She hid her laughter behind the mug. “I’ve heard rumors.”

“Rumors, huh?” He shot her a teasing wink. “Are you taking my lovely partners for yourself once I’ve been with them? You’d have liked her; she was quite pretty.”

With another blush, she swatted at him, sloshing her drink over the rim of the mug. As she took another swig, a little creature slinking along the counter caught her eye. Pushing backward so her stool squeaked loudly across the floor, Aina pointed at the spider.

“Kill it, Teo. Please kill it.”

A grin spreading on his face, Teo focused on the spider for a moment, then lifted his eyes to meet hers.

“I still can’t believe,” he began, in a low, enigmatic tone, “that Aina Solís, the greatest assassin in all the world, is afraid of spiders.”

She was used to people teasing her about her ridiculous fear. If that spider had a heartbeat, or flesh and bones, all it would take was some force and a well-placed slash with her knife. But instead, it crept along, its legs itching at her skin when she couldn’t even see it.… She shivered involuntarily.

“Not the whole world,” she conceded, her eyes sticking to the spider as it progressed along the counter. “Just Kosín, maybe Sumerand. Kill it, already! Stop laughing at me!”

As he cupped the spider in his hands and stood, Aina leaned as far away from him as she could. “Don’t you dare stick that thing in my face, or I’ll put you in the hospital, Teo.”

Teo carried the spider to the door, placed it on the ground outside the bar, then came back to sit next to her. “I think I’d prefer getting eaten alive by a spider than going to one of Kosín’s clinics.”

“Good point,” she said, staring into the amber liquid of her firebrandy. The cheap liquor tasted like dish soap with rubbing alcohol thrown in.

“Dearest Aina,” Teo began, “why are you here drinking with me instead of your usual … I dunno, looking angry and lurking around alleys with diamonds in your pockets?”

“Shut up!” she hissed, glancing at the other patrons, who were still engrossed in their card game. The bartender had retreated to the back room. “Because I have an offer for you. Now keep drinking and we’ll come back to it once you’re nice and tipsy.”

Teo continued to drink, but she knew she’d get drunk much quicker than he would. At best, this was a futile attempt at stalling. Teo was his own boss, finding jobs and carrying them out by himself. He didn’t have the same protection and bribes in place that would keep him as safe as if he worked with Kohl or if he was in a gang, but he valued his independence more than he feared the risks. He didn’t even want to work for her once she opened her own tradehouse. He took on a wide range of work, from roughing people up for late payments, to theft, to murder. His kills might not be as clean as Aina’s were, as she was trained specifically to be a Blade, but he got the job done. He was always picky about what jobs he took, though, and what the risks were. Her offer would be … out of the ordinary.