I touched a hand to Jovis’s shoulder when I approached, eyeing the slats of light from behind the building’s shutters, hoping those shutters didn’t open just yet. “We’ll take the alleys back. Come on. Quickly.”

He heaved himself up and brushed at his shoulder absentmindedly, as though my hand had left some impression on his shirt. His breathing had already steadied. “I almost had it,” he said.

I snorted in spite of myself. “Next time, let me do the throwing. Of all the gifts you’ve manifested, that doesn’t seem to be one of them.”

Someone rattled the shutters of the building next to us and I darted back up the street, beckoning for Jovis to follow. We ducked into an alleyway. Refuse piles lay hidden in the darkness, and I found myself stepping into more than one slippery, unknown substance.

“Is this something you do often? Sneak about the city and step in garbage?” Jovis’s voice sounded nearly in my ear, startling me. “You’re the Emperor. You shouldn’t have left the palace walls.”

“And you shouldn’t have followed me,” I hissed back. “At all.” Never mind what the spy construct had seen, what had he seen? He’d put me in a difficult position. Yes, he’d helped me chase down the spy construct; yes, he’d foolishly tried to save my life even though that exposed him. But he was brushing against secrets even I didn’t fully understand.

Jovis didn’t say anything for a while, and I waited for him to argue with me again, to justify his actions with his duty. It was an excuse – was he really that dedicated to protecting me? He was a smuggler, a man used to defying rules in order to seek out what he wanted. No matter how many children he’d saved, I couldn’t expect him to suddenly turn dutiful and honorable. The question was: what had he wanted? Was he merely satisfying curiosity or did he have some other motive?

Instead of arguing, he let out a deep breath. “Thank you, by the way. You saved my life down there in that cave.”

And just like that, my anger fled, even as I grasped to hold on to it. I had a right to be angry. But all the exhaustion from the fight and the chase was starting to settle into my bones. There were so many things to worry over. “My father wouldn’t have.”

“I know.” I could barely see him in the dark, but I felt the brush of his sleeve against mine as he drew up next to me. “I didn’t nose about, if that’s what you’re wondering. You can trust me.”

I wanted to laugh. I couldn’t trust anyone. “Of course I can’t. I don’t even know you. And when were you planning on telling me that your powers come from Mephi?”