Chapter 128

The sound of rain was tremendous.

A sudden downpour hammered against the window. Woken by the noise, I stared at the rain, falling hard enough to hurt if it hit you, and thought.

There's no way we're getting the coal through by road.

The night before, Oskin and I had argued late into the night about how to move the coal.

Oskin had kept pestering Hendricks to turn the carriage into a boat the moment it hit water.

"Why bother, when they can just fly?"

I'd tossed that out while watching Hendricks insist he couldn't do it and Oskin insist he make it happen anyway, and Oskin looked thunderstruck.

"That's an excellent idea, my lady. Though, my lady, about our contract, if we could revisit—"

I brushed off whatever Hendricks was about to say and looked at Oskin instead. Oskin looked near tears, glancing toward wherever Ri happened to be.…