Tannis feinted another strike, and Ryuu shouted a warning. Her eyes flicked over to him, but that second of distraction cost her.

A loud thunk went through her skull as Tannis punched her. She fell back, her knees buckling with the strike, and caught herself on the side of the nearest building. Her head pounded, her vision spun, but she bit down hard on her tongue to keep focus and relied on the adrenaline from the fight to keep her standing. Squaring her shoulders and drawing a deep breath, she stepped away from the building and faced Tannis once more.

They circled each other, sun hitting them as they stepped into the street, and shadows covering them when they stood in doorways. The pedestrians watching them seemed to hold their breath as they waited for the fight to resume.

As Aina slowed, standing in the light next to a horse-drawn carriage with Tannis at the mouth of a dark alley, she caught sight of the vulture tattoo on Tannis’s forearm. It was identical to Kohl’s. Her throat went dry as she pictured Kohl coming after her himself—would she fight back or freeze as he delivered a killing blow?

Tannis moved first, swinging at Aina’s side with her blade. With a sharp inhale, Aina blocked the attack with her scythe. The clang of their weapons reverberated through her bones and gasps rose up in the crowd as people moved out of their way. Before Tannis could attack again, Aina made a fist with her left hand, small blades sliding out between her knuckles, and punched Tannis in the side.

Tannis faltered. Aina stepped back, but then a flash of silver shot through the air so fast she barely dodged it. A throwing star slashed her upper arm, in the place where her neck had been a moment before.

Hissing with the sharp pain, she threw herself behind the carriage to avoid the next star Tannis threw from her shoulder holsters.

As Tannis approached, the shadow of her boots visible under the carriage, Aina grabbed on to the window ledge and hauled herself to the roof. Tannis’s eyes widened as she looked up at the last second, but Aina landed in front of her and lunged forward, her scythes swiping across Tannis’s unguarded side.

Tannis stumbled back as the cut seared through her skin. A grimace from one of the bystanders caught Aina’s eye; they all knew a fatal blow would come next. But her legs didn’t carry her forward. Her hands didn’t lift her weapons to strike.

As she hesitated, Tannis took another step backward, then turned and sprinted down the nearest side street, her blood dripping on the cobblestones as she ran.

Once she was gone, Aina locked eyes with Teo, and then with Ryuu, who was breathing heavily as if he’d been in the fight himself. People on both sides of the street skirted around her too. The smell of the blood dripping from her arm, sharp and coppery, heightened with the end of the fight. The sunlight brightened, seeming to expose her even as she stepped into the shadows.