“So, Aina. We’ve known each other for a few years now. I know that you’re good with a knife—”

“Excellent with a knife—”

“—You like firebrandy, and you think diamonds are the prettiest kind of jewelry.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll tell you something you don’t know about me. I’m good at my job. I’m my own boss, and it pays well. But sometimes it’s exhausting. You can only pull a trigger so many times before your fingers get tired. Coming home at night and taking care of my mother, it makes me feel a little … less like a monster. How do you cope with it?”

“I try not to think about that,” Aina said. “This is my life. If I ever deny that, or start to feel guilty about my jobs, I’ll lose my touch and end up in an alley with a bunch of bullets in my chest.”

He nodded, no sign of judgment on his features.

“There were too many casualties. Too many things that went wrong tonight.” Aina paused, trying to voice what was bothering her. “I didn’t have time to watch him die.”

Teo opened his eyes and scoffed, “I know a dead man when I see one. You slit his throat completely through, Aina. He’s gone. You should be happy.”

With a bitter laugh, Aina said, “Happiness has nothing to do with it.”

“I know.” He frowned. “When you grow up starving, and someone finally hands you a piece of bread, you don’t think it’s real. Or you think it’s a trick.”

Aina nodded. “Or like I have to be extra careful. It feels like … if I make one mistake, I’ll lose everything and end up back where I started.”

“Why do you sell the diamonds behind your boss’s back, then?” Teo asked. “Not judging. Just curious. It’s really risky.”

“I don’t know,” Aina said. “I suppose it feels good to have a little control. You know, it’s been six years, but sometimes I can’t believe Kohl saved me from that bombing. Like one day I’ll wake up and still be a child freezing on a street corner somewhere, half in a coma from sniffing glue. I know it’s stupid.”

“No, it’s not. I’d think you were stupid if you got used to the idea of being secure. But you killed Kouta Hirai. If Kohl ever regretted saving you, he won’t now.”

“Who knows what he thinks?” She lay down and sighed, a few wisps of black hair flying away from her face as she did. “He usually just pays me and then waves me out of his office. But this is different. I don’t know how he truly feels about me starting my own tradehouse. He shows nothing.”

“Sounds like you need some kind of assassin support group.”

She slapped him on the shoulder, and he pretended to wince in pain.

“But really, if Kohl won’t say congratulations, then I will. Congratulations, Aina. You’re the best Blade in Kosín, and when I watch you cut holes in people, I think I hear angels singing.”