She frowned. I took another bite of the apple, the sound of the crunch loud despite the ambient din of Potosí at night.

The girl stiffened. “What’s wrong with the way I look?”

I’m sure she thought she looked like she’d blend in down here. Black riding boots. A pair of thick woolen breeches. A dark cloak the same blue of the sky at midnight. But it was all too new. Too shiny. Too rich.

“Nothing, princesa. Just can’t believe you made it this far without someone killing you for those boots. Or that cloak. Or that sword. Or that pouch of coin at your hip.”

Her hand shot toward the pouch tucked into the waistband of her breeches. It was concealed by the cloak, but I knew it was there all the same.

“How did you—?”

“You jingle like the carts rolling away from the mint.”

Her frown deepened as she studied me. “Are you going to rob me?”

Maybe she was cleverer than she looked.

I shrugged. “Haven’t decided yet.”

“I would rather you didn’t.”

That made me laugh. It was the first time she’d done so, but it wouldn’t be the last. “What on earth brings a girl like you to a place like this?”

I gestured at our surroundings. The alley we were in was sandwiched between a brothel and a gambling hall, neither of which catered to the sort of person who could afford even a single thing she was wearing.

She shrugged one shoulder, and I could tell that she wanted it to come across as casual. It didn’t. “I wanted to see Potosí. The real Potosí.”

I quirked an eyebrow at her. “Is it everything you dreamed?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but she didn’t get the chance. Another voice sounded from the mouth of the alley. Male. Dark. Uneven. Colored with drink. And with crueler intentions than mine. I remember the sound of that voice well, too. In a way, he was responsible for everything that came after.

“Well, well, look what we have here.”

I chucked the remainder of the apple over my shoulder and turned to see the man—no, men—standing behind us, blocking the end of the street. They were not the sort of people you wanted to run into in a dark alley, that was for damn sure. Even from a distance, I could smell the man who had spoken. Sweat and stale beer. That smell stayed with me too.

He smiled, revealing a mouth with more teeth missing than present. “Looks like we got two for one, boys.”

The men at his back chuckled in that way of men who mean no good.