He rubbed his eyes and rose from the hard pallet in the reception room of the storefront. He saw Nyx standing at a hot plate on the other side of the room. There was a wash basin next to the plate, with actual running water. In Ras Tieg, he could never afford that kind of luxury. All the water came from barrels on the roof. He pulled his knees to his chest and watched Nyx. There was something comforting about her muttering at the frying pan, shifting her generous weight back and forth on her bare, scarred legs. She had put on a lot of weight since the last time he saw her, so if he didn’t know how powerful she was under all that flesh, he might think to call her soft or fat. But it wasn’t the sort of fat he saw on rich people. It was the bulk of an aging boxer who had long since stepped out of the ring.

“You gonna sit there and stare, or eat?” Nyx asked.

Eshe grinned and got up to help her.

The meat was tough and stringy, barely edible, probably something she had bought and rehydrated for the occasion.

“How much you pay to rent this storefront?” Eshe asked. They sat in the reception room as the sun came up. The floor was covered in bug carapaces. Eshe saw two cracked windows and a broken flesh beetle skin that filtered the worst of the sun’s rays—a cheaper solution to getting an operational filter. It wasn’t random chance that brought him to her. He had contacted her house in Druce before he left Ras Tieg, and Anneke said she was heading to Amtullah with some diplomat. Nyx in the company of a diplomat was strange enough. He half thought Anneke was using some kind of code that meant Nyx was going to prison.

Once he knew where she’d gone, she was easy to find. The boys on the street knew where to find all the most dangerous women in town. When he told Nyx how easily he found her, she hadn’t looked pleased.

“Too much,” Nyx said. “But I’m not staying long.”

“This about the job? The one you talked about last night?”

She nodded, but didn’t look at him.

As they ate, the call to prayer sounded, long and oddly mournful this morning. Eshe stilled for a long minute to listen. It tugged at something inside him. He had missed that sound. He set his food down and unrolled his prayer rug.

It was good to be back.

When he finished praying, he saw Nyx staring at him. “What?” he said.

“I don’t know I’m going anywhere you’ll like,” Nyx said.