pilot. They have Shev with them. You may have forgotten him, but I have not. Shev is my brother, and before he was taken from me he was there for me when you and Mama weren't. Now I will be here for him, when you are not here for him, even after all these years."