After they’d spoken to Mariya Okubo, they left the Tower to go to the Inosen safe house and take care of their wounds. Tannis, Raurie, and Teo had already been there. Raurie had managed to bandage Tannis well enough before leaving the Tower, and June used magic to stop her from bleeding out once they’d arrived at the safe house. But she’d still moved gingerly and winced as she sat next to Aina. In a way, Aina had already started thinking about the plan Tannis had proposed next, and she knew they would do it best together.

They would hit Kohl where it hurt the most.

She shook her head and scanned the paper once more. Then she saw the names of the account holders: Tannis Bayen and Aina Solís. She gasped and dropped the paper like it was on fire.

“There’s a million kors in there!” she choked out. “What the—”

Ryuu laughed, brown eyes lighting up as he took in her incredulous expression. “Remember when we were waiting to break into the prison to rescue Teo? You told me your old boss took all your money. I didn’t know you very well then, but I could tell you were terrified.” His smile faded slightly. “I could tell you’d lost a lot. So I used my connections at the bank to get some of his money transferred to this new account. I spoke to Tannis this morning before she left the safe house, and she told me she was going to open a joint one for you.”

Her eyes widened. “This is all of Kohl’s money?”

“No, I can’t get into all of his accounts,” he said, shaking his head. “But Tannis told me she’d seen information on this one from her snooping through his office. It was one of the fake accounts he had set up to filter money to Bautix from his arms sales, and based on the statement, it looked like some of the money from Pavel’s own business went through there as well. I spoke to Okubo this morning, and she said she would reward you for your help in bringing down the princess’s attempted assassins. I’ll tell her about this and ask her to lift the price on your head. That should be reward enough, right? I told you, my name can open doors.” He lifted his shoulders in a casual shrug, as if this had been no more difficult for him than a stroll through a park. “In this case, it was the door to one of Pavel’s safes.”

She let out a small laugh, then folded up the paper and tucked it in one of her jacket pockets.

Maybe they shouldn’t talk to each other, after all the betrayal between them. But within their betrayals and their separate goals, he’d shown her his truths and fears, and she’d shown him some of hers. If there was anything they did well together, it was challenge each other to dig a little deeper into their own truths. If a friendship was anything, it should be trying to make each other see how good and brave they could be if they tried.