“I told you,” she spits. “My name is Mara. I am an agent of the Order. A spy. And a spy must be like water and take the shape of the vessel. Akuji Na was the name of the first Collective Pathfinder I killed. An Ares girl, fallen on the wrong side, moderately skilled with a katana. I liked her name. Do you know what it means?” She pauses, smiles. “It means Dead and Awake.”

“What is it you want?” I ask. “You and him.”

“The Graziani,” she says, moving to Rodolfo’s side, running her hand across his shoulder, “come from an ancient aristocracy—a line of assassins. The Pathfinder gene has always been in our bloodline. And every Graziani promises undying loyalty to our great benefactor, master Kei Shinigami, who—for centuries—has funded our underwater realm. Under the onslaught of the tides, our castles and lands are expensive to maintain. But while the other worlds will fold and crumble, Jöve will not. We will endure. For this, we are not just indebted to the Order, we are not just loyal to the Order, we are the Order. It is in us—our blood.”

“You’re insane,” I tell her.

She smiles. “Our parents were killed for their allegiance. By that devil, Mother.”

My breathing is shallow. I feel a cramp in my stomach.

“So then…this is, what?” I ask. “Payback?”

She says nothing. Gazes coldly back at me.

“Vidhan and Malik,” I say. “They’re your family too. Don’t you see that? How long did you travel with them? Years? You can’t possibly—”

“Don’t you see,” she snorts. “It was an act. They mean nothing to me.” She says it forcefully, as if convincing herself more than me.

“I don’t believe you,” I say. “You can’t think that. You can’t.”

“Kuji!” Vidhan cries. “Tell me this ain’t real.”

“My name,” she says, over-enunciating, “is Mara. Akuji is dead.”

“What do you want from us?” I say, trying to subdue the panic in my gut.

Mara paces around us and I turn, following her with my eyes, hand on my sword. Ready. Prepared. “You have no idea how much I have endured,” she says. “How long I have waited for this moment.”

“Why break cover now then?” I ask. “What’s changed?”

“Everything,” she says. “We have found a way to the seventh and now we have so much more. Ra. The Wraith. You. A pawn in our long game against the Collective.”

“Well, if it’s me you want, then let Vidhan go.”

“Hell, no,” Vidhan says, wincing in pain. “Not in this bloody lifetime.”