“You like to make messes when you kill, don’t you?” Teo commented, tapping his fingers along the counter. But Aina was too busy watching the man die. His blood pooled beneath him, and a moment later, he dropped to the floor.

“Idiot,” Teo scoffed. “Did he really think he could get away with killing you? Kohl would retaliate in ten minutes, and then his head would be staked on a pole outside the Dom.”

“That’s true,” she admitted begrudgingly. Though she appreciated Kohl’s protection, she didn’t like the idea that a lot of people would back away from fights with her simply because they knew Kohl would kill them afterward. Did she command as much respect as he did, that no one would dare come after her once she no longer worked for him?

The bartender, who’d just returned from the back room, tossed his towel in the air. “What have I told you about getting blood on my floor? Get that out of here!”

After Teo pocketed the man’s fallen gun, he helped Aina carry the body outside. They left it across the street from The Tipsy Fish so it wouldn’t affect business, then started walking in no particular direction.

Teo was grinning, one hand swinging freely at his side, the other on the handle of a gun inside his jacket. “You know, if anyone can kill that spoiled prick and get away with it, it’ll be you.”

Aina’s mouth dropped open. “Is this true? What am I hearing, Teo? Are you saying you want to…?”

“Join you, yes.” He nodded stiffly as if he were already regretting this decision. “We’ve never done a job together, so it might be fun, and I’m sure this one isn’t coming cheap. I need as many kors as I can get to pay for my mother’s medicine. How much do we earn for it, anyway?”

Kohl’s words came back to her then—she could choose her partner and pay them whatever percentage she wanted out of the fifty thousand kors.

“Twenty-five thousand each. We have a week to do it.”

“When we’re a team? We’ll get it done in a day.”

“Let’s wait until tomorrow when we’re both sober,” she said with a slow nod. “This job is too big to mess up.”

If she were with anyone other than Teo, she would be doing all she could to show off her confidence. But something about the storm-gray set of clouds behind the twisting black spires of the Tower of Steel, miles north in the distance atop Kosín’s hills, stirred unease in her bones while they walked. As the seat of Sumerand’s government, economy, and military, the Tower reminded her that someone was always watching, even if she couldn’t see them.

It was true what Teo said—it wouldn’t be easy to get away with killing Kouta Hirai. Apart from how outnumbered they’d be by the guards at Kouta’s mansion, the Steels in the city wouldn’t rest until the assassin of one of their own was caught. If even one person saw enough of their faces to report to the Tower, they’d be at risk.