“I’m done listening to you,” she hissed, cutting off his words. She forced him toward the window so his knees hit against the ledge. He caught his balance right before falling over, but she didn’t stop. Rain fell onto them in wild gusts as she forced him to lean farther back.

As she pressed her blade under his ribs, he said in a rush, “You really think this will stop Bautix from getting the princess killed?”

She paused, the knife on the verge of piercing his heart. “You let me worry about Bautix.”

Taking her pause as an opportunity to continue, Kohl whispered, “What’s one thing an assassin always makes sure to have?”

“A backup,” she whispered instantly. He stared her down without blinking, but a slow smile spread on his face. She pressed the knife in a little deeper and the smile dropped. “Who is it? Where are they?”

Kohl laughed despite the blade pressing into his skin. “It was Tannis at first, but she turned on me, so what makes you think Bautix would trust me to pick a new backup? All I know for sure is that your time is running out.”

As if waiting for his words, the first chime of the midnight bells rang out.

Aina stepped away, her eyes racing across the balcony. Kohl slumped down near the window.

He was wounded. She could snuff out his life in seconds.

The second bell chimed. In its wake, she whispered, “This isn’t over.”

Three bells rang as she sped around the balcony, skidding to a stop to stare through the folds of the curtain. Hundreds of people were in the crowd below, gathered around a stage. Teo must have been among them, but she couldn’t pick him out from here. Bautix stood on the stage with the rest of the Sentinel, Ryuu, Raurie, and the Linasian princess. Ryuu glanced over his shoulder as if he could sense something was wrong. Would Bautix try something himself if Aina managed to kill the sniper? Would Ryuu or Raurie get caught in the line of fire?

Four bells. She whipped her gaze around the balcony surrounding the ballroom, searching for the best vantage point where another sniper could be hidden, but everything looked exactly the same except for a few statues poised at the corners of the balcony and the large, golden clock hanging above the crowd, embedded in the opposite wall. The backup sniper had to be here somewhere on the upper level. Five bells.

As she ran, six and seven bells ringing, she couldn’t help it; she heard Kohl’s voice the first night they’d spoken to each other. Do you want to know the secret to survival?

Eight bells. She skidded around the corner, on the far end of the hall.

You count and you look.

Nine bells. She heard Kohl’s voice in her ears again and whipped her head around as she ran, expecting him to fire at her from a corner.

You count everything and you look at everyone.