“You like to make messes when you kill, don’t you?” Teo commented, tapping his fingers along the counter. But Aina was too busy watching the man die. His blood pooled beneath him, and a moment later, he dropped to the floor.
“Idiot,” Teo scoffed. “Did he really think he could get away with killing you? Kohl would retaliate in ten minutes, and then his head would be staked on a pole outside the Dom.”
“That’s true,” she admitted begrudgingly. Though she appreciated Kohl’s protection, she didn’t like the idea that a lot of people would back away from fights with her simply because they knew Kohl would kill them afterward. Did she command as much respect as he did, that no one would dare come after her once she no longer worked for him?
The bartender, who’d just returned from the back room, tossed his towel in the air. “What have I told you about getting blood on my floor? Get that out of here!”
After Teo pocketed the man’s fallen gun, he helped Aina carry the body outside. They left it across the street from The Tipsy Fish so it wouldn’t affect business, then started walking in no particular direction.
Teo was grinning, one hand swinging freely at his side, the other on the handle of a gun inside his jacket. “You know, if anyone can kill that spoiled prick and get away with it, it’ll be you.”
Aina’s mouth dropped open. “Is this true? What am I hearing, Teo? Are you saying you want to…?”
“Join you, yes.” He nodded stiffly as if he were already regretting this decision. “We’ve never done a job together, so it might be fun, and I’m sure this one isn’t coming cheap. I need as many kors as I can get to pay for my mother’s medicine. How much do we earn for it, anyway?”
Kohl’s words came back to her then—she could choose her partner and pay them whatever percentage she wanted out of the fifty thousand kors.
“Twenty-five thousand each. We have a week to do it.”
“When we’re a team? We’ll get it done in a day.”
“Let’s wait until tomorrow when we’re both sober,” she said with a slow nod. “This job is too big to mess up.”
If she were with anyone other than Teo, she would be doing all she could to show off her confidence. But something about the storm-gray set of clouds behind the twisting black spires of the Tower of Steel, miles north in the distance atop Kosín’s hills, stirred unease in her bones while they walked. As the seat of Sumerand’s government, economy, and military, the Tower reminded her that someone was always watching, even if she couldn’t see them.
It was true what Teo said—it wouldn’t be easy to get away with killing Kouta Hirai. Apart from how outnumbered they’d be by the guards at Kouta’s mansion, the Steels in the city wouldn’t rest until the assassin of one of their own was caught. If even one person saw enough of their faces to report to the Tower, they’d be at risk.
But she had to kill him. The future she’d never thought she would have was lurking in the distance, staring her down and daring her to draw near. The next step was spying on her target and coming up with the best plan.
The casino owner likely wouldn’t be the last person who tried to kill her this week, but she’d make sure Kouta Hirai’s blood covered her knife by the end of it.
6
The wind bit as relentlessly as a rabid dog that night. Aina peered over the rooftop, beyond the rushing silver waters of the Minos River, to the fields and mountains far away. Tannis, the Dom’s other Blade, sat on the opposite end of the roof. Even knowing she was there, Aina felt alone and preferred it that way when she was assigned overnight watches. The wind brushed over only her shoulders, the navy night sky enclosed only her, and the river churned past the rusted bridges for her to admire. Kalaan and Isar’s moons were bright specters beyond wispy clouds and puffs of smoke, revealing the night’s darkest corners and shining on a lone train trundling northward from Kosín like a snake in the dark.
As the hours passed, she ran over various scenarios of how she and Teo could break into Kouta Hirai’s mansion. They would meet tomorrow and follow Kouta to come up with a plan. She’d never killed someone so rich before. Whenever she entered a place with money, it felt like she wasn’t really there—like the floor beneath her was quicksand, the expensive jewels and paintings were only make-believe. How would a smear of blood look on silk clothing?
A drop of rain hit her nose, and she cursed. It was too cold for this.
“Want to ditch?” she whispered across the rooftop.
“Very funny.”
When she’d first met Tannis, she’d assumed the other girl was annoyed with her all the time due to her snappish voice, but quickly learned she spoke that way to everyone. They both moved to the center of the roof, disenchanted with the night’s events. Aina almost hoped someone would try to rob the Dom just to liven things up.
Even in darkness, Tannis’s gold Kaiyanis eyes pierced through the night like little suns. Blue hair draped over the ivory skin of her shoulder in pretty, tousled waves, making her look much less deadly than she really was. Throwing stars glinted at her shoulder holsters as a reminder.
“Word is, Kohl’s given you a good job.”
Aina pressed her lips together. Tannis had smuggled herself here on a boat from Kaiyan, a heavily forested country that bordered Linash, and then joined Kohl’s old gang, the Vultures. When Kohl had opened the Dom about a decade ago, he’d plucked Tannis from the Vultures to join him. Why wouldn’t she deserve their highest paid job yet? A small twinge of guilt worked through Aina at the thought. Tannis was excellent at her job and deserved high-paying opportunities. But Aina was good too—and she had an agreement with Kohl, while Tannis didn’t. If Tannis didn’t like it, she could take it up with Kohl.
“Kohl chose me for this job because he thinks I can handle it.” She didn’t care how jealous Tannis was, but she strove to keep things civil between them since they lived and worked together, and because Tannis was pretty—she didn’t want to make her too mad. To ease the tension, she said, “I’m looking forward to taking down a spoiled rich kid.”
Tannis’s laughter rang out in the quiet night, colder than the wind on the nape of Aina’s neck.
“You’re going down, street child.” She never used Aina’s name, and it made her bristle now. She was the Kohl’s best Blade. The words repeated themselves in her mind over and over, as if she were trying to convince herself. “Kohl wants to eliminate his competition. All that nonsense about letting you go off on your own is a lie. Our house has never seen a haul as big as this Kouta Hirai one, so why wouldn’t he want it for himself?”
It was a fair question, but Aina didn’t reply. If anything Tannis said was true, she couldn’t show fear. If anything Tannis said was false, she couldn’t show concern.
“He gave you this job because he thinks it’s suicide,” Tannis whispered, leaning forward so blue hair cascaded down the side of her face. “The city was a madhouse when Kohl opened the Dom. Law didn’t exist, Kohl could kill anyone and face no repercussions. He only wanted people who were as fearless as he was, and he got them. What do you think happened to the ones I worked with, all those men and women slashing throats and robbing mansions while you were still begging for kors on a sidewalk?”