She looked inside the purse, pocketed it but didn’t remove her dagger from the merchant’s back. “Kaphra decides when he’s done with you, not the other way around.”

Would Philine chase me to the very ends of the earth? I’d thought I’d left her behind; I’d thought the Ioph Carn wouldn’t dare strike at me in the heart of the Emperor’s power. I felt a thrumming build inside my bones, my senses sharpening until I was aware of all the water here on the street – steaming in the air, boiling in the pots, gathered between the cracks in the cobblestones. The pot closest to Philine had been freshly filled, the water close to the brim. I was Captain of the Imperial Guard, with Mephi at my side. I wasn’t some wayward smuggler anymore. “He might have to make an exception in this case.”

She must have heard the danger in my tone, because she reached with her free hand for another dagger strapped to her thigh.

Philine might have been quick, but I was quicker. I stamped a foot and the steaming pot next to her jolted. Water splashed onto her feet and her left arm.

It was enough. She dropped one of her daggers, hissing with pain. Before she could move, I stepped behind the stall and swept her feet out from under her with my staff. The merchant jumped back, out of the way of Philine’s falling body.

Several people on the street slowed to watch, but I waved them along. It was a benefit of the uniform that they actually obeyed.

I pointed the end of my staff at Philine’s head. “Threaten anyone I know, follow me, send anyone else to follow me, and I swear by all the known islands I will end you.” I was surprised to find I meant it. I’d never killed unless I’d felt it necessary, but I’d spent a good chunk of my life running from the Ioph Carn, being afraid of them. I was done. “I’ve paid what Kaphra wanted for the boat. As far as I’m concerned, there is nothing tying us together anymore.”

Philine put her hands up, gently pushing aside my staff. “I hear you and I understand.” She grunted as she pushed herself to her feet. “I’d hoped I’d misremembered your abilities. It’s one thing to tell Kaphra what happened and another to experience it. You know how he is sometimes. When he fixates on a thing, he figures out how to get it.”

I remembered. He’d given me task after task, and always with a reason for why I’d not performed it exactly as he’d wanted. Always a reason why he couldn’t release me from my debt. “And this time, it’s me,” I said flatly. “Again.”