The Tower of Blood and its monarchy fell, and became the Tower of Steel, run by the oligarchy. The ban on technology became a ban on worship and magic instead, and many believed that in the violence of the war and its aftermath, the Mothers had abandoned Sumerand and its people to suffer in the mess they’d made.

“Just kill them already,” Aina said, jumping down and rubbing away the tension from her wrist.

“When heretical beliefs disrupt our workforce and put visitors to our country in harm’s way, it becomes clear why such discipline is necessary,” Bautix drawled, his voice never tiring, his lungs never seeming to need air as he spewed ultimatums. “Magic users violate public order and safety. Magic unchecked is magic that has the opportunity to bring our country to ruin once more. When diamond smugglers undermine the economy for their own profit, we all suffer.”

Turning away, she counted down the seconds to the execution while the general’s voice rang out above the crowd’s whispers and murmurs. As he went on, her mood jumped between indifference and anger. She leaned against a cold lamppost and stared between the shoulders of the gathered crowd. But her eyes were drawn back to the rust gathering on the lamppost. Bathed in the sparkling gold lights of a nearby shop, the rust looked like dried blood.

Bautix smirked as he spoke the words that had become famous in the years after the war; the words he always said before a public execution: “Let it be known that our goal is to progress, not to regress.”

His statement was punctuated with two gunshots, each one banging against her eardrums like an avalanche. She clenched her jaw, but tried not to react in any other noticeable way. Gunshots, whether they were fired near her or at her, brought her back to the night her parents collapsed in front of her. She could usually shove the fear aside, and it didn’t bother her when Teo used his guns, but executions of diamond smugglers and magic users always brought her too close to the memories she’d tried to push away.

“All right, show’s over,” said Teo, turning to leave.

The crowd began to disperse. People spoke in hushed voices, some trembling as they glanced at the dead men. But as the Diamond Guards began to clear away the bodies, people returned to what they’d been doing before. Aina shook her head. She might move on from death easily, but she didn’t forget it—not after her parents had died for daring to believe in a power higher than steel and the coin it wrought. Her heart ached for a moment, but she ignored it to get back to work.

“Wait.” She grabbed Teo’s elbow, her eyes fixed on a slim figure with a stack of books carried under his arms. “I see him.”

Kouta Hirai was a tall, lanky man in his early twenties with blue-black hair that fell below his ears. He might be mistaken for a student, but everyone in Sumerand knew he wasn’t in school anymore; he managed one of the country’s wealthiest enterprises. Just then, he’d stepped out of the bookshop where Aina had been spying on him, cast a single glance of disgust at the execution and dispersing crowd, then turned right. His guards followed him out of the shop a moment later.