“Then to say you were ‘forced—’ ”

“Perhaps the word was poorly chosen. May we not allow ourselves to be bound up in semantics, please?”

“Especially since you’ve yet to explain why you’re here,” Taru adds, a rare unsolicited statement.

Lexi looks up at them, the shock quickly giving way to visible approval.

“Your retainer?” Ginnix asks her.

Lexi looks back at the Ministry agent and nods, quite proudly.

“I cannot say I’ve ever approved of private retainers.”

“And yet I do approve quite strongly of the point Taru has made,” Lexi fires back. “Why are you here? What is it that we can do for you?”

Ginnix doesn’t answer at first. She’s still staring at Taru with open contempt. The gaze Taru offers her in return echoes the message in their hand wrapped around the hilt of their sheathed hook blade.

Lexi doesn’t need to see the animosity between them; she can practically feel it, heating the very air.

“What is your official title?” she asks Ginnix.

“I don’t have one. I serve. That is who and what I am.”

Though her answer is frustrating, Lexi’s question accomplishes her goal of drawing Ginnix’s attention away from Taru.

“While that may be admirable on a philosophical level,” Lexi says, “I find it a wholly impractical way of organizing.”

“I introduced myself as Ginnix because that is how you may address me as needed.”

“Very well, Ginnix. Why are you here?”

“We at the Protectorate Ministry place the highest possibly priority on this unprecedented attempt on your life and display of violence here in the heart of our nation.”

Her mechanical tone only serves to raise the temperature of Lexi’s blood.

“And what, may I inquire, has come from placing the highest priority on the targeted destruction of everything I know and love?”

“Our initial findings point toward Sicclunan provocateurs.”

Lexi has to be careful to measure her words, not letting her temper run away with them.

“How could Sicclunans reach us in the Capitol? We have been told our entire lives that Crache’s enemies are few and scattered and a thousand miles away. That they are merely jealous dissidents envious of our way of life who seek to undermine it, and that we have long been on the verge of eradicating them. What you are saying speaks of a much broader conflict. Is this fight larger and closer to our doors than we have been led to believe?”

Ginnix looks upon her wearily. “Of course not. The assassins themselves were no doubt hirelings, local dregs employed by a lone Sicclunan agent. They are a devious lot. We have shaken most of them out. However, a few obviously remain hidden here and there.”

“What of the marks all over their flesh? These ‘hirelings’ that tried to kill me.”

“A new gang organizing itself in our streets, possibly a fanatical faction worshipping the Five. We are investigating that, as well.”