Moving as quickly as possible, she lit a fire under two of the clay pots and donned a mask over her nose and mouth. She already had enough darts filled with a wolfsbane poison that could kill a human in seconds, but she needed to make two different types of paralyzing poison: one injected by dart that would leave the victim unable to move for several minutes, which she had used to break into the Hirai mansion yesterday but had now run out of, and another that would knock anyone in the vicinity unconscious if they breathed in its fumes for longer than a few minutes.

When the poisons were done, steam filled the air with a noxious scent and sweat beaded on her forehead. As she carefully filled a vial and a set of darts with the concoctions she’d brewed, the door creaked open.

14

There was no hiding that she was in here, but she ducked behind the pots anyway and hoped to simply melt into thin air.

A young voice rang out, “Who’s there?”

It was one of the young recruits Kohl was training to work for him. Aina exhaled in relief, then stood and waved as though nothing were out of the ordinary.

“Miss Solís,” the girl, Johana, said slowly. “Do you know where the Blood King is? Or Mazir?”

She bit her lip, thinking of how best to answer. “The Blood King is busy.” She failed to mention that Mazir was dead. The kid would figure it out soon enough, just like she would figure out that Aina was next in line.

“Oh.” The girl frowned, worry lines pulling at her forehead. “He’s never here lately. Do you know what he’s been up to?”

Teaching me a lesson. “I said, he’s busy. You don’t need to know where your boss is. If you want something to do when the Blood King isn’t here, or when I’m not here, ask Tannis or Mirran. And if you’re really bored, you can clean the Dom. Start with this room.”

With that, she tucked her new poison supplies into a pouch on the inside of her sleeve and into another pouch hooked to her belt. Part of her was tempted to take more weapons from the armory, but Kohl would definitely notice if those went missing. Leaving the girl to clean up, she left the manor.

A knife appeared at her throat the moment she stepped outside. She grabbed her attacker’s wrist and twisted as she whipped around. The knife clattered to the ground. When she saw who it was, she relinquished her grip with caution.

“Someone’s instincts are sharp today.” Tannis smirked as she bent to pick up the knife, gold eyes sparkling with challenge. “You look nervous, street child.”

About a hundred questions flicked through Aina’s thoughts in an instant, but one stood above the rest. Does Tannis know that I failed?

“Watch where you stick your knives,” she said before stepping away.

She sensed Tannis’s gaze on her back the whole way down the street. She might have been able to trust Tannis before, might have liked her, but she was too loyal to Kohl. She’d gotten away without being killed for now, but either Johana or Tannis would tell Kohl about how suspicious she was acting, and then she’d be in even further jeopardy with him. The thought made her stomach twist in knots, but she had no time to let fear take over when Kohl had only given her a week to finish this job.