Maya hesitated. There was so much she wanted to explain, but Gyre’s anger was a palpable force, hanging in the air between them like a dark curtain. Before she could think of a way around it, there were shouts from outside, new voices. Maya thought she recognized Tanax’s.

“Are you going to kill me?” Gyre said.

“Of course not,” Maya said. “You’re my brother. You—”

“Then I’m leaving,” Gyre interrupted, “before Raskos does it for you.”

He bent to retrieve his pack. Maya stepped forward and put her foot on it, raising her haken again.

“You know I can’t let you just … steal this,” Maya said. “Please, Gyre. You don’t have to go. I can protect you.”

“I very much doubt that.” Gyre stared at the pack for a long time, as though trying to figure something out. Then he sighed and turned away. “I assume you don’t have any objections if I take my friend, at least?”

The voices outside were getting louder. Maya bent and picked up the pack herself, then shook her head.

“If you have to go, then go.”

“I doubt I’ll see you again,” he said.

“Gyre—”

He let out a breath. “Goodbye, Maya.”

She watched, mutely, as he rounded a corner toward where the catwalk had fallen. For a moment she considered going after him, igniting her haken and forcing him to his knees. If only he would stay and listen. She was certain she could explain, cut through whatever poison the years had built up inside him.

Instead, she turned away, letting deiat fade from her body. She felt suddenly, unutterably tired.

At the entrance to the warehouse, Tanax was just coming through the broken doors, with Beq and Varo close behind him. Beq caught Maya’s eye, frantically, and made a gesture Maya didn’t understand. Maya frowned and stopped, dropping the torn pack.

“Agathios Tanax,” she said. “I need to report the discovery of a considerable quantity of dhak and unsanctioned arcana, which I believe belongs to—”

“Agathios Maya,” he grated, and raised his haken. His blade, a shimmering line of folded space, twisted and shivered in front of her eyes. Maya went silent.

“I am seizing you in the name of the Twilight Order,” Tanax said, his voice cold. “You will have the opportunity to present evidence in your defense.” He took a deep breath. “You stand accused of treason.”

Chapter 15

It was good that Kit was so light, because Gyre had to make his exit from the warehouse with her limp body slung over his shoulder, and his legs already felt like rubber beneath him.