“I always wondered. What kind of unnatural are you?” She raised her eyebrows. “You claimed to be valuable for so long. I’m reasonably sure that was a lie.”

“Oh.” He flushed a little. The guard gestured that he was free to enter, and Fabricio smiled at him, then turned back to Nita awkwardly. “I’m an aur.”

He began to glow, flickering like there was a lightbulb just beneath the surface of his skin. On and off.

Nita stared at him, her mouth open slightly. “That’s it? You’re an aur?”

Dime-a-dozen aurs were essentially bioluminescent people. Pieces of them did make money on the black market, but no one would ever consider them rare or hard to find. Back in Death Market, one of the dealers had been an aur.

“Yep.” He grinned. “The most boring unnatural in existence. I can glow so bright you might decide to put on sunglasses. Witness my superpowers.”

Nita snort-laughed as he blinked his light on and off. After all the ugly truths she’d been forced to face this week, this simple, harmless truth made her feel light and a little giddy. Fabricio had bluffed himself into making everyone think he was wildly valuable, when he was one of the most common unnaturals out there.

She just shook her head. “I bet you’re great at poker.”

“Because of my glowing personality?”

She rolled her eyes at the pun, but couldn’t keep the slight smile from her face. “Yeah. Sure.”

They entered the hospital room together. Kovit was reclining in his bed, arms lying loosely at his side, and staring pensively out the window when they entered. It had started raining, and the drops trickled down the windowpane like tears.

“Hi, Kovit.” Fabricio stepped forward.

Kovit turned to face Fabricio, and Nita was shocked to see a slight, genuine smile cross his face. “Fabricio? Why are you here?”

Fabricio gave him a self-deprecating smile. “I’m trying make peace with Nita.”

Kovit raised his eyebrows. “And she’s interested in making peace?”

“I can be reasoned with.” Nita crossed her arms.

“Yes.” Fabricio raised an eyebrow. “I just needed the right olive branch.”

“Exactly.”

Kovit laughed. “You bribed her?”

Nita huffed. Fabricio smiled a little and said, “Your words, not mine.”

“All right, then.” Kovit grinned. “What’s this olive branch?”

Fabricio explained about the lawyer, and then at the end pulled out a business card for the person he was planning to hire and gave one to each of them. Kovit was silent, listening, and his gaze was fixed on that small business card.

Fabricio finished, and Kovit bowed his head.

“Why?” Kovit’s voice was steady, but there was something underneath it Nita couldn’t quite identify.

Fabricio tilted his head. “Pardon?”

“Why are you doing this?”

He sighed softly. “Because you’re the only thing Nita cares about, and I have a vested interest in having her not want to kill me.”