“Do you know who wanted him dead?” Aina asked.

“You,” he said, frowning. “Apparently.”

“Someone paid me to kill him,” she corrected. “Can you think of any reason someone would want him dead?”

Tilting his head to the side, Ryuu thought for a long moment. Then he leaned forward, hands balanced on his knees, and whispered, “He found out something about a secret project called ‘Black Diamond.’”

She frowned for a moment, wondering why he was being so open with this information. But then her curiosity took over—if this helped her find and kill his brother, she needed to know it.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t really know. But I think it has to do with our parents’ murder. He’s been trying to figure it out ever since they were killed.”

It was common knowledge that the Hirai brothers had been orphaned at a young age, but she hadn’t known their parents had been murdered, like hers. It might be one of the only things they had in common.

But showing any sympathy would make her look weak, so she kept her voice flat as she asked, “Your parents were killed? I remember the news report. I thought they died in a gas explosion during the war.”

Ryuu winced. “There was an explosion, but they were both shot before it.”

She blinked and stepped back. All she heard was the word shot, and memories of her own parents’ deaths came rushing back. “I didn’t know that.”

“Neither did we until after that winter. The autopsy found bullets in … what was left of them.”

She turned her head, feeling slightly nauseous.

“My parents were shot too, a few years after the war,” she said, unable to hold back the words. Then she shrugged. “They were Inosen, and they used magic. Inosen back then were being killed every day by the Diamond Guards or anyone who worked for them. That’s just how it was.”

After a pause, he continued, “My parents died on a night when King Verrain’s followers attacked the mining site. Everyone assumed they were killed in the gas explosion that occurred during the fighting. Other Steels rose up on their behalf and fought back harder.”

Aina grimaced. Already, the story didn’t add up, and she was growing suspicious too. When King Verrain had shut down the factories, the Steels retaliated, forcing their employees to fight back—the employees mostly did, many of them forsaking their faith and choosing to fight for the Steels because they needed their jobs more than they needed the Mothers. They fought with the weapons the Steels gave them, mostly guns. King Verrain and his followers, including some men from the army who were loyal to him, used guns too, but mostly fought with blood magic. They twisted it in evil ways against what the Mothers wished.

Instead of using it to heal blood-related diseases, Verrain used it to cause hearts and veins to burst inside living people. Instead of using it to build shelter, he used it to topple buildings to ash. Instead of using it to shield themselves, he took the minerals from dirt and rocks and forged them into swords. Countless people’s murders remained a mystery, and apparently Ryuu’s parents were included.