After glancing around to make sure no one was watching, she stared at it within the pouch: the diamond-and-ruby ring she’d stolen from Kouta when she’d first tried to kill him. It stared up at her, twinkling like little stars. In the madness after her failure to kill its owner, she had completely forgotten about it.

It had, of course, been too dangerous to go to the mines or jewelry stores to try to sell it since anyone there might have reported her to the Sentinel if they recognized her from the wanted posters. Now, she might be able to sell it, and then at least she wouldn’t starve.

But it wouldn’t matter if she sold the ring. Kohl would still come and kill her. She couldn’t do anything with money if she were dead.

Maybe she could hold on to it. It reminded her of Ryuu, after all. She knew it wouldn’t make up for his brother being dead or for how she’d betrayed him, but if she found a way to give it back to him before Kohl killed her, she would.

The day they’d found Kouta dead on the train played in her head over and over as she walked deeper into the Stacks.

After those long, tense seconds when they’d stared at his brother’s body, Ryuu moved to the train window and thrust it open.

“Stop!” he shouted to his guards.

They stopped firing. Aina ran to the window and peered out, searching for Teo and Raurie.

They walked out from where they’d taken cover behind a train, their own guns still half-raised toward the remainder of the guards. Raurie must have fought even after Teo tried to hide her. Only three of the guards still stood, while the others’ bodies lay scattered across the train yard.

From the corner of her eye, Aina watched Ryuu’s gaze flick to each body, as if he were taking them in and blaming himself for their deaths.

“Get out.”

His voice shocked her into stepping back. It wasn’t harsh or sad. It was cold and flat, entirely emotionless, something she’d never heard from him before.

She began to back out of the train car, her eyes flicking to Kouta’s body a few more times—at the perfectly placed gunshot in his forehead, the spreading circle of blood around him, and how fresh the wound was.

Ryuu, on the other hand, didn’t even glance at the body. He seemed incapable, at that moment, of doing anything other than watching her retreat. He still held a gun, and she wondered if he would finally, truly use it on her.

“Ryuu, I’m…” She thought about saying she was sorry, then stopped herself.

Was she only sorry she hadn’t gotten here before Tannis?

“How stupid do you think I am, Aina?” he finally forced out, his voice cracking a little. “I admit, I really thought all you needed was the money at first. I even felt bad for you. I knew you didn’t have anything personal against my brother. It was your job, and sometimes we get forced into doing jobs we don’t want, so I thought offering you the money was a way out for you. There were times when I doubted you, but I really needed your help, so then … I truly thought that helping you break Teo out of prison would keep you on my side. You almost lost him, and I helped you get him back. You know I almost lost Kouta. All you did was try to take him away again.”