“Fine,” he said over his shoulder. “I’m going to Ariana Bayless. And Jex Zanlan will be dead by morning.”

“No, wait!” she cried, before she had even thought about it, before she had reminded herself that he was crazy. He stopped. “How can I possibly believe you?” she demanded.

“I don’t care if you believe me,” he said, and now he sounded weary beyond imagining, as exhausted as an old man who had viewed the random cruelties of the world for a century or more. “All I want from you is passage into Geldricht and an entree into the presence of Chay Zanlan. I won’t harm you. I won’t harm him. But I can promise you, on my life, on your life, on any talisman you care to name, that if I don’t get to Chay Zanlan, he will die.”

Another squeeze of acid into her veins. “Chay will die? I thought you said Jex would.”

“Both of them.”

“You don’t have that kind of power,” she whispered. “No one does.”

“I do,” he said, and he sounded so certain that, against her will and her rational judgment, she believed him. He could have them killed, one or both of them, and then what would the world hold for her? Her foot throbbed with a stabbing, insistent ache; her head was beginning its own rhythmic pounding; and she was afraid that, if she moved her hand away from the wall, she would lose her balance and tumble to the ground. But those were minor annoyances, nothing to be concerned about. Fear had ignited the rich oil of her blood so that every estuary of her body was on fire. She felt flames sparkle up through her pores. Not Jex, not now, now that she was sure he loved her again.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

“Take me to Gold Mountain. Leaving tonight.”

“I have to get—clothes and money.”

“I’ll have money.”

“And I’ll have to write a note to someone and say I’m leaving. Otherwise—people will worry. I don’t think you want that.”

“I’ll have to read the note.”

“All right.”

“Where are your clothes?” he asked.

“At my cousin’s house. In the indigo residential district off of South One.”

He shook his head. “No good. Too far away and too many people might see us. We’ll buy you some clothes here in the city.”

“How long will we be gone?”

“How long does it take to get to Gold Mountain?”

Kit spread her hands. “It depends on the rains. If the weather’s been dry, the train will go straight through, but it will still take nearly two days. If there’s been flooding and the tracks are washed out, it could be days longer.”

“And that’s the most direct way? The train?”

“It’s the only way. Haven’t you ever been out of the city?”