But something was off.

Kohl had killed Kouta, not Tannis. And though Tannis had attacked her when they’d last met, now the other girl showed no sign of wanting to fight. Throwing stars still glinted at the holsters near her shoulders, but she kept her palms facing outward in a peaceful gesture.

“What are you doing here?” Aina finally asked.

After a beat of silence, Tannis tilted her head toward Aina. “You need to know the truth.”

When Aina frowned at her, Tannis beckoned her into the shadows of the alcove where the light failed to reach them.

“What truth?” Aina snapped. “Did Kohl kick you out too?”

Tannis shook her head with a grimace. “I’m on your side, not his.”

“You have a strange way of showing support.” Everyone in Kosín was split between sides or lying about what side they were on, and she was sick of it. Whatever Tannis was doing had only caused more problems. “Prove it.”

“Who do you think stopped Kohl from killing you last night? I took a tip from you—I kept a paralyzing dart between my teeth and blew it into his neck. Then I used a smoke bomb so none of his people would see me taking you away after you fell and passed out. I hid you in an alley, and then, once they all left, I brought you to Hirai’s.” When Aina went silent, she continued, “And who do you think sent Kouta Hirai the documents with information on Bautix’s political murders?”

“How did you know about that?” Aina asked. Her first instinct was to dismiss everything Tannis said as a lie, but that was what Kohl would want her to do.

“Kohl never goes to Rose Court, but he’s been attending secret meetings there for a while now. He thinks we’re so scared of him that we’d never go through his things, but I got curious.” Tannis shrugged. “Right before he gave you the Hirai hit, he went out again. I went through his office and found the documents about what the general is doing, and that Kouta Hirai was the next hit. I also found out that Kohl has been helping Bautix with these murders for years and hiding Bautix’s connections to the city’s arms sales. Kohl has funneled money from arms sales through the other tradehouses for years, to private accounts Bautix owns under different names. I knew they had history with each other, but I never knew how much until I found all this.”

“History? Why would Kohl work for a Steel?”

“Kohl only does what benefits him, you should know that by now. And because of their partnership, Kohl gets away with almost anything in the city. Besides, they’re afraid of each other.”

“Afraid?” Aina let out an incredulous laugh. Of the million people who lived in this city, Kohl and Bautix were the last two she expected to be afraid of anything.

“Didn’t he ever tell you how he got out of prison?” When Aina shook her head, Tannis sighed and said, “Our old boss from the Vultures smuggled money and weapons to the rebels, but he was playing two sides—he also gave information to Bautix, who was rising up in the military at the time. Kohl caught a glimpse of Bautix, but didn’t know who he was until he was in prison and Bautix came to inspect the cells one day. Then, after Kohl killed someone in prison, a riot broke out. He escaped in it and ran all the way to the top floor of the Tower where Bautix’s office is. I don’t know exactly what happened, but it sounded like he almost killed Bautix too, and threatened to reveal that Bautix was selling weapons to both sides during the war—to the Steels and to King Verrain’s fighters. Bautix let Kohl go free and caught up to him a few years later.”