“Ah, Jovis. It’s good to see you again. It’s been too long.” The man sounded sincere; he always sounded sincere. He spread his arms wide. “You refuse my invitations, you never send letters, you rebuff my emissaries… I might think you were avoiding me.”

“Your emissaries gave me quite the beating.”

“A misunderstanding,” he said smoothly.

I knew what I should say: “Of course.” Because when a man is as powerful as Kaphra, you just accept his version of reality to survive. But I was done with making myself less in order to appease people. My bones thrummed. He had power? So did I. “What do you want? I’ve brought the sword you asked for. When I spoke with your agent, she made it clear this was to be a one-time exchange. I was fine with that. I’ve paid my debts; I owe you nothing more.”

I unfastened the sword from my back and held it out to him. “Take it and leave me in peace.”

He didn’t demur; he took the step closer and snatched the sword from my grip. A warning tingled at the back of my neck. Kaphra wasn’t usually so direct. He wanted the sword, and badly. Was Lin’s sword as dangerous as Gio seemed to believe his was? What exactly had I traded in for the safety of Anau?

Kaphra pulled the blade a little from the sheath. And then he took a knife from his belt and peeled back the wrapping on the hilt. Whatever he’d seen must have satisfied him, because he sheathed both knife and sword and looked back to me. “No,” he said calmly.

“No what?”

“Leave you in peace. You see, Jovis, you’re more unique than you know you are.”

The tingle exploded into a full-fledged tremor of dread. Did he know I was Alanga? How could he know?

“I’ve collected many things over the years,” he said. “Jewels, old Alanga artifacts, books…” He trailed off. He hadn’t let go of the sword.

Did I hear hushed whispers outside? The creak of footsteps from upstairs? My gaze flicked to Philine. She hadn’t moved, but neither would she meet my eyes. It was a trap, but if Kaphra knew my abilities, what did he hope to gain?

“An interesting story, but I should be going.” I took a step back.

Kaphra drew the sword and tossed the scabbard to the side. The strange white material glinted in the lamplight. “You think you know about the power that makes your bones thrum. The Emperor thinks she knows about the power that animates the constructs. But there is so much you don’t understand.” He shrugged a little, gave me a childish smile. “You and I both know you’re not just walking out of here, Jovis. The house is surrounded by Ioph Carn.”