I hadn’t belayed for another person in a while and checked the locking carabiner on my belay loop before adjusting my grips on the thick rope. “Just select the handgrips easiest for you to climb up the wall,” I said. “Use your legs as much as you can to push upward.”

“Ready,” she said to me.

I nodded. “Climb. I’ve got you.”

She began scaling, quite quickly, up the rock wall. She was tall and lean but had muscle definition in her arms—something else that surprised me. I pulled the rope, taking up the slack as she climbed farther up, without hesitation.

“Do you work out?” I asked.

“I’ve got a personal trainer,” she replied without glancing down.

“You’re really good.” In fact, she was doing great for her first climb. “When you’re ready to come down, say ‘take’ and wait for my confirmation. Then put your feet in front of you so your legs are parallel to the ground and sit back. I’ll bring you down.”

“I did it! I reached the top!” she exclaimed.

The belaybot beside me played a single bell being rung, then cheering noises. I glanced at it in surprise, and Daiyu laughed before saying, “How do I keep going?” She was searching the grips on the overhang across the ceiling.

“Don’t,” I said. “That’s too advanced for a first climb.”

She ignored me. I felt her weight shift, tugging against my own harness as she reached overhead and found an overhang grip. I worked the rope, cursing in my head. She was safe enough, but if she fell off the wall, it’d still be a heart-stopping and nasty surprise. I was confident I could break her fall, but if something went wrong due to a fluke, I couldn’t afford to have Jin’s daughter hurt, much less seriously injured. If that happened, Jin would have me jailed, or simply send one of his thugs to beat me to a pulp. And if he somehow figured out our scheme, we’d all be dead.

“Daiyu,” I gritted out, my voice full of warning.

I could hear her breathing, and I risked a glance up to see her clinging at an angle, hugging the overhang. “Just one more,” she said.

Her arms strained as she took hold and pulled herself upward. At this angle, gravity was really working against her, and I marveled over how strong she was. I had expected you girls to be soft. And yes, weak, being coddled and spoiled as they were. She had been courageous in our interactions during the kidnapping; now I knew that she was fearless.

I admired it, but that didn’t make the task ahead of me any easier.

“All right,” she said. “Take.”

“Got it,” I replied. “Sit back.”