“I know,” Tannis said with a shrug.

“What? How? Did Kohl know?”

Tannis pursed her lips. “He might have, I’m not sure. I was doing a job in Rose Court once and saw you walk into a jeweler’s. You came out and double-checked there weren’t any Diamond Guards nearby. People who don’t know you wouldn’t be able to tell, but I could see the nerves on your face.” She let out a laugh when Aina glared at her. “I know it’s risky, but you can still do it if you want. I know how important it is to take freedom where you can find it.”

As they walked down the stairs and turned toward Kohl’s office together, Aina remembered how she’d held Kohl at knifepoint in the Tower. He didn’t have to tell her about the backup. And he hadn’t been gravely injured. After all, he’d managed to escape. Why hadn’t he gotten up, retrieved his gun, and killed her before she could locate the backup? And a better question, why hadn’t he shot her when he’d held her at gunpoint? Instead, he’d thrown his weapon to the side and asked why she couldn’t understand him.

Maybe he’d been truthful when he said he’d taken her in and trained her to make up for the guilt of orphaning her. It would never make up for how he’d treated her over the years, but it might have been his weakness in their battle; something that made him spare her when he could have killed her. She couldn’t imagine Bautix had been thrilled with the outcome, and that meant there was probably already strife in whatever partnership they had. That was where she and Tannis would stand stronger.

When they entered the office, Aina’s eyes fell to the desk. She inhaled sharply and stepped back, one hand reaching for the wall.

“What?” Tannis asked, throwing stars already in hand as she searched the corners of the room.

“Kohl left that here,” Aina said with complete certainty.

She walked to the desk, where her mother’s tiny porcelain horse statue sat, the pink ribbon around its neck too bright and cheerful for this office. Aina swallowed hard, looking left and right, as if she expected Kohl to fall out of the ceiling and shoot her.

A note was held in place by a string tied around the horse’s body. With shaking fingers, she slipped out the note and had a sudden vision of Kohl shoving a book in front of her. Read.

She unfolded the paper and scanned the words a few times. It was only a couple of sentences, but each time she reread them, they pierced her more with fear and anger.

Enjoy your stay in my house while it lasts, Aina.

And keep this good luck charm your dear mother left behind.

You’re going to need it.

She thrust the note at Tannis, then curled her hands into fists at her sides. It was easy to let the note scare her, but she held it together. Kohl wasn’t as invincible as he thought. Their fight in the Tower had proved that. Now she only wondered at his weaknesses and how she might use them against him: his tradehouse, and her.