“What do you mean?”

“The room you saw was dark, even though there were windows.” He nodded to Teo’s kitchen window, where sunlight streamed in on Ynes and voices from the street filtered in. “But it’s the middle of the day. Where else could that be but underground?”

He paused as if waiting for them to light up with the realization.

“Spit it out, then,” Teo said after a few seconds.

“He’s below, where the subway construction is happening. I have the blueprints of the system at my house. We can look at them and try to find my brother.”

As he spoke, she recalled the giant tunnels, like burrowing holes for the gods beneath the earth. The metal structures of trains waited there, so big and strange, they even seemed to breathe. The tunnels might be underneath Kosín, the city she knew better than she knew anywhere else, but they were completely foreign to her. Like monsters waiting in the dark to devour her, they were poised to strike. Like Tannis with gold eyes peering through the darkness right before a fatal attack, or like Kohl at the other end of a gun.

Ryuu would help them get through the tunnels, but once she killed his brother, he would turn her over to the Diamond Guards with no remorse. He might not want to get comfortable taking lives, but once she betrayed him with his brother’s blood on her hands, she suspected he would have no qualms filling her with bullets.

“I’ll get them myself,” she said to break the silence.

The less time I spend with you before killing you, the better, she added in her thoughts.

Hesitating was dangerous, and the more she got to know this Steel, the more likely she’d be to stall before drawing his blood. Besides, sneaking past Ryuu’s guards and stealing his blueprints would give her the confidence she needed to return to those dark tunnels.

“But how will you get the blueprints?” he asked. “They’re in the drawing room on the first floor, in a locked cabinet. The key is in my room.”

“I’ve broken into your house multiple times, Ryuu. Don’t doubt me now,” she said with a wink. “If one of your servants sees you with me, your brother’s attempted killer, they’ll think I’ve kidnapped you or something and send for the Diamond Guards. I’ll get the plans alone and meet you both back here.”

“Be careful, Aina,” Teo said as she stood. “More people want to kill you than usual.”

One side of her mouth tilted upward in a smile. “They’ll have to get in line.”

23

After jumping over the fence into the backyard of Ryuu’s mansion, Aina crouched behind a row of bushes and watched the side door. The bright afternoon sun made her eyes water, but she had to stay in this position. A maid was doing laundry, leaving through the side door while carrying clothes to hang on wires in the backyard. She’d just gone back in for more. While waiting for the maid to come out again, Aina withdrew her blowgun and loaded it with one of her few remaining paralyzing darts.