Teia cursed as if she hated the White.
You just couldn’t run away, could you, Old Man?
“So what’s the plan?” she asked.
“We build anew,” the Old Man said. “I still have riches. I still know who’s weak, who can be bribed, who can be blackmailed, who’s fearful, who can be conned or seduced. Best of all, I still have several shimmercloaks. You and Aram will be the foundation on which we rebuild the Order.”
“Aram?!” she couldn’t help but say.
The man beside Grinwoody in the dark didn’t speak, but he gave a satisfied, arrogant little grunt.
Grinwoody spoke for him. “Aram is sharp and bitter and unquestioningly obedient—and a better fighter than most people would guess, considering. And in a sign that our gods have power beyond the Chromeria’s knowing, I’ve discovered that Aram is a lightsplitter. You, Adrasteia Sharp, my strong right hand, you will train him. You two will be our first team of the new era.”
So there it was: the admission Teia had been hoping for. There were no others. This was the last root of the Order, the last tiny smoldering ember.
“No,” Teia said. “That’s not how it’s gonna be.”
“Excuse me?” Grinwoody said. “Young lady, if I have to teach you lessons in obedience as I did your master, I—”
“It was me,” Teia said. “I never left the Jaspers. I told Guile you planned to betray him. I killed Halfcock and Aglaia Crassos and Ravi Satish. I followed Atevia Zelorn, and I poisoned the bloodwine. All of it was me.”
Full-spectrum light suffused the entire room as Grinwoody hit some hidden switch as Aram snapped into a ready position with his spear. The look of black rage suffusing the Old Man’s face was fearsome to behold.
“Well, now you’ve made a very big mistake. Why would you tell me such lies? Do you think this is a game?” The Old Man slapped a hand down, triggering something that slapped a bar down over the cloaks hanging on the pegs, clicking as it locked them into place. He threw back his hood, released the voice-changing collar. “Aram, kill her if she moves. Child, do you want to die?”
“Oh yes, but not today, I think.”
His eyes narrowed. He didn’t believe her. He didn’t think she was capable of all she’d done.
She said, “You know, Sharp liked to think of the Order as piranhas. But he told me once that there’s a fish that hunts piranhas. Vampire fish, they call it. Fangs longer than my fingers. Said he never could get those fangs to work in his dentures. Too long to fit in his mouth without stabbing himself, he said. He thought that was appropriate, because though he always entertained a fantasy of killing you, he was never willing to bleed to do it.”
“So you killed Elijah, too?” Grinwoody had his hand under the desk, clearly holding a pistol.
“I found this mask in his workshop. With some help from my friends, I finished it. And now I’m going to finish what Elijah started, and what you started, too.” She pulled out the alien, skeletal half mask. With leather loops over the ears to hold it up, it covered only from the forehead to the upper lip. Vampire-fish fangs hooked down from the upper jaw. A black cloth draped below that to conceal the lower half of the face and the neck. The cloth was imbued with orange luxin to make an illusion of a skeletal, monstrous neck and a toothy lower jaw snapping up to meet the hungry upper fangs.
Teia said, “You wanted to make me dangerous. I’ve become ever so much more than that. Do you want to know the biggest secret about my shimmercloak?”
Grinwoody stood, a pistol in each hand, trembling with rage, but he didn’t fire yet. He needed to know. He always had. His eyes shot a glance to her shimmercloak, locked to its peg.
“The secret is . . .” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I don’t need it anymore.”
Before she settled the mask into place with its illusory teeth, before the Mist Walker disappeared, before the report of the muskets, before the thuds of flesh and the final hopeless begging, before the blood leapt onto the walls, before the last gurgling breaths of evil men drowning in their own blood, she flashed a smile at them, and her eyes were an open grave, and her teeth were very sharp.
Character List
Abaddon: Also known as the god of locusts, the Day Star, the Lord of the Flies. One of the chief immortals of the Two Hundred. Often depicted with crippled ankles, giant insect wings, and pallid features.
Adrasteia (Teia): One of the smaller Blackguards, a skilled paryl drafter, and a luxor for the Iron White. She is a double agent in the Order of the Broken Eye.
Agnelli, Lucia: A Blackguard scrub, she had a forbidden romantic relationship with Cruxer. Murdered by Quentin Naheed during a training exercise.
Aleph, Derwyn: Commander general of the Cwn y Wawr.
Aliyah: Married to Halfcock in secret. She has a teenage son from her first marriage, Eliazar.
Alvaro: A young, rebellious mirror slave.
Amadis: An older man, overseer of mirror slaves on the Jaspers.
Amazzal: One of the six High Luxiats, most notable for his commanding presence and rich voice.
Amzîn: Awkward young Blackguard, charged with protecting the White.
Appleton, Aodán: A nobleman and member of the Council of the Divines for the Blood Forest city of Dúnbheo.
Aram: A failed Blackguard scrub with a grudge against Kip Guile and Cruxer. Elevated to commander of Zymun Guile’s Lightguard.
Arius: One of the newest members of the Mighty.
Arthur, Rónán: Deceased twin brother of Conn Ruadhán Arthur. Full-spectrum polychrome and member of the Shady Grove will-casters.
Arthur, Ruadhán: Conn of the Shady Grove will-casters.
Arun: Manager of an inn on the Jaspers.
Asafa ar Veyda de Lauria del Luccia verd’Avonte: Keeper of the Word, Chief Librarian of the Great Library in Azûlay, Katalina Delauria’s father.
Aspasia: Karris Guile’s room slave.
Azmith, Akensis: A scion of the Azmith family. Killed by Karris White Oak during the choosing of the White.
Azmith, Caul: A Parian general, the Parian satrapah’s younger brother. Briefly served as commander of the Chromeria’s allied armies. He led his troops to devastating losses against the White King at Ox Ford, almost shattering the alliance, after which he was demoted. His family seeks to return him to power.
Azmith, Tilleli: Parian satrapah, older sister of Caul Azmith and spymaster for Paria’s Nuqaba. Andross Guile had intended for her to take power after his assassin killed the Nuqaba, but on Karris’s orders, Teia killed Tilleli as well.
Beliol: Incorporeal (imaginary? immortal?) assistant to the Ferrilux.
Ben-hadad: A former Blackguard, Ruthgari, and a member of the Mighty. A blue/green/yellow polychrome and a brilliant engineer.
Blue-Eyed Demons, the: A mercenary band that fought for Dazen Guile’s army during the False Prism’s War. They later attempted to set up their own kingdom. Stomped out by Prism Gavin Guile.
Blunt: A Blackguard watch captain.
Bonbiolo, Benetto-Bastien: One of the four Ilytian pirate kings, rumored to trade under the pseudonym Marco Vellera.
Borig, Janus: A Mirror who painted true Nine Kings cards. Was assassinated by the Order of the Broken Eye.
Brightwater, Aheyyad: Orange drafter, grandson of Tala. Defended Garriston by designing the murals on Garriston’s Brightwater Wall; given the second name ‘Brightwater’ by Prism Gavin Guile.