“Yes,” Orfeus said and grinned broader, broad, showing all her teeth, peeling back her split lip. “I guess it comes down to which of us has more nerve.”

Significance snatched up a tasegun and fired it, and Orfeus jerked back with her limbs stiff, teeth rattling in her head. She kept her grip on her knife, though she felt blocky and strange.

O’Hallow stepped forward, gun readied again. Orfeus dived forward first in a smooth motion, using all the fighting she’d practiced, and brought the knife down in a slash across xyr arm.

Significance flung xemself back from her with a yelp, and clutched xyr arm to xyr chest. The tasegun rattled to the ground. Orfeus lowered her knife, breathing hard.

O’Hallow twisted xyr fingers in a light little gesture, and as the gash started to heal stared at her with huge, wounded eyes. “I’m not your enemy,” xe said. Orfeus threw back her head and laughed, deep in her belly and so hard it hurt, rattling off the edges of all her hurts. Significance cocked xyr head. “Fair,” xe said sadly. “Alright, then, I’m not your only enemy.”

“So?” Orfeus said. If xe was fool enough to propose an alliance again, she would stab xem somewhere far more lethal.

“I know it wasn’t me that set his dog on you,” Significance said, eyes on her. “So who?” Xe shrugged out xyr arms. A fearsomely fast healing job, for xem to move this fluidly again already. “How many people can possibly want you dead? It seems to be a lot. Was it your little lover? You had one back in your dye town, yes? Did she tire of you?”

The tip of her knife shook. “Yes,” Orfeus said in a voice that sounded smaller than her own. Significance grinned, bright white teeth. Orfeus shook her head. “She wouldn’t have…killed me.”

“Someone tried to,” O’Hallow said. “You can just leave, and leave me here to go find the real threat, and…” Xe shrugged. “And I’ll vanish, and not be your concern, and you can hunt down your hunters or play your songs or whatever you want.”

She ignored that. “At this point, I don’t care,” she said. Lying again. “That was nothing. I’d take an attack from someone in the Wild over any interaction with you any day. Sneaking and lying and deceiving…” Those all sounded familiar. Orfeus wavered. “Cruel,” she snapped. “Selfish and cruel.”

Significance stepped back. Xyr eyes were fixed on her like she was a fearsome thing, and she rather liked it. “Please,” xe said, like the word was unfamiliar to xem. “I just want to do the work. There was only the work.”

Orfeus curled her lip and lifted her knife.