Cold wind cut through the window and ruffled the thick black curtain that hung on the inside of the balcony. A thin crack of light shone through the center of the curtains to reveal a sliver of the ballroom. It was the perfect place for an assassin to wait with their target in sight below, and the perfect amount of space for the barrel of a gun to slide through. She imagined Kohl there, still and relaxed like he was before every kill. She wondered if he’d look so calm when she was the one pointing a dagger at him.

Tannis held up a hand. Their footsteps slowed to silence. Then, Tannis crouched down next to the curtain and peered underneath it, while Aina searched the shadows of the balcony for any sign of Kohl. Her pulse raced with nerves.

They had to find him before he carried out this job and sank the country into war. She had to find him and confront him for what he’d done to her parents, what he was trying to do to the city all for his own benefit.

When she stood again, Tannis whispered, “Everyone’s down there, including the princess. I don’t know when Kohl—”

Just then, the air shifted behind them.

Kohl’s dagger swung toward them. Aina dodged the strike with a sharp intake of breath, but Tannis was caught off guard. The blade clipped her arm, and she hissed in pain.

Taking out her dagger, Aina shifted behind Kohl. A throwing star appeared in Tannis’s fingers, and she and Aina locked eyes over Kohl’s shoulder for the briefest second.

They both struck at the same time, but Kohl moved so fast, he became a blur in front of them. Aina, lunging forward, stumbled and barely missed the hiss of Tannis’s throwing star passing by her neck.

Aina caught herself from falling, but then a tight grip latched on to her wrist and twisted. She gritted her teeth in pain as her weapon clattered on the stone floor. She raised her fist, but Kohl caught it in midair, then shoved her toward the balcony so hard, her feet left the floor.

She grabbed on to the balcony at the last second, her twisted wrist slamming into it to stop herself from going over the edge. The wrist cracked, and she bit down on her lip to avoid crying out in pain. She whipped around in time to see Kohl’s fist flying toward her throat.

Dodging it by an inch, his cold knuckles scraping against her collarbone, she kneed him in the stomach. The next moment, Tannis stepped between them.

Aina retrieved her blade from the floor, but her dominant hand ached from slamming it into the stone balcony. It was too stiff to be as dexterous as she needed it to be. She switched the dagger to her other hand. She’d trained fighting with it plenty of times and was good enough, but it was still a disadvantage.

The rain pounding on the Tower walls reached her ears as she straightened. Kohl and Tannis fought fast and hard, quick blurs of steel flashing across the dark hall.