Silence fell as he finished speaking. Based on Teo’s shifting stance, Aina could tell they were thinking the same thing.

“Excuse me,” she simpered, walking toward the bossy man. The maid beside him bristled at how forward Aina was acting. To piss her off a bit more, Aina raised a hand and placed it on the man’s forearm. “Do you have to be anywhere urgently? No meetings to run off to? I’d like to chat about my schedule here, if you don’t mind. I’m sure the boss wouldn’t have placed me here without a good reason. You’re not busy, right?”

“Sorry, miss, my wife and I are going home for the night.” His words tripped over themselves, and a red flush slid up his neck. He gave a consolation nod to the maid, who glared back, unaware that Teo was sliding along the wall behind him.

“That’s too bad.” Aina kneed him in the stomach, then slammed her fist into his jaw so he dropped to the ground unconscious.

“No, don’t!” wailed the maid. A second later, Teo placed his arms around her neck and made her fall asleep.

Aina grabbed the man’s arms to haul him into the nearest empty room, debating whether they’d have to kill these two or if they could leave them unconscious. But just then, an ear-piercing screech sounded from the end of the hall. Another maid stood there with her mouth open in terror. Aina whipped out a dagger from her boot and hurled it, but the woman disappeared around a corner, screaming that there were intruders.

“I think our plan might be compromised,” Teo said as thunderous footsteps pounded and shrill whistles blared from everywhere at once.

9

A door slammed open and two guards charged down the hall through the door she and Teo had come from.

Teo shot one in the chest and dodged the next shot. A volley of bullets followed, barely missing them and pinging off the marble floor.

Footsteps sounded from the other direction. Aina wouldn’t stand a chance against multiple men with guns while she only had blades and darts. She rushed down the hall, grabbing the dagger she’d thrown at the maid, then waited at the corner, pulse pounding in her ears. Right before fights like this, she sensed herself, along with any guilt or softness, melting away to be replaced by the Blade that got the job done, the sharp edge that made people fear her instead of the other way around.

Someone turned the corner a moment later, and she jumped. Tackling the guard to the ground, she punched him in the throat and knocked his gun from his hands. Another guard rounded the corner, but she slammed the hilt of a dagger into his head before he got a good look at her face. He dropped to the floor with a heavy thud.

More footsteps sounded from both directions, the ceiling above shaking as boots pounded across it. The light bulbs rattled in their silver cages. Teo was nowhere to be seen, but she heard gunshots from the floor above.