“I remember I once got a visit from some Drucians,” Nyx said. She decided not to mention that she had still been in Druce at the time. “They were dour types. Dressed in formal robes, black. Funny hats and topknots. Strange guys. They told me they were searching for a criminal. If you exile all of your criminals, why would anybody go to the trouble of finding one?”

“Criminals must be… tried. They must be formally removed from their households. If they leave without undergoing this ritual, they are never dead.”

“What’s wrong with never being dead?”

“They are ghosts.”

“So?”

“After they die, they can come back and haunt you.”

Nyx sighed. It wasn’t any worse than believing in djinns or demons or a God that sent men to war, she supposed.

“So it stands to reason that these guys are either criminals who took a tough job or they’re hunting criminals themselves?”

Kage hesitated.

“What did you do, Kage?” Nyx asked. “You fuck somebody you shouldn’t? Cut off somebody’s tail?”

Kage’s grip on the gun tensed.

“All right, let’s have this out now. We can take them out, Kage, but I need to know what they are. Drucian bounty hunters? I’m not going to turn you in. Whatever you did is done. You start with me, you start fresh.”

Nyx waited. She was terrible at waiting, but she did it anyway while the wind purled across the desert and Kage drew soft breaths through her nose.

Finally, Nyx stood. God, she hated waiting.

“They will never stop hunting me,” Kage said.

Nyx grabbed her by the collar and drew her up. The girl couldn’t have been more than forty-five kilos. Her feet left the ground. She hung suspended, eyes still averted.

“I said, who the fuck is after you? Or do I just kill you myself and leave you to them? Your choice.”

Nyx released her.

Kage dropped lightly to her feet, as if it had been her idea to get picked up all along. She hopped back a few steps.

“I’m done with this,” Nyx said. “Give me your gun and get out of here.”

Kage shook her head.

Nyx held out her hand. “Give me the gun. I bought it when I bought you, didn’t I? I own it.”

Again, she shook her head. Nyx wanted to twist her head off. She reached for her own scattergun.

Kage moved like water—sudden, smooth, deliberate. She slid her gun free and fired, point blank.

Nyx had the sense to flinch, though she knew what was coming. The gun didn’t fire. Simply clicked, then gave a small gasp.

“I’m not completely stupid,” Nyx said, yanking the gun from Kage’s hands by the barrel. “Though you all sure keep treating me like it.”