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.

All eyes in the room immediately turn to her, their stares seemingly weighing her down as her steps are heavy as she makes her way to the bar. A man stumbles in front of her, slapping a palm to a nearby table to hold himself steady but instead knocks a tankard off the table, and a frothy beverage spills on the floor. He is trying too hard to appear drunk. "Hey, you don't look half bad."

She ignores him, but he grabs her by the arm. I stride towards them as she stares back with a frown. A gentle face like that wouldn't scare off these men. I throw a straight down the pipe, as straight as Emrys loves them, and his face snaps off to the side as he crumples to the ground, his body falling like a ragdoll.

She turns to look at me with innocent and beautiful deep-set brown eyes, thin lips parting in surprise as her soft-angled brows raised. "That's how you make them back off." She inspects me, admiring my lean but muscular build, and I smile at her, pushing off my right fringe off to the side. "Careful, The men here would grab your ass without a second thought."

"I appreciate the assistance." She smiles, a small and subtle but alluring smile.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" I grab her gently by the arm, leading her to the bar and taking a seat.

"I noticed that the Inn is hiring." I force a smile; I have been out of commission for quite some time but I didn't expect them to be hiring a replacement.

"We are, if you-" Emrys places a glass of orange juice on the table, taking both of our attention. "You forgot the-" He places a straw in my glass, his eyes, sparkling with infatuation refusing to leave hers.

"Do you want a drink? It's on the house." A scoff escapes me, and I glare at him but he does not notice. Or is he ignoring me? I can't believe he's trying to steal my catch.

"Just water." She smiles at him, and he smiles back warmly.

He pours her a glass of water before disappearing into the kitchen, surely to get Evander and to convince him into hiring her. Not that I would object; I wouldn't mind having a pretty face to look at every day. "Where do you live?"

"Copperlane with my Grandma." She inhales deeply, forcing a smile as she drinks down the glass of water. "My brother used to look after us; he was an Enforcer." She nods at herself. "He was truly a good man."

"Was he killed on patrol?"

She turns her face away, eyes shimmering with tears but she held them back. "Yes, I need this job. It means a lot to me." She forces another smile.

"Don't worry; you're hired." A chuckle escapes her, seemingly in disbelief. Evander appears out of the kitchen to stand behind the bar, looking at her intently. "Evander, this poor girl desperately needs a job." He looks at me. "We don't want her resorting to selling herself in the streets now, do we?"

"She looks educated, definitely don't belong here."

"One must make do with what one has." She smiles, veiling her desperation in pragmatic air. Educated and refined is what she is. I've always hated Enforcers but here she is, the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The sister of a late Enforcer, well, good thing he is dead. I would hate to share the air with one.

"We're hiring her, right?"

JUNIOR

The Hound's Pit is buzzing with more and more patrons each passing day, all thanks to her – a serving girl, an abomination born between an Imperial and Lumian. A freak, but oh the thrill of the unusual. "Remember Haskell, Arthur?" I keep my eyes on her, such a familiar face yet so unrecognizable.

"I remember Haskell, he should've stayed out of The Gift."

"You slicing his men up, Evander knocking people's teeth in like the old days." I meet his dark green eyes, studying his expression intently. "And the arrows, I wonder if it's the same archer that attacked us in the Warehouse." Arthur raises his hand, and the girl brings over a bottle of wine with two empty glasses. Placing them on the table and I reach for her hand,a touch she recoils from but my grip on her wrist tightens.

"Is there anything else?" Her voice shaky, eyes full of terror. Where have I seen her before? Too pretty to be from the squatters and too refined to be one of the girls in the pleasure district. No matter how hard I try to place her, she doesn't belong in the Outer Districts.

"Do I know you?"

She glances at Arthur with an anxious smile, begging him to save her. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure of an introduction." She meets my gaze again, swallowing the lump in her throat as her hand trembles in my grip. "I must tend to the need of others." I let out a wide smile, and she forces an awkward smile.

I tug her towards me, wrapping my arm around her as she falls to my lap to restrain her, she trashes and I hug her tighter, clenching tightly at her limbs in which she lets out hushed sobbings. Her chest rising and falling uncontrollably as she trembles. I lean my nose close to her neck, taking in the familiar scent of daisies. "Let her go, Junior."

"Now where were we?" I let her go, and she dashes away from me. The Firelights appeared shortly after their return, and the Archer was with them, it doesn't take a genius to put two and two together. "I told you not to get involved, Arthur."

"Return to the fold, Junior. You, Me and Nazeer. The Three Kings of the Outer Districts." I get up to my feet, Nana is staring sharply at me with the girl in her embrace, hand brushing at the back of her head. Oh I remember when I used to cry on her shoulders too. After all these years, I can't believe this is how things would go down.

"They had their suspicions, and I am here to confirm it. I can't stop them now."

EMRYS

I walk across the cobbled streets of Copperlane, the full moon looming in the star riddled sky as witnesses to our shared moment, to her it is nothing but a silent walk to her home. But to me? This is everything. How much had passed when she showed up? And yet it feels like I've known her forever. We must have met in another lifetime. "Once again, thank you." She chuckles, before smiling widely as she restrains her laugh.

"It's nothing, are you sure about going to the Party?" She tilts her head slightly to her right, arms crossing as her hands clenches at her arms. Nodding as she bites her lips. "It might prove dangerous."

"I'm quite capable of managing on my own."

"Didn't look that way with Junior." Her smile withers, her lips parting to speak but is seemingly at a loss for words. "Just an observation, I am worried." She clears her throat, turning her face away as she plays at the locket hanging on her neck. "You're important to me."

She meets my gaze and I hold it, her fair skin seemingly radiating with the soft glow of the moonlight itself, an angel in human form. "How important?" Her voice soft and gentle as she takes a step closer, her dark brown eyes dilating, her lips curving into a bewitching smile.

I've been waiting for the right moment to tell her my feelings, and even now it doesn't feel like the perfect time to. But somehow, it also feels like I am running out of time, like she could slip away from me at any moment. I cup her face in my hand, leaning in and kissing her soft lips gently, sometimes words cannot express a feeling this strong.

And she returns the kiss, to my surprise. All those moments I was watching her, feeling that she felt the same but trying to get it out of my mind instead. It was real after all, our feelings are mutual and I don't have to keep holding it in. I wrap my arm around her waist, pushing her closer to the wall but she turns her face away shortly after.

"I apologize; I shouldn't have acted that way." She looks at me again, her lips a breath away as our forehead touches. "Like a strong wind that can divert a bird off course, you, Emrys, are a thunderstorm—a great distraction." My brows furrowing, she slithers away from me and reach for the door. "Let's both agree to forget this ever happened." She pushes open the door and disappear.

I turn to walk away, her words circling in my head like vultures. How can I forget something like that? It's something that would haunt me in my dreams, if only to relive it again and again. Or am I dreaming? I slap myself, cheek stinging with pain but I am still here. This is no dream of mine. I glance at her house one last time.

What is it that she could possibly want? What would I be distracting her from? Is she...in love with someone else? I shake my head, she wouldn't have kissed me if that was the case. I am going out of my mind just thinking about it, Nana is right, I never was bright.