“The money doesn’t matter.” He exhaled sharply, his warm breath hitting her face, and she cursed herself for leaning closer. “People come to me because they know my grunts can get the job done. If I disappoint some angry or vengeful person off the street, that’s no problem—I send one of you to shut them up. But when I start disappointing people in power, that’s a problem.”

She frowned, then asked the forbidden question, “Who was the client?”

“What gives you the right to know?” His eyes widened in false surprise, and her confidence slipped again. “Oh, do you think you’re still my favored Blade? You’ve ruined that for yourself, Aina.”

Shame burned across her cheeks. She swallowed against the dryness in her throat, but it didn’t alleviate the cold numbing sensation in her bones.

“Does this mean you won’t let me open my own tradehouse now?” She hated how small her voice sounded.

“Have you forgotten everything I’ve taught you?” His forehead crinkled in sadness for the briefest second, quickly replaced by indifference. “You and the others are worth more dead to me than failed. If you can’t make people believe you’ll hurt them, what reason would anyone have to fear you? If I protect you, if I still favor you, a contender for my position who’s failed so miserably, I lose all credibility. Everything I’ve built would fall apart. The safe home I’ve made for people like you would become an open target. You’ve lost my protection, Aina.”

He’d said the words, but they took a long while to sink in. This didn’t seem real. It was too terrible to be real.

Her voice trembled as she said, “You say protecting me will make you look weak, but you’re already protecting me by warning me.”

He turned his face slightly so she couldn’t see what was in his eyes. In the span of one day, she’d fallen from the top of the world to the dirt at his shoes.

“Not only will you have people coming after you to get the reward for your capture,” he finally said, turning back to her, “but anyone with a grudge against you, anyone whose brother or son you’ve killed, anyone you’ve injured in the line of work, will be free to come after you too.”

“How do I fix it?”

“Your mark thinks he’s invincible now that you’ve failed. Strike soon. Either Kouta Hirai is left breathing at the end of this or you are, not both. Bring his head and leave it on my desk within a week. If you fail again, I will not be so kind.”

The murderous look in his eyes was enough to make her jump to her feet. She raced down the alley, heart pounding in her ears, and turned the corner.

A gunshot from behind her rang out, the bullet slamming into the brick wall inches from her face.

13

She didn’t stop running until she reached the end of the street, then ducked behind barrels of freshly caught trout at a shop front. The stench was horrific, but this was the closest place to hide. Peering around the edge of the barrels, she watched the mouth of the alley. In a few minutes, Kohl appeared. He turned in the direction of Lyra Avenue and disappeared from view.